Patent ID: 8302527

Claim:
A method for determining a variation with time of an amount of steam released from a food product during a cooking process in a cooking chamber of a baking oven, the method comprising: providing a baking oven including a cooking chamber, a vapor duct in fluid communication with the cooking chamber, and a heat sink outside the cooking chamber and the vapor duct; providing a sensing head of a heat conducting body, the sensing head projecting into the cooking chamber or the vapor duct, the heat conducting body being operable to transfer heat to the heat sink, the sensing head being protected from precipitation of condensate on a surface thereof during all operating conditions of the cooking process by at least one of a spatial position of the sensing head and a mode of operation of the baking oven; measuring a variation with time of a temperature of the sensing head using a first temperature sensor; measuring a variation with time of a temperature of the cooking chamber with a second temperature sensor; and determining the variation with time of the amount of steam using an evaluation circuit of a controller as a function of measurement signals generated by the first and second temperature sensors.