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40 burnt loaves in, I finally stopped blaming the oven
I hit 40 ruined batches of sourdough in my little apartment kitchen and every single time I swore it was the ancient electric coil. Then my neighbor brought over a cheap oven thermometer and turns out my oven runs 25 degrees hot, that was the whole problem. Anyone else wasted months of flour before checking the actual temp?
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ivan_mason22d ago
Fixed that exact problem last year after three months of wasted dough. Got a $8 oven thermometer from the grocery store and found my oven was off by 30 degrees too. Honestly, the real game changer was testing it at different spots in the oven because mine was hotter near the back. Once I started moving the rack lower and rotating the loaf halfway through, everything changed. Sourdough is fussy but not that fussy, it was just lying to me the whole time. Now I keep that cheap thermometer right on the rack next to my Dutch oven and check it every single bake.
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Forty loaves? That's not a baking journey, that's a hostage situation with your oven. Mine lied to me for two months, claimed it was 350 when it was really 375, so my bread was basically pre-toasted before it even went in. Now I just stick my head in there with a lighter and watch the flame, real high-tech stuff. Honestly, your neighbor just saved you from a lifetime of cursing at an innocent appliance.
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