April 4, 2018 - 5:10pm
Is it my oven or the bread recipe?
I have the Whirlpool model RB260PXYQ oven. My wife kept saying there is something wrong with the oven because every time she uses it for baking bread, the bread always turned out very hard. I'm hesitant to purchase a new oven if it's just her recipe or how she uses the oven incorrectly. Any suggestion is much appreciated.
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I am certainly not telling you to disagree with your wife - but . . . I doubt the oven itself is directly at fault. First, -spend a few dollars on an oven thermometer. I have seen a few reviews that suggest most of them are pretty accurate, and they are not very expensive. Set the temp on the oven, then monitor the temp on the thermometer every 10 or 15 minutes for an hour. Note that all ovens cycle, so if it is set at 350, it will slowly climb to 350, and probably get to 375, then it may cool down to 325, then up to 375 - the range between the two numbers depends on the oven, and while some have a narrow range, I wouldn't get too worried about a 50 degree swing, you are actually looking to see if it swings from 350 to 400, which would mean that it is off by 25 degrees. If it is off, you can either adjust the readout ( that can be done on some ovens by reading the manual and locating a section on how to adjust it ) or just remember that to add or subtract the appropriate amount that it is off when setting the temp. If you notice really wide swings, and the oven is in pretty good condition, you can see what it would cost to replace the thermostat. Unless the oven is way off, my guess is that there is a problem with her recipe or process. While she still may want, and deserve, a new oven, people have baked bread very successfully in a dutch oven over a camp fire and it wood fired ovens, neither of which have very precise temperature controls. So if there is nothing way out of order with the oven, I suggest you very carefully and kindly suggest she visit this site and start with one of the loaves in the handbook section, and try it a few times to see if she can get acceptable results. I have been married for quite some time, which I attribute to my realization that there is not much upside to winning an argument with your spouse.
Thank you so much for the great suggestion. We'll try to the thermometer and see what the range is.
No problem, when you get the results if you have any questions, just let us know. My guess is that it is baking hot, that would make the bread hard.
getting an oven thermometer helped me a lot. it turns out that when my oven beeps to let me know it's pre-heated, it's not. thanks to the oven thermometer, i discovered it takes about 15 more minutes. if your oven is too hot, that could be the problem, and knowing how hot it is could let your wife correct.