I don't have an answer or experience with this but I thought it was a real shame that your brand new 2 day old post was buried on PAGE THREE with no responses yet!!! So am bumping so hopefully can get more attention.

Wish this could get fixed so unanswered posts would still be on page one for awhile. I know it's been requested a lot - is that in the works??

I'm also curious to the answer because these looked intriguing. So it does have a broiler? Good to know. I find a broiler in all ovens indispensable!!

Is there a "toast" function or broil with a flip over? If you've made toast, how was it?
Sorry I can't answer your original Q. I too have wondered how metal can be used with MW. I see it in the Advantium too. Maybe there is a special non-reflective coating?
Perhaps cross posting in Appliances would get answers from some of the electrical techies over there (who also cook).

Cindallas- thanks for the bump! That was nice of you. Yes it has a "broil" button you press once or twice for high or low. Then I'm just finding out that it also has a convection broil when press the "more modes" button. It uses the broil element combined with the convection fan.

12crumbles- I will try this out on toast and let you know if it works without a flip over. I will try posting in appliance forum too. Thanks! Btw: good luck on your kitchen design :)

Lol, toast looks good! I'm really leaning toward the micro/convection route. Did you ever risk cooking the brownies?

Thanks rebunky. I have never seen such a uniform browning. It does look tasty, even if only one side is pretty. Sorry abut your back.

Sorry if this thread probably should have been in the appliance forum. Since I started it, I thought I would let you know what I found out to conclude this.

I called Bosch and was directed to appliance use questions. It was too funny. I explained my issue, directing the girl to the page in the manual under Auto Chef. We read it together, and I thought she understood my question on the contradiction with using the metal pan for the brownies. She seemed more confused than me and put me on hold to ask someone else.

She comes back and says, "You can use metal if using the conventional oven, but cannot use metal if using the microwave only."

I said, "Um, yeeeees, I understand that. But the Auto Chef mode uses both. I quoted again from the manual where it says it is using Microwave AND conventional heat."

This confuses her again. She puts me on hold again. Returns and says, "You can only use it exactly as it says in the manual. #9 Brownies; 9" metal pan; wire rack, facing down"

I thanked for her help and hung up. Yeah, thanks for nothing. I don't feel any better about whether I am going to blow up this machine or not.

Ok, I have obsessed over this enough. I'm just going to use a glass pan and eat my brownies. :)

rebunky -- truly had an honest to goodness LOL moment right now. I wanted to test out the Auto Chef function of our new Bosch speed oven (pork tenderloins are waiting!), and hit the same exact wall (wondering if I can use metal a la AC #9, but all other verbiage says NOT to use metal whenever microwave settings are on...never mind the whole discussion about how it is we can use the metal rack in there!). I googled and, lo and behold, here I am! :D And I've had past conversations with Bosch CSRs about other matters, and walked away several times without answers as the CSRs were more confused than I was about whatever topic was at hand. Sigh...I'm sure you had success baking your brownies in a glass dish, but I need to elevate my tenderloins w/ a metal rack to they don't stew in their own juices. Just don't want to go out on a limb and explode my oven (or create arcing or whatever). Did you ever get more daring and try an AC setting with a metal pan at all? Thanks.

Javiwa lololololo!!! It's my toast thread!

Nope, I never attempted the metal pan. How did the pork tenderloin do? Did you try the metal rack with it? I assume it would start arching and let us know if it was a problem huh?

Yeah, the CSR was completely worthless. I almost asked for a manager but supposedly she was putting me on hold to talk with her manager. Yeah right....

No, rebunky, I didn't use my oven as a guinea pig tonight -- time was tight and I chickened out: used the straight up convection mode and ended up with a delicious dinner. Your toast did crack me up, though! :D I may let some time pass and roll my dice with a different CSR -- really would like to take this Auto Chef function for a spin.

I am about to purchase a Bosch 800 series conc/microwave so this has been interesting to me....it seems salespeople at the stores know very little about these matters.....did you ever find out about the metal for brownies on the dual stting?

No, nebbo, never did. I haven't yet found the energy to pick up the phone, sit on hold forever, and risk sitting through another torturous non-answer. None of this has been a deal breaker for me, but it'd certainly increase our flexibility with this appliance if we could get a definitive answer.

