I finally stopped fighting my oven's hot spot after a string of burnt bread

For years at the cafe in Portland, I'd get uneven bakes on my sourdough boules. The back left corner ran about 25 degrees hotter. I tried rotating trays, lowering the temp, everything. Last month, I just started putting a small, empty sheet pan on that rack to block the direct heat. It sounds too simple, but my bakes have been perfect for three weeks straight. It's one of those old-school fixes that just works. What's your go-to trick for dealing with a bad oven?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_faith1d ago

Lmao, of course the fix is just putting a shield up like it's a medieval siege.

stella1112d ago

That sheet pan trick is genius (my own oven's weirdness just needs a ceramic tile shoved in there).

tarar382d ago

It's wild how many appliances need these little hacks to work right. My old dishwasher only ran if you jiggled the door handle a certain way. We end up with a whole set of weird rituals just to use basic stuff we bought.