One of the best things you can do to improve the accuracy of your baking is place a thermometer (or two) in your oven. Baking is a science and oven temperature can greatly affect the outcome of your baked goods. Unfortunately many ovens don’t actually heat to the exact temperature you program them for. Or, they may just take a lot longer to get to full temperature than what they tell you when the preheat signal beeps at you. My oven can take 15 minutes or longer to get the temperature I programmed AFTER the preheat signal beeps at me. Plus, if you have double ovens you may find that when you are running both of them, the top oven may run hotter due to the heat rising in it from the bottom oven. I never depend on the temperature my oven says it is at; I always check my thermometers.
Oven thermometers are very inexpensive and are easy to find. I keep two thermometers hanging in each of my ovens, one on each side. This allows me to make sure both thermometers are working (I have occasionally had one stop working and I can instantly know something is wrong if the two thermometers aren’t similar in temperature.) It also helps me to identify if one side of the oven is running a little hotter than the other.
Go out and buy yourself an oven thermometer today! It just may be the solution to some of your baking fails.
Here’s to sweet dreams and sugar highs,
