Getting even heat from your oven, how the pan's size and material change a bake, and how to prep and cool it.
Preheat properly
Most bakes need a fully hot oven from the first minute: cookies set before they spread too far, and quick breads and cakes rise before their crust forms. An oven's ready signal usually means the air has reached the temperature; the walls and racks catch up later, so give it another 10–15 minutes.
Rack position
- Middle rack for nearly everything: the heat is most even there.
- Lower third for pies and pizza, so the bottom crust gets more heat.
- Upper third for browning a top at the end.
For the most even cookies, bake one sheet at a time in the middle. Baking two? Use the upper and lower thirds and swap and turn the sheets halfway through.
Convection
A convection (fan) setting blows the hot air around, which browns and bakes faster. When a recipe is written for a regular oven, lower the temperature by 25°F (15°C), or keep it and start checking a few minutes early. Some ovens make that adjustment for you; the manual says.
Baking at a different temperature for another reason, like sharing the oven with something else? The Oven Time Converter estimates the new time. It doesn't know about pan size, convection or how full the oven is: treat its time as the moment to start checking.
Pan material
Recipes assume a light-colored metal pan unless they say otherwise. Other pans bake differently:
Light metal (aluminum)
- What happens:
- Even heat, light golden edges.
- Adjust:
- Nothing: this is the baseline.
Dark or nonstick metal
- What happens:
- Absorbs more heat: darker bottoms and edges.
- Adjust:
- Lower the oven by 25°F (15°C), or check early.
Glass
- What happens:
- Slow to heat, then holds heat: edges can overbake before the middle is done.
- Adjust:
- Lower the oven by 25°F (15°C).
Ceramic or stoneware
- What happens:
- Like glass.
- Adjust:
- Like glass; check early.
Silicone
- What happens:
- Pale, soft edges; flexible.
- Adjust:
- Set it on a baking sheet so it doesn't sag.
| Pan | What happens | Adjust |
|---|---|---|
| Light metal (aluminum) | Even heat, light golden edges. | Nothing: this is the baseline. |
| Dark or nonstick metal | Absorbs more heat: darker bottoms and edges. | Lower the oven by 25°F (15°C), or check early. |
| Glass | Slow to heat, then holds heat: edges can overbake before the middle is done. | Lower the oven by 25°F (15°C). |
| Ceramic or stoneware | Like glass. | Like glass; check early. |
| Silicone | Pale, soft edges; flexible. | Set it on a baking sheet so it doesn't sag. |
Pan size
The recipe pages offer a pan picker on recipes baked in a pan, like Banana Bread and Fudgy Brownies. It scales the batter by how much the pan you choose holds, but it can't change the bake time, and time depends mostly on how deep the batter is:
- A deeper pan shape (a loaf pan instead of a square one that holds as much): longer bake, and the edges may finish before the middle. Lower the oven by 25°F (15°C) if the edges get too dark.
- A shallower pan shape (a 9×13-inch (23×33 cm) pan instead of a loaf): shorter bake. Start checking well before the recipe's time.
- The original batter in a different pan without scaling it: a smaller pan means deeper batter and a longer bake; a bigger one means a shorter bake.
- Muffins from a loaf recipe: much shorter. Banana Bread's tip gives 20–25 minutes instead of about an hour.
Whatever the pan, judge doneness by the signs in Is It Done?, not the clock.
Prepping the pan
- Grease and flour for cakes and quick breads: butter or spray the pan, add a spoonful of flour, tilt and tap until it's coated, and knock out the rest. Use cocoa instead of flour for chocolate bakes.
- Parchment sling for brownies and bars: a strip of parchment that hangs over two sides, so you can lift the whole slab out to cut it.
- Parchment or a silicone mat under cookies: they don't stick, and bottoms brown more evenly.
- Paper liners for muffins, or grease the cups.
Cooling
Baking doesn't stop when the pan comes out: the heat stored in the pan keeps cooking. Set pans on a wire rack so air reaches the bottom, which also stops steam from making it soggy. How long to leave things in the pan is in Is It Done?.