Dr Oz: Sugar Method To Test Oven Temperature + Cooking Fails

Dr Oz: What’s Wrong With Your Oven?

Despite being one of your most-used cooking tools, there’s a good chance your oven is also one of your most frustrating ones. If you’ve been under-baking or over-roasting food, the problem may actually be your oven, not your cooking. Dr Oz welcomed Food Network chef and author Nancy Fuller. Nancy said she has catered for 30 years and for 30 years, every oven has been different. According to Nancy, the biggest culprit is the eager cook who’s constantly opening the door and checking on their food.

Dr Oz: Wrong Oven Temperature

To find out just how much of an issue oven temperature is, Nancy sent out a recipe for a loaf of bread to a large number of people across the country. It turns out that all of their results were bad! The problem is that none of them were actually cooking with the same oven temperature, even though they set the temperature to the same number.

Dr Oz: How Accurate Is Your Oven Temperature?

Dr Oz explained that in the directions for the bread, they were told to set the oven temperature to 350 degrees. But was the temperature inside the oven actually 350 degrees, even though that’s what they set it to? There’s a chance the temperature could actually be lower and when you open the oven to check on your food, it messes with the cooking process even more. There’s all kinds of things that can go wrong when it comes to cooking with your oven.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to find out just how well your oven is working.

Dr Oz: Sugar Method To Test Oven Temperature

One option is to buy a thermometer for your oven. Put the thermometer in the oven and then set it to a temperature and see if they match. Another option is the sugar test. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and put a tablespoon of sugar on a piece of foil on a cookie sheet. Set the timer to 15 minutes. Sugar melts at 366 degrees so if you still see sugar that almost looks like a white egg yolk after 15 minutes, it’s under-cooked and the temperature is too low. If it burns, the temperature is too high.

If you’re having oven issues, first check to make sure the gasket is attached and properly fitted. If it’s an issue with the element, you may need to replace the stove.