While the majority of recipes will instruct people to turn their oven on in step one, a top baker said it is an ‘unnecessary’ act in any cooking process.
Sourdough expert and cookbook author Elaine Boddy claims to have ‘proved’ your food will come out of the oven the same whether it has been preheated or not.
The British baker told Femail she hasn’t preheated her oven and baking pans in more than six years, deeming it a ‘wasteful’ step.
‘All of the recipes in all four of my sourdough books have been baked from a cold start, which includes standard sourdough loaves, sandwich loaves, Bundt pan loaves, rolls, cakes, crackers and more,’ she said.
‘And it’s not just baking, whatever I cook at home I now put everything in the cold oven and then turn it on, and it works perfectly every time.’
Boddy said a lot of recipes for sourdough call for the cook to preheat their ovens to very high temperatures or to preheat their baking pans for up to an hour before baking.
She said this was ‘wasteful’ and ‘unnecessary’ as she noticed no difference in the quality of her baking when she stopped preheating.
‘I stopped preheating my pan early on in my sourdough journey. I then decided to experiment with not preheating the oven too,’ she said.
Sourdough expert and cookbook author Elaine Boddy (pictured) has revealed that you don’t need to preheat your oven before baking
‘I have two domestic ovens, side by side so I put one pan of dough into a preheated oven, and one in a cold oven, and compared the outcome.
‘They both rose and baked well and the one that was baked from the cold start, baked to a bigger lighter loaf than the one in the preheated oven. From that day on I have baked everything I make from a cold start.’
Boddy explained that preheating isn’t necessary in both gas and electric ovens and it doesn’t matter how long it takes for your oven to warm up.
‘I’ve never had anything that hasn’t baked or cooked properly as a result of not preheating my oven,’ she said.
‘The food writer, Orlando Murrin, has even proved that you don’t need to preheat the oven to make Yorkshire puddings.’
Boddy said she hasn’t found any instances when preheating is a better option than a cold start but recommends people do whatever they feel comfortable with.
‘In the end, if we are unsure about anything that we bake or cook being sufficiently done, it can always go back into the oven for more time,’ she said.
‘If anyone feels unsure about making that distinction, it’s best to stick with what they’re comfortable doing.’
Boddy said she hasn’t preheated her oven and baking pans in more than six years, deeming it a ‘wasteful’ step (stock image)
Boddy said baking from a ‘cold start’ sees her sourdough loaves come out ‘bigger and lighter’ and she hasn’t found any instances when preheating is a better option
The sourdough pro added that she’s met with ‘incredulity’ from fellow bakers for her anti-preheating methods.
‘It’s so ingrained into us that ovens should be preheated, that not to seems crazy, but when they then try it, it works,’ she said.
‘For anyone that isn’t comfortable with the idea, or when it comes to AGA cookers or ovens that are always on, I always provide baking times for preheated ovens as well as cold starts.
‘At the end of the day, all that matters is that people are happy with their creations, my suggestions are merely that.’
