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Why You Should Always Pre-Heat The Oven

May 01, 2024 0

 


Preheating the oven seems like one of those steps that it's fine to overlook or skimp on, but you're really doing a disservice to your food when you do. Most ovens don't heat evenly. This means that if you put your food in a cold oven your food will cook unevenly. An example of this is if you've ever baked a batch of cookies and the bottoms on half the pan burn while the others are still undercooked; this means half the oven is hot and half the oven is not. If you plan on cooking anything with yeast, like many baked goods, forgetting to preheat the oven means your cake or bread may not rise correctly. The yeast requires heat to activate and do its thing. 

It's said that food cooks faster in a preheated oven, probably because if you don't preheat the oven the first fifteen minutes of your "baking" time is actually spent getting the oven up to the right temperature. The outside of your food begins to cook but the inside hasn't been touched because it's just not hot enough in the oven yet. 

A good rule of thumb is when you start assembling your dish, turn the oven on and set it to the required temperature. Some think this is a waste of gas or electricity but it's actually not. Your oven only pulls energy when the heating element is being used. Ovens have internal thermometers that make sure the heating element is only engaged long enough to keep the oven at a consistent temperature so it won't just keep getting hotter. 

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