Why You Should Always Preheat the Oven When Baking
Unless you are a serious baker or chef, you may have wondered at some point if oven preheating is really necessary, especially when you are in a hurry to prepare food on the table. Well, that’s right. Here are a couple of reasons why.
To the untrained eye, preheating the oven can seem like a waste of time and energy. This chocolate chip cookie will eventually bake, right? So why not just put them down as soon as you turn on the oven? Food52’s Alice Medrich explains why:
Time and temperature affect the consistency and flavor of the baked goods, and starting in a cold oven changes both of these variables … The fine crumb or layered texture of cookies, cakes and pie crusts is due to the expansion of entrained air and / or moisture in this liquid batter and dough (along with chemical leavening agents such as baking soda, powder, or yeast). And this expansion is due to heat. Many batter and doughs require a push – good heat in the beginning – for optimal lift, texture and browning (remember browning is a taste) …
When you give your baked goods a cold start, the cookies will be firm and dry, the baked goods will be pale and crispy (not flaky), the pizza crust will not be crispy and chewy, and the cakes will have a strange hard layer on the edge. Lower. Plus, baking baked goods in the oven while they’re heating up will only increase the cooking time, so you don’t save time or energy anyway. Some recipes, however, require a cold start, but the instructions will indicate this very clearly. So, no matter how rushed you are, preheating is essential.
Why you need to preheat the oven (even if you are in a hurry) | Food52