Other options include combi ovens like the Electrolux, which has gotten mixed reviews, and regular combi's - which can get pretty expensive, though some include a broil option. You are right, most don't go above 450. I have just started working with a technique similar to this

http://www.steambreadmaker.com

, which you can use in any oven, but it does involve putting the pan in place once you have loaded the bread, and taking the pan out when it is pretty hot, so it is not an ideal solution. I like my combi oven for some of its other features, but I have not been overwhelmed about making bread in it just using the combi mode. The other downside is that the convection fan is always on, so I wonder, without any support, whether that has an adverse effect on the crust.

Another option is a Rofco - in the link below, it does not have steam injection, but since there is no glass door, steam trays have been used by some.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rofco

This post was edited by Barryv on Sun, Aug 3, 14 at 8:14

I'm a fan of the KA steam assist oven. I've had mine since 2007 and there have been no problems. I have used their customer service for other products - they aren't evil but the quality of the reps varies greatly. It is the typical situation with the big company employing underpaid phone staff. Some of them are great, but others just don't keep up to date with the service bulletins and will tell people there are "no problems" when actually, the company is aware of the problem and is paying for the fix. However I don't think their service is any worse than the other mainstream manufacturers. If you want better service, you have to step up to the higher end brands.

Besides the KitchenAid there are two other ovens I know of right now that go up to 500 and add humidity to the oven cavity. One is the Capital Maestro wall oven that has "MoistRoast" but I'm assuming you can use it for baking. It is not plumbed; you have to fill up a tank to use it. The new Miele M touch wall ovens have "Moisture Plus" which is plumbed like the KA. I think both companies have better service than KA.

@Barryv & @hvtech42 thanks much for the pointers! I currently have a 13-year old KA gas range whose touchpad has gone out. I may or may not repair it (KA decided that a black keypad is a good replacement for a white one on an all-white range, go figure). The oven has never baked very evenly. Sigh. But I have inserted a copper tube down the flue to pour water onto the pan above the burners, which creates steam. Our experience is that this improves baguettes baked on a stone significantly but the dutch oven method is yet better (for round breads), so there's room for improvement. If I repair the thing I'll try injecting steam down the tube...

The rofco ovens look very intriguing, thanks a million for that pointer!

tvoneicken, I have a gas range as well, and unfortunately, they are so well vented, I have not have much luck with the steaming towels, water in a pan, or other methods. You are right that the Dutch oven method has some limitations in terms of shapes. Unfortunately, everything I have looked at is pretty expensive, especially since it should only be a shell, a baking stone, a thermostat and an element or two. Another option is to see if you can find a used bread oven locally on Craig's list. The link is to a new one, it goes to 550F and some run on 120 volts.

Here is a link that might be useful: BK18

double post

Here is a link that might be useful: BK18

This post was edited by Barryv on Sun, Aug 3, 14 at 19:48

@Barryv, thanks for the BK18 link, I'm going to have to look into some more of these commercial ovens!

Wrt venting and gas range, what I've done is put a 1/4" soft copper pipe down the flue leading on top of the "pan" that covers the bottom burner. In that pan I've placed some rocks. In order to add steam, I pour ~1 cup of water down the pipe. It's a bit dangerous 'cause the first drops sometimes make a little geyser as they hit the hot copper, but I've gotten used to dealing with that over the years :-). If I manage to fix this range, I'll try sending steam down, I have a small 100+ years old contraption used to seal marmalade/jam jars that produces steam and it would be easy to pipe that down, that would provide lots of continuous steam, similar to the steambreadmaker.com product.

duplicate post (due to hitting the reload button) deleted - sorry

This post was edited by tvoneicken on Sat, Aug 9, 14 at 1:07