Cooking is an enjoyable, adventurous venture – especially trying out new tasty treats and meals. What is not enjoyable is following a recipe to a “T” with the result of those baked goods burnt to a crunchy crisp or undercooked and gooey. While we can’t help you out in the baking skills department, we can most certainly help you find out if your beloved kitchen appliance, your oven, is baking properly. We have a simple test that you can do (it involves cooking!) that will assist you in finding out if your range is baking at its proper temperature.
What You Need:
- 1 can of refrigerated biscuits
- A shiny aluminum cookie sheet
A Few Things to Consider {for best results}: Your cookie sheet should have low sides, ½ inch being the most. Allow for equal spacing around your cookie sheet. When you place your aluminum sheet in the oven, you should allow a minimum of 1 to 1 ½ inches between the oven walls and the sheet. Also, scale back your oven/range temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit if your cookware is dark or dull. Cook Tip: Since dark and dull pans absorb heat, your baked edibles will have darker browning end results. Shiny pans reflect heat and ultimately leads to lighter browning end results. Baking Time: Important: Remove any bottom liners and/or foil from all of the racks. Make sure to position one of your oven racks within the center of your oven/range so that your biscuits will be in the middle.
- Begin to place your refrigerated biscuits equally distances away from each other on your aluminum cookie sheet. (Psst - don’t grease!)
- Turn on your oven to the suggested temperature on your biscuit package if you are using a shiny, aluminum cookie sheet. If you are using a dark or dull pan, make sure to set your kitchen appliance 25 degrees Fahrenheit lower.
- Heat your oven/range until it is preheated to its corresponding temperature stated above. Take Note: Do not preheat your oven/range higher than what you are baking with. A tone or indicator light will let you know when your oven/range is at its preheated temperature. If you don’t have any type of preheat indicator, heat your kitchen appliance for 15 minutes.
- Now, promptly place your cookie sheet with your biscuits into your oven/range. For accurate results, do not open and close your oven door until the minimum baking time (via directions from the package) has been met.
- With the minimum baking time reached, check your biscuits to see if they are done. If not, let them bake until the maximum cooking time. Then, remove your biscuits (remember those oven mitts).
What Your Results Mean: Not to sound obvious, but your oven is working and calibrated properly if your freshly baked biscuits are fully cooked according to its package times. If your biscuits are under or overcooked given the time intervals from the package, your oven probably needs to be calibrated. Remember to refer to your users manual for the proper calibration techniques as it depends upon the type of controls of your oven/range. Adapted from: GE Appliances and Robert K Crawford, Product Service Manager – Product Quality & Serviceability, Cooking
Photo by: jeffreyw | Flickr
