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I have a gas oven, and I use an oven thermometer. Even though I cook at the correct temperatures, it takes significantly longer to cook than recipes say, sometimes even double or triple the cooking time. I never had any trouble when I used to bake with a conventional oven in the Texas, but now use a gas oven and live in Guayaquil, Ecuador, which is at sea level and usually fairly hot. Could that have something to do with it? I’ve tried reducing liquids in my recipes and it doesn’t seem to help.

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  • Is it natural gas, or propane? I ask because propane produces water, which can throw some recipes off ... but it shouldn't be double or triple the time to cook.
    – Joe
    Nov 11, 2018 at 0:05
  • and possibly related : cooking.stackexchange.com/q/53964/67
    – Joe
    Nov 11, 2018 at 0:06
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    Are you sure the oven thermometer is accurate? Does the oven setting match (reasonably well) the measured temperature? Nov 11, 2018 at 0:11
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    @Joe so does natural gas (methane = CH4)
    – Chris H
    Nov 11, 2018 at 20:21

2 Answers 2

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I had (have) a similar problem with my GE profile range oven. I finally put a probe thermometer in there and tested it for at various settings. I found the oven took much longer than it claimed to actually equilibrate to the set point.

For example, setting at 400 °F (~ 205 °C), the oven would announce it had hit set point in about 15-20 minutes. The probe said otherwise - it might briefly hit 400 but within 5 minutes of the burner going off it would drift down around 340, and with similar or analogous results at other set points. It took almost 40 minutes of preheat time to actually stick around the set point.

So now I either start the preheat earlier or set it 50-75 degrees high, wait 5 minutes after it claims it has hit set point, then put the food in and kick the set point down to the right setting. Seems to work out well.

In another oven I had similar trouble but found out that was my fault. I have 3 fairly heavy pizza/bread stones and used to store all 3 on the bottom rack. The oven would hit set point but the stones would suck up all the heat.

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Do you have a conventional oven? Most modern recipes are written with the assumption that the reader is using a convection oven, which uses a fan to circulate hot air to cook food more evenly and reduce cook times. If this is the case, this website can help you convert recipes: http://www.convection-calculator.com/

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  • ehow.com/how_6039790_convert-convection-cooking-times.html "...if converting a convection cooking time to a conventional oven, raise the temperature by 25 degrees. Decrease the baking time by 25 percent for a convection oven (or, for a conventional oven, increase it by 1/3) as an alternative to changing the baking temperature. Decrease the temperature of the oven by 25 to 50 degrees for a convection oven (or increase it by the same amount for a conventional oven) when cooking recipes for covered dishes with a long cooking time."
    – JoC
    Nov 11, 2018 at 5:51
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    It's possible that's a local thing. I don't think that convection ovens are as widespread in the US as they are in Europe.
    – Joe
    Nov 12, 2018 at 2:10

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