March 11, 2010 - 12:53pm
Baking Time
I don't like to copy a recipe and just bake it; I want to know why we do each particular step.
So I noticed that some recipes they ask to bake a cake for the first 10 minutes at 420 F and then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake it another 30 minutes.
What we try to achieve the first 10 minutes?
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Leavened baked goods experience their best oven spring (initial rise) within the first ten minutes or so in the oven. After that time, the surface of the baked goods stiffens up (kinda like forming a "skin") that interferes with further expansion of the batter/dough. So the initial baking temperature for many baked goods is set intentionally high to encourage the leavening agent to achieve its full capacity before the surface stiffens up. You wouldn't, however, want to leave the temperature that high - don't want to burn the cake. So the temperature is reduced to allow the cake to cook through without burning.
Very interesting, thank you