I can't remember if I posted this somewhere else, so this is as good a place as any. An emailed reply from a Bosch CS supervisor:

• We will always stress to follow the directions in the Use and Care manual provided with your appliance, given that tons of research by highly-capable engineers went into producing the Use and Care manual for your specific model of appliance.
• Regarding using metal cookware in your microwave oven, it is ONLY acceptable for cooking modes on the appliance that do NOT include microwave cooking.
• The AutoChef feature in particular allows for easier and more precise cooking for different kinds of foods.
• The manual references that it is okay to use a metal pan for AutoChef – brownies, because when that mode is selected, the appliance will not use microwaves for cooking.
• Metal cookware such as pots and pans are NOT recommended for the other modes of AutoChef, because they WILL utilize microwaves for cooking.
• To reiterate, the only mode of the AutoChef feature where it is acceptable to use metal cookware, is when selecting “AutoChef,” then “9” for brownies.

To further clarify, I posed this to him: "If the beauty and speed of Auto Chef ... is that it uses both convection and microwave heat, but if Program 9 for Brownies is the only one of the nine that doesn’t use microwaves (because it’s ok to use metal pans here), why is Brownies under the Auto Chef section? That is, why would a homeowner not just use the Convection mode to bake brownies?

No reply from Bosch was given. HTH.

Thank you for your reply....haha.....I think the "highly capable engineers" really goofed on that bit but no one wants to admit it...I really appreciate you sharing this....I am going to purchase the Bosch tomorrow.....after scouring the reviews everywhere I could find them, it seems this model has the least complaints.

Good luck -- just be sure you "use and abuse" it as much as possible before your one-year warranty runs out. And the moment you have issues (and fingers crossed that you never will!), call the CS number and at least have them start a file for you. It could come in handy; and worst case, you'll never need to refer to it.

That is good advice......do you still think this one is a good choice or do you wish you had gotten a different one....

Tell Bosch CS that the very least they could do for you is to throw together a batch of brownies, put them in a metal pan, and fire them up under AutoChef as per #9. If it doesn't work, they get fireworks -- if it does work, they get brownies. I call it a win/win. (Make sure they videotape it in case of fireworks.)

Know what, emckillip? Videotaping is something we've already had to resort to as our Bosch wall oven was coming to life in the middle of the day and flashing/beepingError code 011. Because I didn't think Bosch would believe me, I videoed. Didn't end up needing the evidence as Bosch repairman never doubted us.

nebbobear: The only unfixable annoyance about our unit is the door opening like a regular oven (instead of swinging open like my old micro). Never anticipated how difficult it is to wipe down the interior -- especially towards the rear. I have to get up on a chair, then bend over and do a backhand maneuver with a towel...I'm quite a sight doing this! And it's nearly impossible to thoroughly clean between/around the upper broiler coil. Everyone around here has been put on notice: on pain of death do you microwave w/o covering the contents! One comment, though: we ended up purchasing the Benchmark version as, from my reading, the 800 doesn't have enough oomph (amperage/voltage talk that flies right over my head!) to to get things properly toasted/roasted/browned. As we're using this frequently as a second, smaller oven, we needed the power.

Very long-winded way of saying: we've not regretted this purchase.

I have the benchmark version of this and have to admit I had only used it as a microwave.

I was making brownies yesterday and this thread inspired me to try out the autochef function. It seemed to me that for the brownies it took the same amount of time as the box said for baking in a regular oven? I thought it would use microwave and baking to speed it up, but that did not seem to be the case for the brownies?

(Oh and my manual has the same contradiction in it. I used a glass pan, which is my usual brownie pan anyway.)

Happy to be part of ANY inspiration/excuse for someone to make brownies! :)

I've concluded that the 'speed' factor comes into play with preheat time: it takes much less time to preheat the smaller speed oven than it does the wall oven. Though, with the convection fan blowing, bake times do seem decreased a bit. Time saved...energy saved. Or maybe, for me, it's simply filled a lifelong yearning that I never had one of those Suzie Bake Ovens! ;)

Haha.....this has been helpful.....there seems to be no model as of yet that doesn't have problems......this is one item that is not easy to make a decision on..

I guess the preheat time does make sense. It doesn't particularly same time in getting the brownies done as I would have preheated the regular oven while mixing, but I guess it must save energy. Probably very nice in the summer to not heat up the whole kitchen so much.

Do the other autochef modes work similarly? Or do they combine cooking methods to reduce total cooking time, rather than just eliminating preheating? I think the rest are meats?

Thanks for any help figuring this thing out!

