lightfoot

The best of the compact ovens in it's price range – Since it is a main oven for me I have used all the cooking modes and it certainly does a great job of pretty much everything I have cooked so far. Pizza's are amazing, roasts are…

very moist and evenly cooked and it does a nice job with baking, toasting, reheating and keeping things warm.

I have a few comments though that might be helpful to those cooking with this oven.

The preset temperatures in the documentation tend to be set around 5 degrees less than what you might typically cook at in that particular mode (eg Roasting is preset to 175 degrees celsius/convection on - which typically would be 180 degrees celsius convection off) The reason I think is Breville feels that if you are using the oven in convection mode, it cooks a little faster - so they have compensated by defaulting the temperature to about 5 degrees less in many of the modes.

My experience suggests this is a very 'gentle' cooking oven so I recommend this - cook to exactly what your recipe temperature says and don't worry about compensating for the convection cookings supposed faster cooking speed. eg: in roasting mode Breville has recommended cooking times for various meats based on the ovens Roast mode default of 175 degrees/convection on - which I always find are slightly underdone for the times they suggest - so I up it 5 degrees to get a more acceptable result for the times they recommend.

Also, for recipes that have a short baking time (eg muffins that are say 10 to 15 mins typically) I always find I have to increase the cooking time a little to compensate for the fact that the oven loses more heat than a conventional oven as soon as you open the door due to its smaller size. So expect to bake a little longer for very short timed recipes.

If using the pizza stone that is an accessory specifically available for the oven, I have never had any success with that if I hand make the pizza dough from my bread maker - it always sticks to the stone no matter what I try. So only use the stone if you use fairly firm store bought bases (or put baking paper under the dough before you put it on the stone) . The standard pizza tray has always given me the best result though. And pizzas from this oven are excellent I might add. So is everything else bearing in mind the above comments.

Enjoy it! It is certainly well worth the spend. It's an excellent, very versatile oven with very solid supporting documentation to help use it properly. Recommended cooking times can be a little light.

Solid, Reliable and great tasting coffee – I've have been using mine for about 3 years now. I use it at least once a day and can vouch that this produces a consistent coffee every time. Supermarket packet espresso grind…

will give good results, but if you want the best tasting coffee with a really great crema, use it in conjunction with fresh beans and a conical burr grinder (I use the Sunbeam EM0480). It's not a have too, but you will absolutely taste the difference if you do. I prefer darker roasts which through this give a fuller flavour. Tips: Never over extract - for the 2 cup filter never more than 60ml. Always make sure it's up to temp before extracting. Experiment with different beans, can make a big difference. When priming, put the empty filter and filter holder on and run hot water through it to warm it. Then remove it, dry the inside of the filter holder, put the coffee in and extract. Warming the holder gives an even better flavour result. Consistent great results at an affordable price none really, just take the time to learn to use it properly