Products cooked in preheated versus non-preheated ovens. Baking times, calculated energy consumption, and product...

Plain muffins, yellow cake, baked custard, apple pie, tuna casserole, frozen tuna casserole, cheese soufflé, and meat loaf were baked in preheated and non-preheated standard gas, continuous-clean gas, standard electric, and self-cleaning electric ovens. Products generally required 5 min. or less extra baking time when cooked in non-preheated rather than in preheated ovens. The variability in baking times often was less between preheated and non-preheated ovens than among oven types. Calculated energy consumption values showed that usually less energy was required to bake products in non-preheated than in preheated ovens; savings averaged about 10 percent. Few significant differences were found in physical measurements or eating quality either between preheated and non-preheated ovens or among oven types. Overall, for the products tested, findings confirmed that preheating the oven is not essential for good product quality and, therefore, is an unnecessary use of energy.