Holiday Baking Tips

Last Minute Baking Tips from GE Appliances

Range – Optimal Baking Performance

Many factors will affect the baking time in your oven. To insure accurate baking, we suggest the following:

Be sure to preheat the oven to the selected temperature. (This can take 10-20 minutes, and most models will have a signal that will alert you when the oven is ready.)
Be careful not to place the oven rack too close to the bottom of the oven. Follow the instructions in the Owner's Manual for proper rack placement.
Dark colored pans absorb more heat and can cause over-browning. Solution: Lower oven temperature 25 degrees for this type of utensil, or use a pan with a shiny finish.
Do not use pans that are too large or too close to each other or the oven walls. Solution: Make sure there is proper room for the heat to circulate up through the racks and around the food in the pans.
Non-stick gray pans retain more heat and require a temperature reduction of 25 degrees from what the recipe calls for.
Glass pans require temperature reductions, which can usually be found on the baking instructions.
Do not open the oven door while baking any more than necessary. (If you do not have a window in the door, we suggest using a kitchen timer and check your food at the minimum baking time.
Use your oven timer and do not check for doneness until the minimum cooking time expires. This will help keep the temperature more stable.
Avoid using oven thermometers – most are not very accurate, and in many cases the door has to be opened to read them.
Opening the door will cause the oven temperature to drop, and you will think that your oven is not operating at the correct temperature.

Other things that affect the length of cooking time include:

Wrong pan size
Too much liquid, or over-mixing
Pan placement in the oven
Pans too close to each other or to the walls of the oven (thus air cannot circulate around the pans)
Substituting ingredients that are labeled as low fat
When you use airbake type pans (these are made with two layers of aluminum with a space of air) you may need to allow a little more time for the food to cook.

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