Since this is the "Sandbox" and I can ask anything.............thought it might get more views here than on the "Ask a Question" forum. Anyway, here goes............

My sister just bought a restaurant............I am wanting to try and bake some things to sell on my own (commercial kitchen), NOT work for her. Anyway...........I don't know if it's normal for commercial gas range/ovens that there are only 2 rack levels in the oven..........top third and bottom third. There isn't even slots to put a rack in the MIDDLE of the oven. Both the stoves are like this. Those of you that have gas, how long do you think I need to leave whatever I'm baking on the bottom rack before I have to switch it to the top? So far I made cinnamon rolls that got too brown and cookies that weren't too bad, considering. Yes, the oven is "off" but I compensated for that when I found out how much I had to adjust it after putting an oven thermometer in.

I do not like gas, never have. People think I have a screw loose when I tell them that............"oh, as much as you love to bake, gas is the way to go." Had a gas range at home when I was a kid and I was scared to death of it. Using gas was not enhanced by the time I walked up into our milkhouse and the gas heater exploded. Give me Reddy Kilowatt any day. LOL

Any hints would be appreciated so I can get things looking nice when they come out of the oven. I'd like to try a pie too.

You could set things higher by sitting on an inverted cake pan or such.

Yeah, I was thinking of something large enough I could use for that.

a lasagna pan? It doesn't have to be as big as your baking sheet

Those commercial ovens are pretty big..........I don't know if that would even be enough. I"m going up there tomorrow again so I'll give it a 'look-see".

well it depends on what type bakeware you are using. Glass cooks hotter than others. A dark coated pan will brown much faster on the bottom. Did you grease and flour the pan? Is it a shiny cookie sheet? ect. things will cook very differently depending on these factors, not just the placement in the oven. Also I have found that cookie dough cooks quite different after being refrigerated vs just fresh mixed. Margarine cooks differently than butter-butter browns much faster especially if there is a lot of sugar in the product. I assume since it is commercial that it is convection? they cook faster also, some recipes you may need a lower temp to compensate for this, or not. Humidity may make a difference too I suppose.

Shiny aluminum pan, greased like I always do for the rolls. Not dark. Not convection. I pretty much know all that stuff, just wondering on the placement of the pans and when/how much, if any, to rotate.

hmmm, that I would not know. I would think that you could find something to add a third row like a wire rack that stand up? That way you could cook in the middle. I too think that is so odd? I always cook everything pretty much on my middle rack.

Once you raise it up to a level you are happy with, watch for hot spots on your next pan. You shouldn't need to rotate or change levels for buns and cookies unless the heat is not even. Sometimes older commercial ovens can heat more to the front or back. Sorry, long long time since I used a commercial gas oven.

I have the oven figured out. I put 4 little metal dishes on the lower rack which brought my baking pan up to the middle of the oven. I also have to set the temp AT LEAST 50 degrees HIGHER than what the recipe says in order to have the correct temp. Maybe even a tad more than 50. I've made cookies and 2 pies and a pan of Rhodes rolls that turned out just fine. My sis asked "ok, what's the secret?" I told her "you have to hire me to find out".

My BIL asked what kind of $$ I had in the pie I baked and we ate for lunch one day. I told him "you might be better off hiring me to bake, than paying ME for the pie's ingredients". I figure $10.00 in the pie itself. Cut a 9 inch in 6 pieces @ $2.50 or $3.00 a piece..............I'm thinking that even with my getting my fruits at GFS Marketplace, Julie could maybe get them cheaper through Sysco or some other restaurant supplier.

wow that is a pricey pie!
Seems like every thing nowadays is so high.

so great you figured out how to get the results you wanted, and you maybe landed a job too
Keep the secret after you're hired, job security ya know

16 cups of fruit in a 5 pound bag that cost me $12.99. I used 9 cups. I told her to find out what she can get frozen fruit for. I get mine at Gordon Food Service Marketplace and the prices there for frozen fruit beat ANYTHING I have seen anywhere else. And it's nice stuff too, not a bunch of rejects that they tossed in a bag and froze.

And I have to figure in the sugar I used, plus the crust............flour, lard, and a little butter.

Don't have a commercial oven but I have found lower rack does not have to be moved to middle...I just bake for shorter time...and at about 10-15 degrees cooler....if not it is a whole cake overcooking issue not just the top browning.

But it sounds like you have it all figured out anyway...that surely is an oven that you have to get to know....unless a repair person can get it calculated to accuracy

My sister asked the oven guy when he came to check the 2 ovens/the gas burner stove, and the grill that it is next to impossible to set a gas oven to the "correct" temp with the thermostat. They can "maybe" get it to 25 degrees, but even that is not likely, from what she told me.

I have found that the little trays (look like ash trays, but I know they're not since they are in the kitchen) work great set on the bottom rack and that gives the pan just enough lift to put it to the middle! I think these look pretty darn good.

My dinner doesn't taste so good now after seeing those rolls.

Those rolls look like little golden puffs of pleasure! Wow. perfect

Here are the cookies I made............Sis didn't have a cooling rack, so I had to improvise with a dish holder that goes in the dishwasher. She laughed and said "whatever works".

Choco chip?great idea to cool

They got a tad bit too brown, but that was mostly oven temp because I used the "risers" for the cookie sheet to put them more in the middle.

I had a pic of the pie I baked, but that photo must have gotten deleted. Dagnabbit.................LOL