Tips for Baking in an Oven with a Hot Spot

Baking in an oven that has a hot spot is tricky. It can ruin even the best recipes but there are ways to tackle this problem. 

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I had an electric oven when I started baking. While I was not baking anything advanced, this oven never gave me any problems. Because of how well my previous oven baked, I did not know there was such a thing as a hotspot.

After almost 2 decades of working, my oven stopped working one night while baking a cake. While it was getting fixed, my mother bought me a huge gas oven.

I quickly learned that the oven had a hot spot in the most inconvenient place possible, the middle. A hot spot causes a particular area in the oven to get higher temperature than others do.

This means that when baking the thing in that part of the oven is cooked faster. In some cases, it is over baked and even burnt while the baked goods in the other part of the oven are just cooked.

This can also cause uneven oven temperature and consequently uneven baking. I still bake with this oven but have learned some tips to improve my baking experience.

Five Tips for baking in an oven with a hot spot

Tip 1: Identify the hot spots in your oven.

It is quite important to do this especially if you bake a lot. Pointing out the areas of higher temperature in your oven is important in deciding how to tackle the problem. To identify your oven’s hot spots, use the white bread method. If your oven has a cold spot, this will also help you identify it. The white bread method is easy to do and can be found HERE.

Tip 2: Where possible, avoid the hottest areas in the oven.

When I am baking a small item or using a smaller sheet pan, I simply do not place them in the hot spots. Due to my hot spot being in the center of the oven, I place my smaller pans on the left or right sides of the oven.

Tip 3:   Flip your pan or sheets halfway through baking.

Ordinarily, even without oven hot spots, some cooks recommend flipping your pans for even baking. If your hot spot is on the right or left side, flipping your cookie sheet or baking pan will ensure more even cooking.

Tip 4: Use a buffer.

 When baking in oven with uneven temperature, adding another baking sheet on a lower rack or even a pizza stone as seen HERE is beneficial. The added pan or pizza stone absorbs some of the heat and this will help to ensure a more even temperature.

Tip 5: Double or triple the parchment paper used in the hotter part of the oven to slow down browning.

 If you cannot avoid the hot spot or are using a large cookie sheet, this a great tip. This also acts like a buffer as seen above. While the parchment paper will not absorb the heat and regulate the oven temperature, this will the reduce the rate at which your baked goods in the hot spot burns.

I would love to hear any other suggestions for baking with a oven with a hotspot. If you have other suggestions for dealing with this problem, leave it I the comment section.