Abstract: A hot deck baking oven, which is an insulated cabinet enclosing internally heated decks, mounted one above the other; the bottom of one deck and the top of an adjacent deck form a baking chamber; baking is accomplished by holding bread dough in a stable thermal gradient in the baking chamber; each of such decks is cantilever supported from the rear and is spaced away from the sidewalls of the cabinet; the vertical supports of a bread rack inserted into the oven are guided into the oven by the opening between the sidewalls and the decks; the bakery product on the rack is held within each baking chamber; the sidewall/deck separation, allows moisture generated at each baking chamber to pass up the sidewalls of the chamber, to be vented from the top of the oven through an exhaust vent, an intake vent located below the lowest baking chamber allows air to preheat before entering the baking chamber.