Bakeware and oven temp?

[julesthegolfer]

I just bought a nice, heavy weight Chicago Metallic 9X9 non-stick baking pan. The directions state to set oven temperature 25 degrees lower than specified in recipe. I am afraid to do this. I plan to make shortbread and recipe is 325. That would mean I would set it for 300. I not sure that will work. Any suggestions??
Thanks

 

[Andy M.]

The reason for the lower temperature is because the darker color of your pan will absorb more heat than a lighter colored pan, causing the product to overcook around the edges before it's done in the middle.

My suggestion is to do it and judge for yourself.

 

[julesthegolfer]

I'm puzzled over why degrees are always in 25 degree increments. I may try to bake it at 310. Would that work?

 

[Andy M.]

I'm puzzled over why degrees are always in 25 degree increments. I may try to bake it at 310. Would that work?

Maybe because extensive testing at the factory indicated that's the best way to get top performance out of their products.

I have no idea if 310F would work. What's your aversion to doing what the instructions tell you to do?

 

[julesthegolfer]

Because I'm skeptical- I'm not sure they do "extensive" testing, plus history of recipes not turning out making them exactly as recipe says. 300 just seems too low to bake anything!! But I guess I'll try it at 300. Then I can say "I told you so" LOL

 

[Andy M.]

... Then I can say "I told you so" LOL

...or, "Wow, thanks Andy. You were right!"

 

[Michael in FtW]

Well, I can't say anything about the extensiveness of the testing done by that one company - but I do know that extensive testing has been done in the food industry and dark pans do absorb more heat and need a 25°F cooler oven. The same would be true if you were using a glass baking pan. Andy gave you sage advice.

 

[CharlieD]

The only question I would have if the original recipe calls for using light color pan or a dark one?

 

[Michael in FtW]

Very good point, Charlie! What kind of pan did the recipe say to use. If it called for a 9x9 glass baking dish - then you wouldn't need to make any changes in the oven temp using the new dark pan.

This is a problem with some baking recipes - they don't say what pan their recipe used.

 

[julesthegolfer]

I made my recipe this afternoon. It was from a catalog I get, Cooking Enthusiast. It was for Millionaire's Shortbread and did not specify what size of pan other than to say a "shortbread pan", which I do not have. I used my 8X8 pan because some internet site said that was the size of a shortbread pan. I cooked it at 300 (recipe said 325) for 18 min (recipe said 18-20) and not much was happening. I turned it up to 325 and had to cook it 8 more minutes.

 

[Michael in FtW]

AHA! This is a shortcake pan:

If you used a square 8x8 pan then you have to expect that it would take longer to bake - you would have to use cake pan times instead of the shortcake pan times. For a standard dull aluminum 8x8x2 inch cake pan with 4 cups of batter the baking temp would be 350°F for 35-40 minutes.

 

[Andy M.]

Shortbread pans mostly appear to be either cast aluminum or ceramic with decorative patterns. Chicago Metallic offers a cast aluminum one.

Directions to reduce the oven temperature by 25 F for a non-stick pan were, no doubt, in comparison to a similar sized light colored sheet aluminum pan.

Cast alum. and ceramic pans would have different heat transfer characteristics more like your non-stick pan than a thinner sheet aluminum pan.