I finally understood why my sourdough crusts were so tough

I was at a friend's house last week and she gave me a slice of her bread. The crust shattered like glass and was so light... mine was always hard and chewy. She asked how long I was baking it for, and I said 'about 45 minutes at 450 degrees, like the book said'. She just looked at my oven and pointed out my old oven runs about 25 degrees hot. I'd been over-baking every single loaf for months. Has anyone else had to totally relearn their bake times after moving or getting a new oven?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_owens1mo ago

Oh man, the "old oven runs hot" thing is a classic. My buddy Mark moved into this apartment with a super old stove. He kept burning his roasted veggies to charcoal. He was following the times exactly! Finally bought an oven thermometer on a whim. Turns out his '350' was actually like 390. He said relearning all his cook times felt like starting from scratch, especially for cookies.

paige_harris1mo ago

Did Mark ever figure out a good cookie time for that hot oven, @harper_owens?