I think there's probably a tradeoff with the heat in the kitchen. The Bosch speed oven has a fan that does a very good job (too good!) of cooling the electronic board/mechanism by blowing all the hot air right into the kitchen. And for good measure, it stays on a few minutes after the cooking cycle's finished. This took a little bit of getting used to, as we weren't accustomed to hearing a fan running when something wasn't cooking.

My impression (from reading/rereading the manual and from deciphering the Bosch sup's explanation) is that AutoChef 1-8 (the non-brownie modes, I call them!) do use a combination of microwave and convection. I've been cooking for so long that it's almost more work trying to work through the various modes and figure out what they all are. As I mentioned up top, I don't feel like experimenting with a meal: when I'm hungry, I wanna eat! :)

If I'm ever feeling adventurous and have plenty of time to fiddle, I'll try one of the AutoChef meals/modes and report back. Right now, we're still in month 18 of a kitchen reno that has gone far too long.

ETA: I did just have a tiny spark of a lightbulb moment. Why not grab a pyrex casserole bowl or an 8x8 glass pan, fill it halfway with water, insert the metal baking rack in the oven, then 'pretend' you're cooking a small AutoChef meal. Keep an eye on the red light icons to see if it switches back and forth between convection and microwave.

Just used my Benchmark microwave speed oven for first time in auto chef mode. I made chicken breasts with potatoes and onions. I pressed the auto chef 1 for chicken breasts. The meat was perfectly done tender and brown in 33 minutes. Potatoes were almost done. Flavor was great ! I put potatoes back in for another 5 min. After removing chicken. I was looking for a source for recipes for the auto chef function. Anyone know where to find any?

Btw. Thanks for all the helpful info! I just got mine installed last week and it was my first time using autochef

Adrienne -- Congrats! What did you cook on autochef, and how did it turn out?

Id also like to hear what you cooked...i have one and have only used microwave so far which seems dumb when there are so many things that can be dfone .with this appliance.....

Sliced an onion very thin cut medium sized potatoes into quarters. Put a little oil salt and pepper. Put hand trimmed boneless chicken breasts (2.5 lb) on top of this seasoned with Montreal poultry seasoning and hit auto chef 1. Cooked for 33 min. Chicken breasts were perfect took those out put potatoes back in for 5-10 minutes on same setting. I got the idea from a video on Purcell Murray website but they do not have specific directions. I was thinking of cutting potatoes smaller and putting them directly on microwave tray while cooking chicken in dish on rack. I'm really excited at the prospect of quick 1 dish dinner meals. Just need to experiment. I'd love to hear any experience success or failure to learn more. I posted a recipe request on Bosch Facebook page last night, so I'll keep you posted!!

so, speaking of the Bosch Benchmark micro/convec....I also have one. I've been experimenting a bit with their sensor mode. Does anyone understand how it works? I've tried it with white rice, which is supposed to be covered. Both times the cover I used did not withstand the steam build-up adequately, and the rice came out a bit undercooked and dry.

Anyone else have any experience with either Sensor Cook or Autochef modes?

I had some trouble with the sensor reheat and sensor cook modes. For ex. when making baked potatoes, the sensor would keep sensing and not cook or it would sense and turn off. We called for service and they had to replace the sensor. The service tech said it was the 1st one he himself ever replaced. I made potatoes once since it was fixed and it worked fine.

If you need service because it's not cooking as it should, have food on hand to try it out. I had potatoes to test it while the service tech was present.

When reheating with sensor reheat, try and remove from fridge to get closer to room temp before reheating.

I do find that it gets very steamy in the oven.

Since my kitchen reno is (again!) at a standstill, I thought I'd report back on my first AutoChef roasted chicken! Plus, it's always fun to resurrect rebunky's toast. :D

I programmed cooking time for a 4.5 lb chicken (the max), even though mine was ~ 5. Dry salted the day before and let it sit at room temp for about 1/2 hour before roasting. Directions are to cook it breast side down until the beeper sounds; then flip the bird and cook the remaining amount of time. The upside: total cooking time was only 50 minutes, start to finish -- pretty fast for a 5 lb chicken. So, that was a bonus. I felt the chicken was overcooked. Next time, for a 5 lb bird, I might plug in a weight of 4 lbs and see how that goes.

Microwave + convection modes: I still haven't figured out which sounds equate to microwave on vs off, but throughout the 50 minutes, it definitely cycled often (sorry, didn't keep track of the time). The top broiler element cycled on and off every minute during the entire cook.

So you used the metal rack to autochef the chicken? thanks!