# Do you bake bread in an air fryer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 4, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bake-bread-in-an-air-fryer/1009679 "2024-11-04T18:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bake-bread-in-an-air-fryer/1009679/1 "2024-11-04T18:31:30Z")
I bake a loaf of challah every Friday, and have for years. (I don’t use a bread machine, and please don’t bother recommending that.) Since proofing and baking take several hours, and we want the bread to be warm from the oven with our meal, that means that I can’t use the oven for the main course until shortly before dinner. Which is fine if I’m grilling steaks or lamb, or something like that. But I can’t slow cook ribs in the oven or anything else that takes more than an hour or so at most. If I’m making chicken, I use our tabletop air fryer, like this one, which lives under the counter when not in use. > **[Amazon.com: Air Fryer, Milin 1700W 8QT Air Fryer with 100 Recipes, Electric Hot...](https://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Electric-Presets-Digital-Non-stick/dp/B097Q456QM)** > > Amazon.com: Air Fryer, Milin 1700W 8QT Air Fryer with 100 Recipes, Electric Hot Air Fryer Oven with 7 Presets, LED Touch Screen Digital Air Fryer with Basket, Low Fat Non-stick Oilless Cooker with Timer : Home & Kitchen Although it’s fine for everything from warming up some fries to roasting a whole chicken, it’s too small for bread. I found this larger unit which claims it can bake bread, and so I thought I’d ask if anyone here has used an air fryer of this type for bread. > **[Amazon.com: VAL CUCINA Infrared Heating Air Fryer Toaster Oven, Extra Large...](https://www.amazon.com/VAL-CUCINA-Countertop-Convection-Stainless/dp/B0CDGDHQPW)** > > Online Shopping for Kitchen Small Appliances from a great selection of Coffee Machines, Blenders, Juicers, Ovens, Specialty Appliances, & more at everyday low prices As I mentioned, I’m not interested in a bread machine. I want to make the challah myself, by hand. Do you think I could do it, including the proofing, in an air fryer like this? If you’ve done it, can you recommend a unit or give me any tips? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bake-bread-in-an-air-fryer/1009679/2 "2024-11-04T20:27:20Z")
An air fryer is basically a convection oven; provided that you have enough capacity it should provide more consistent all-around heat (although you can get the same from a conventional over by using baking stones and bricks to evenly radiate heat). The one issue you will likely have is that the crust will tend to dry out and become crunchy, so if you have space you might want to insert a tray or a small oven-safe dish with a little water if you want a chewier crust. I’m not familiar with VAL CUCINA but if you are buying a toaster-size oven for baking bread you don’t want to get the cheapest thing on the market. I’d recommend doing some more shopping around to make sure you’d getting a reliable and consistent oven. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bake-bread-in-an-air-fryer/1009679/3 "2024-11-04T20:36:42Z")
I’ve (okay, my wife) baked popovers, and a few other higher-heat options in our toaster-oven / air fryer combo. It works as well IMHO as our main oven, but even with these bigger models, the space is pretty limited. Bread for an evening, for two? Probably fine, but we still use the “main” oven for most larger scale baking. Just looking at the amazon listing, the one you list seems to be the same sort of thing, a variety of settings between toasting, air frying, convention oven baking, etc, so I suspect it would be roughly the same. Ours is the Cuisinart model, bought at the same listed price but from Costco: > **[Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven](https://www.costco.com/cuisinart-digital-air-fryer-toaster-oven.product.100979581.html)** > > Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven What you’ll probably want to do though is start with at least half-sized loaves to begin, or make mini-challah rounds (we do this occasionally with great glee, who needs brioche buns!). The other thing is even if there is enough space, that given the rise, your bread will generally be a LOT closer to the elements both top and bottom than a conventional oven. So make sure to use a good semi-insulating pan cover like Silpat and WATCH for any excess browning/burning near the top. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bake-bread-in-an-air-fryer/1009679/4 "2024-12-20T21:36:10Z")
Since I’m sure you were all dying to know what I ended up doing, I bought this unit because it was one of the few that has a low-temp setting for proofing bread. It has a lot of other nice features, too. > **[Amazon.com: Nuwave Bravo XL Pro Air Fryer Toaster Oven, Improved 100% Super...](https://www.amazon.com/Nuwave-Bravo-XL-Pro-Multi-Layer/dp/B0CJMV9RZK)** > > Online Shopping for Kitchen Small Appliances from a great selection of Coffee Machines, Blenders, Juicers, Ovens, Specialty Appliances, & more at everyday low prices I used it successfully last week to proof and bake a loaf of challah (except that I forgot to turn off the fan during the baking, which darkened the crust a little too much) and I’m proofing my second loaf as I type. However, as it turns out, I’m not going to get rid of the smaller basket air fryer we’ve had for three years now. > **[Amazon.com: Air Fryer, Milin 1700W 8QT Air Fryer with 100 Recipes, Electric Hot...](https://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Electric-Presets-Digital-Non-stick/dp/B097Q456QM)** > > Amazon.com: Air Fryer, Milin 1700W 8QT Air Fryer with 100 Recipes, Electric Hot Air Fryer Oven with 7 Presets, LED Touch Screen Digital Air Fryer with Basket, Low Fat Non-stick Oilless Cooker with Timer : Home & Kitchen The big one is not as easy to clean and it’s harder to put in and take out big things like a whole chicken. So the new one will be used primarily for bread, and the old one for most other things.