Why do some instructions tell you how long to preheat an oven for?
Why is it that on some directions it says something like "preheat an oven for 400 for 10 minutes"?
Is it not enough to preheat the oven until the oven signals (i.e. usually with a beep) that the desired temperature has been reached? Are there any advantages to waiting longer even though the oven remains at the same temperature?
Best Answer
There are some ovens out there that beep after a given amount of time, if they've hit the correct temperature or not.
Most of the residential ovens I've dealt with likely aren't at 400F within 10 minutes. It's possible that the recipe writer wants the dish going in before preheating is finished, but they have no way of knowing how long it takes your oven to heat up, so those instructions are going to give inconsistent results.
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Does it matter how long you preheat an oven?
The truth is, most folks at home preheat their ovens for 5 minutes and believe it is good enough. However, if you don't preheat your oven your food will cook unevenly, and take longer to cook or reheat.Do you really have to wait for oven to preheat?
Preheating your oven helps ensure your food goes from refrigerator cold to blazing hot more quickly \u2014 spending as little time in the danger zone as possible. And even if this is a short amount of time, just know that some bacteria can multiply in the danger zone in as little as 20 minutes.How long will you preheat the oven and why do you preheat the oven?
How long should you preheat the oven? Instead of waiting around and wondering if your oven is at temperature, remember that the magic number for preheat time is 20 minutes\u2014that's the ideal time to cover a vast variety of preheating needs.Why do they say Preheat the oven?
The big reason to preheat is the lower element stays on red hot for 5 or 10 minutes when you first turn it on . Thats long enough to burn the bottom on something and the whole oven wont be warmed enough to start cooking much . After the preheat the lower burner cuts off by the thermostat and the food cooks evenly .How Long to Preheat the Oven \u0026 How Long It Takes!
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Answer 2
Many ovens, particularly older ovens, do not beep.
Indeed it is not uncommon that they have no temperature indication at all, particularly on gas ovens.
So the preheat timing for an oven is usually an indication from the author of the recipe that the oven needs preheating with a guide to how long you might wish to wait, usually intended as a minimum.
I have known some recipes to instruct food be put in the oven before temperature is reached for various odd reasons, that's not common, but does happen.
Answer 3
When using a baking stone, for example for artisan breads and pizza, there are some additional reasons for the long preheat time.
With a baking stone, the recipe might advice you to preheat the oven for as much as thirty to sixty minutes. The reason is to heat the stone properly and to dry out the air inside the oven.
Answer 4
If, like mine, your oven hasn't got a light, sometimes you can twiddle the temperature nob down until you hear a faint tick - that's the thermostat inside the oven clicking off. Where your temperature nob is at is the current temperature of the oven (at the thermostat, obviously). I keep checking using that technique every couple of minutes (remembering to reset the nob to my target temp between), until the tick is on or near the target temperature.
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