How Checking Food In Your Oven Can Affect The Way It Cooks

Don't underestimate the power of using a recipe. They lead to consistency in results and precision in your measurements, and they are calculated with the science of cooking in mind, according to Delighted Cooking.

Failure to follow the recipe often results in failure overall, per The Outline. In fact, baking is so cut and dry based on recipes that it requires few skills other than reading. While minimal substitutions are acceptable, the ratios of flour, fat, sugar, and water must be precise, or you simply will not get results. Baking is neither the time nor the place for improvisation, you'll have no one to blame but yourself if you do because you didn't follow the instructions.

One of the quickest ways to foil your baking project is to open the oven door frequently to check on what's inside, Readers' Digest reported. Elevate your baking game by understanding the science behind temperature and the role it plays in your kitchen.

Baking is a labor of love because it requires you to devote a certain amount of time to working in your kitchen. If patience isn't a quality you possess in excess, it's possible that you'll be tempted to crack open your oven to peek at whatever's baking inside. Stop right there.

Readers' Digest reported that this is a major mistake. Every time you open the oven door, heat flows out into your kitchen and away from what's cooking. Opening the door is the oven mistake that will cause your cake to collapse. That's because the influx of cold air stops the cake from rising, and it begins to fall in the center. Per Kitchn, "Bakewise" author Shirley O. Corriher wrote that opening the oven door for just 30 seconds could cause the cooking temperature to lower by 150 degrees.

Instead of opening the door, use the oven light to peer in. No, it's not the same. You won't smell the delicious aromas or get the full visual but you might save the end result.