Rant: My $16 oven thermometer saved my banana bread and I don't care if that's "cheating"

Henry Martinez · 2026-09-30T17:35:05.128392+00:00

Everyone in this community keeps saying you should trust your oven dial and learn its quirks by feel. I think that's nonsense. My oven runs 40 degrees hot, which I only found out after a batch of banana bread came out black on the bottom in 35 minutes at what the dial called 350. I got mad and spent $16 on a cheap oven thermometer from the hardware store on Grand Ave. Best money I ever spent on baking. Now I know the real temp, I set the dial lower, and my bread comes out right the first time instead of the third. People say using one means you never learn your oven. I say burning four loaves to "learn" it is just wasting flour and time. The thermometer taught me more in one bake than two months of guessing did. So what's the real argument against a $16 tool that just tells you the truth?

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Rant: My $16 oven thermometer saved my banana bread and I don't care if that's "cheating" | Baking Fails And Wins - Talk Freely