Maximizing Oven Usage for Baking

[DancingLady]

When you are doing a lot of baking in one day, do you fill up the oven, or do one pan at a time?

I've heard you shouldn't put in two cookie sheets at a time, but I've done it without problems. What is your experience? Is a full oven not going to get the best results?

 

[barkingsquirrel]

Huh, I've never heard that being a problem before. I do it all the time, but halfway through cooking, I rotate the pans like you would tires on a car.

At first when I saw your question, I immediately thought of Thanksgiving. I am forever cooking casseroles on top of each other in the oven. I never have a problem with that either, but of course, they have to be covered casseroles and dishes. I also do it in the microwave when I'm short on time.

 

[connie]

Filling the oven can mean that cooking times are longer, but that is all and this is simply because it takes longer to warm the contents of what you have put in up to cooking temperature. It is something to watch for, your cookies may take a minute or two longer, or you may not notice anything at all with something that only cooks for 9 minutes. What is an extra minute? Your oven may be overcooking them at 9 minutes anyhow (even if it is only marginal) but with 2 lots in, suddenly they are no longer overcooked and 9 minutes is fine.

However, I have just done 2 1kg loaves of bread on the same shelf and the oven was definitely working harder to bring them up to cooking temperature - it is a gas oven with a glass door, so you can see (and hear) how long the flame stays much bigger whilst it tries to return the oven to a set temperature. Did it take much longer, I have no idea. I am that slow at getting to the oven to test the contents are ready that it hardly matters, and if the cooking time is 45 mins, what is an extra 2-3 minutes going to make? But had I have put anything else into the oven, in addition to these 2 large loaves of bread, then I really would have needed to consider how it would impact on whatever else was going in - the temperature has little impact on sourdough tbh.

 

[DancingLady]

I haven't worked with a gas oven before, that's an interesting observation. I would think though, that even if the flame was a little bigger longer, you still saved energy over running it twice as long. That's the biggest thing for me, trying to save energy without sacrificing the quality of the baked items too much.

 

[Trellum]

I've baked two pies at once No problems either, not one at all... which is great because I'm almost certain that old oven doesn't help distribute heat evenly. No issues at all. I'm not sure about cookies tho, I've never placed two sheets of cookies in that oven. I think the thing can hardly handle one...

 

[Zyni]

I bake more than one thing at a time all the time. It doesn't seem to be a problem for me. I wonder if it makes it worse having something above or below. I usually have stuff side by side. Sometimes, the whole oven is full though.