Glass cooktop Whirlpool ok, oven performance

[washman]

really sucks.

The cooktop burner, my first time using a glass cooktop, was impressive. It heated my pasta water about minutes faster than the old Caloric at my condo. Keep a nice rolling boil, no dropoff at all. Very good. Still not fast enough to cool down like gas, but much better than the Caloric

Oven OTH, was a joke. Of course I have twirl knobs for the burners. The oven is all digital. Turn it "on" so to speak and it defaults to 350 right off the bat.Turned up to 375 and it has a rather anal retentive temp display that increases in 5 degree increments until finally it beeps 3x to tell you voila! you are at set temp!

So far so good right? Well, not exactly. I placed one rack wayyy at the top just under the broiler elements. The second rack I put 2 notches from the bottom of the oven. Made my usual garlic bread. Put it on the Mirro pizza tin I have used for years. Covered the tin with aluminum foil, like I have for years. In the Caloric, about 10 minutes total for both sides to be nice and brown. Not so with the Whirlpool. 6 minutes into the baking, the bottom of the bread is barely brown. In the Caloric, it would be almost black. Turned it over. Waited 4 more minutes. By now, my pasta is done, draining and getting cold. Screw this, I pulled out the manual to figure out how to get the broiler elements to work, and finally after 5 minutes of reading, I got them going and had the bread browned in no time flat.

I know it is new and I need to experiment but I woulda thunk that simple to brown garlic bread with butter and oil would be a piece of cake. I was wrong.

While the cooktop performance was impressive, the oven performance is not. I suspect the thermostat is not calibrated correctly. In other words, the display might say 350 but I am willing to bet I'm at least 25 degrees below what it actually says. Tomorrow I will figure out how to calibrate the thing so I can at least bake some things before the sun goes down.

 

[appnut]

Ben, that's not uncommon. If you have an oven thermometer, you will need to check the temp accuracy and calibrate accordingly. Mine has been 12 degrees off since 1984 and I just compensate for it. It's probably not nearly as bad as you think it is. Also, preheating should be longer than the preheat signaling it's reached temperature. Should be allowed to eve3n out from preheat mode for about 5-10 minutes, fialry common steps for proper baking. Why recipes have you preheat while your putting the batter together so the oven is truly ready to bake.

 

[mattl]

I've been calibrating my ovens for years now, only way you can get good, consistent results. I just started a thread about calibrating my KA convection microwave, it was about 20 degrees hot. I did my Electrolux over a few years back and do check it from time to time to see if it drifted.

Some ovens have limited adjustments, some are hard to access. In the past it was just loosening a screw and twisting a knob setting , now it buried somewhere in the settings. Let us know how it performs when you get it right.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I will second what others have suggested, get a thermometer to see where you are temp wise.

You didn't say or not, but does your oven have a hidden element? I found with my GE that it browned a little slower even though the temps were spot on. When I am doing something like garlic bread, like you were, I set the temp about 25 degrees higher and have had good results.

I keep the thermometer in my oven at all times, as America's Test Kitchen advises that a Home oven will vary in calibration and should be checked every year or so.

 

[DADoES]

 
The beep means the target air temp is reached at wherever is the sensor probe's position.  I wait 10 to 15 mins additional time for mass of the oven cavity to stabilize.  Shorter for non-critical items such as frozen pizza, canned biscuits or cinnamon rolls, chicken breast.  Longer for more-sensitive items such as cakes and brownies.

 

[washman]

Made some improvement

calibrated the t-stat 10 degrees higher. Used an oven thermometer that is indeed accurate. While this oven heats up and beeps, it is still about 25 degrees below the set temp on the LED display. I got it to 15 degrees, if I wait a full 10 minutes, it manages to stabilize at 350.

The Caloric would almost always overshoot the set temp. 425 in that oven would get you 475 but it would come back down.

I think with the Whirlpool I'll go 20 degrees higher than what the recipe calls for and go from there.

 

[mattl]

An oven temp is like a sine wave, it swings above and below the set-point.  It's not unusual to see a swing of 30 degrees over 5 minutes time.  You won't see much of this with a standard oven thermometer as they respond a bit slower.

 

I have decided that longer preheat times are better if you are baking something critical, a cake or bread, a roast won't care.