10 Jan 2020

Hot Stuff! Calibrate your oven.

By Simon Shapiro

One of the many things that can go wrong for novice bakers is that your oven can be inaccurate. Impress your family and friends by calibrating your oven using phase transitions.

While you can't depend on your oven manufacturer, you can depend on the fact that sugar melts at 366°F (186°C). And since we're impressing friends and family, tell them that sugar transitions from the solid (crystalline) phase to the liquid phase at 366°F.

Here's how you do it:
  • Set your oven temperature to 365°.
  • Put half a tablespoon of sugar in an ovenproof dish.
  • When the oven reaches its target temperature, put the dish in the oven and leave it there for 15 minutes.
  • Check to see whether the sugar has melted. Use oven gloves to handle the dish. It may look the same, but it will be really hot! Don't burn yourself!


Sugar is still crystalline
... or ...
Sugar is melting
If the sugar is still crystalline, increase the oven temperature by 5°, and leave the sugar in for another 15 minutes. If it's melted, let the oven cool a little, set it to 5° lower, and put a fresh half tablespoon of sugar in for fifteen minutes. Repeat the process until you discover a temperature setting where sugar doesn't melt and a setting where it does melt.

Some ovens won't let you set a temperature that's not a multiple of 5. If your oven allows more precise settings, you can keep going to find the exact setting at which the sugar melts.

When I did this, I found that the sugar melted at a setting of 357°. So now I know to set my oven to 9° lower than the temperature I really want.

4 comments:

Paula Johanson said...

This is an amazing idea, Simon! And when I compare that fact to the common baking temperature of 350 F, I now will be able to test my oven to compare "melts sugar" with "bakes cookies" to see if my oven is hotter or cooler than expected. Thank you!

Simon Shapiro said...

Thanks for the feedback.

Adrian MoczyƄski said...

Great article.

Simon Shapiro said...

Thank you, Adrian.