Baking Time
I have a family member who takes baking time very literal. If a recipe calls for a baking time of 45 minutes they will bake it for that long, be it burnt or undercooked then say it was a bad recipe.
When I was in culinary school we were always asking our chef “how long does that bakes for?”, his reply was always “until it’s done”. He wasn’t being sarcastic he was educating us on how time and temperature effect our baked products.
Say you are baking cookies in your oven, they are done and baked to perfection in 15 minutes, you share this recipe with a friend and their oven runs hotter then yours, 15 minutes will result in burnt cookies. Most recipes will indicate a time range like 10 – 15 minutes for this reason.
The use of a timer is only a reminder that you have something in the oven, you must train your eye to know when your product is done. They key is to know the characteristics of the finished item, with cookies there is some room to play. I like a softer cookie so I will pull mine just when golden brown or a little underbaked.
With cakes, quick breads and yeast breads there is really is no play, it is done or it is raw in the center. The tooth pick method is best for batter products. Yeast dough especially in a loaf pan is the most difficult to determine doneness, turn the loaf out of the pan and tap the bottom it should sound hollow. If still unsure use a digital stem thermometer and bake until 200°F.
It is good to have a oven thermometer and check it for accuracy a few times a year. As our appliances age the thermal coupler or thermostat go first and no longer give accurate temperature settings.
A lot of time and money goes into our baked products make sure that you understand the important relationship and balance between time and temperature.
Check out our recipe section.
