Most recipes in baking begin with instructions
to pre-heat the oven, a very important step. In this video, what is pre-heating and how
to pre-heat a convection microwave? I have previously given a quick demonstration
on pre-heating as part of my first video How To Use A Convection Microwave. In this video,
we go a little more into the details. Whenever we bake anything, even before we
keep the batter inside the oven, we need to bring the microwave to the temperature specified
in the recipe. This is called as pre-heating. This is an important step and the first thing
you do even before you start mixing your batter. We want the oven hot and ready, so that the
tin with the batter can go in without any delay once it is mixed. Never keep the cake or brownie batter waiting
as it can alter the texture. But remember to follow recipe instructions always as sometimes
it may depend upon the recipe. When we talk about pre-heating, I must definitely
mention an oven thermometer. This helps you cross-check the temperature inside the oven.
Ovens can sometimes act funny, the temperature you set and the actual temperature inside
the oven may be different. So you may end up ruining your bakes. So please do get yourself
an oven thermometer. I use this, something I got before I realized the importance of
an oven thermometer. Do get something from a reputed brand, you could buy this online. So here is how I pre-heat my LG convection
microwave, please take this as a general guide. In case you are using a microwave of a different
brand, you would have to bring out your manual and refer it. If you can't find it as it happens
often, try to find it online So to pre-heat the oven, we will first keep
this short rack inside the oven. And then place your oven thermometer on this rack.
And then I set the oven on convection mode. And by default, the temperature sets at 180C.
If you want to increase the temperature, this goes upto 250C. And if you want to decrease.
And now I want to set my oven at 180C. This is at 180C. Now I will press the start button.
And now you can see that the oven is pre-heating. The turntable inside the oven starts rotating
as the oven pre-heats. And when the oven is hot and reaches 180C you will hear a beep.
You will also see 180C here in the display. So now we have pre-heated the oven to 180C.
My oven thermometer also displays 180C, so temperature issues , my bakes turn out fine.
But in case there is a lot of variation, between the temperature you set and the temperature
the thermometer displays, and you are also ended up ruining your bakes, may be they are
burnt or undercooked, then maybe you should get your oven checked by a technician.
So you will be pre-heating the oven even before you start mixing the batter. Once you hear
the beep, quickly open the door, and remove the oven thermometer from here and quickly
keep your cake inside the oven. This is an imaginary one of course. And now set the timer,
says 25 minutes. And then press the Start button. Before you keep the cake inside the
oven, make sure the rack is in the center of the turntable and it is also steady.
One really good thing about convection microwaves is,it takes very little time to pre-heat,
even to 250C. Once the oven sounds the beep and you do not
keep anything inside and you do not set the timer, the oven will stay on at the same temperature
for about 20-25 minutes and then it will get switched off. If that happens you will need
to pre-heat all over again. And once you switch the oven off the oven
starts cooling, you can hear the fan here. Please let the oven cool, try not to switch
off the main switch on the wall, because your oven needs to cool after you use it.
Assume you have baked your cake for about 30 minutes, you take it out and it is still
undercooked and you want to bake it longer. So if you are putting it back right away,
then you don’t really need to pre-heat the oven all over again.
But if has been a minute or so since you have removed the cake and the oven has already
started cooling, you may want to pre-heat the oven again and put the cake back in. But
each oven is different, so please check how your oven works, and how long it maintains
the temperature once it is turned off. That will give you a better idea.
But if ever in doubt, pre-heating again is a safe bet. And in case your oven gets turned
off before you can put the under baked cake back into the oven, please make sure you put
it back on convection mode, set the temperature correctly and then set the timer. And if you
are going to be baking multiple trays of cookies, please make sure the next tray with the batter
is ready to go into the oven before the one inside the oven comes out.
So this was about pre-heating a convection microwave. Please do share this video if you
find it useful. You could also watch my video ‘How To Use a Convection Microwave’ for
more details.