Vent: People keep saying 'preheat the oven' but they skip the 20 minute rule

Was up at 2am watching baking videos and noticed everyone says preheat to 350 but nobody actually waits for the oven to sit at temp for 20 minutes. I tested this with my own oven thermometer last week and the temp was still swinging 25 degrees after the beep. The first batch of cookies I threw in early came out flat and burnt on the bottom. The second batch after a full 20 minute wait baked perfectly even. Has anyone else caught this shortcut ruining their bakes?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_diana1mo ago

My mom always told me to let the oven "marinate" for a bit before baking, which I thought was just a weird family thing until I started ruining my own bread. I burned a whole batch of cinnamon rolls once because I got impatient and chucked them in right after the preheat ding. Now I set a separate timer and just scroll through Reddit while I wait, lol.

felix_black1mo ago

That preheat ding is a liar, honestly. My oven beeps at me when it hits the set temp but if I toss biscuits in right then the bottoms are charcoal and the tops are still raw. I waited the full 20 minutes one time and my chocolate chip cookies came out flat as floor tiles. Turns out my oven runs hot and that extra waiting time just makes everything worse. I think the real trick is to know your specific oven's personality.

emery_white1mo ago

I got one of those oven thermometers that hang on the rack and it was a total wakeup call. My oven says 350 but the thermometer reads 375 after the beep. So I started adding five extra minutes after the ding and my cookies actually came out edible. Have you ever checked yours with a separate thermometer?

annaw731mo ago

My friend Sarah had an old gas oven that she swore had a mind of its own. She'd set it to 350 for banana bread and the first loaf came out with a crust so hard she could have used it as a doorstop. She ended up buying one of those cheap oven thermometers from the grocery store and found out her oven was running 50 degrees low after the beep. Now she has to set it to 400 just to get 350 and she says it's like having a second job just to bake a cake.

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