Food stories

Dare to ask: do you really need to preheat the oven before using it?

oven

Back when I still ate ready-made meals from time to time, I always went for meals that were ready in the microwave within a few minutes. Even though I’m a true pizza lover, I thought it took too long—especially because of having to wait for a preheated oven… No, I already hated waiting back then, and I still do. 

Foto van culinair journalist Wieke Veenboer

Since preheating and I have never been a match made in heaven , I naturally wanted to read this article from Quest straight away: does preheating actually make any sense at all?

The answer that sets you free

Tadaaaa: you really don’t always need to preheat. The rule of thumb is: if something needs to rise, the oven needs to be preheated. So if you’re baking bread or a soufflé, but also cake and, yes: pizza. So for that ready-made Quattro Formaggi, preheating is essential.

But for quite a few dishes, it’s not all that important. They do just fine with a cold start. Vegetables in the oven, for example, or a stew or casserole that really needs to cook for hours. In that case, you can simply put it straight in the oven and forget about the whole preheating time. Now that’s useful to know, right?

‘Get to know your oven’

That’s the ultimate tip from culinary journalist Karin Luiten. Every oven is different, and even worse: every spot inside the oven is different too. She therefore recommends using a thermometer, and advises against the new modern ovens that claim not to need any preheating time at all. Especially when you want to make certain dishes (she gives a French madeleine as an example), a difference of just a few degrees hotter or colder can make a huge difference. In other words: it can make or break your dish.

Bottom line: absolutely preheat that oven for your pizza, but it doesn’t matter one bit if your casserole is put into a seriously cold oven. No stress.

Source: Quest

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