As of: February 29, 2024, 8:00 a.m
By: Laura Hindelang
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Almost every recipe says “preheat the oven”.
However, often this is not necessary at all.
There are only certain dishes where you shouldn't do without it.
Regardless of whether it is a recipe or a ready-made meal – when the food goes into the oven, there is precise information in the preparation as to how long the food needs to bake.
The note on preheating is also a mandatory part of the instructions.
According to the Bavarian Consumer Center
, this is
only a guide for consumers from the food industry.
Preheating the oven is usually unnecessary
Depending on the manufacturer and room temperature, every oven takes a different amount of time to heat up.
Only when the oven has reached the specified temperature can an exact statement be made about the baking time.
Hence the recommendation to preheat.
However, for most recipes this is not necessary.
It is better for the environment and your wallet not to preheat the oven, but simply to leave the dish in the oven for a few minutes longer, advises
Ökotest
.
According to the federal government, if you forego preheating, you can save around eight percent on electricity.
© Shotshop/Imago
“If you forego preheating, you can save up to 20 percent of energy,” says Jutta Saumweber from the
Bavarian Consumer Center
.
For dishes in which a crust does not form or only forms later, preheating the oven is unnecessary anyway.
These include, for example
Cake
Homemade bread
Casseroles
roast meat
Oven baked vegetables
frozen goods
You can easily put dishes from these categories in the still cold oven and then heat it up to the desired temperature.
According to Ökotest,
after the specified baking time, you should
look into the oven and then decide how long you want to continue baking the food.
In such cases, a sense of proportion and feeling are required.
For cakes, you can also use a stick test to determine how long the pastry should remain in the oven.
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However, preheating makes sense - and is necessary - if the food requires a lot of heat right from the start of the cooking process or is prepared at a high temperature in a short time.
These dishes include:
Soufflés
Pastries made from puff and sponge dough
Fish
Meat
Meat and fish lose water when warmed up slowly and can therefore become tough, explains Daniela Krehl, expert advisor for the food and nutrition department at the Bavarian Consumer Center, in an interview with the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
.
Preheating is also recommended for the low cooking method - if the meat is not seared beforehand but is put in the oven raw.
In the case of a sponge cake, the egg whites used in it could collapse if the oven is not set to the correct temperature.
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Before you preheat the oven, you should empty it, advises
Ökotest
.
Heating a baking tray or the rack also requires additional energy.
According to the consumer advice center
, you can
also save electricity if you switch off the oven ten minutes before the end of the cooking time and use the residual heat.
The
federal government
also suggests baking with the convection function.
This saves 15 percent energy compared to top and bottom heat.
Five minutes should be enough to bring the oven to the specified temperature.