Were all guilty of skimming a recipe sometimes, or just plain missing a step.

Each category of baked goods requires various reactions activated by heat.

Let’s take a look at what will happen in each case.

Photo of a person turning on their oven

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Have you ever noticed that not all recipes start out with preheating the oven?

Thats because the best time to preheat the oven depends on what youre making.

A good recipe will indicate when to preheat the oven so it times out just right.

How to make Brazilian Cheese Bread in oven

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

While these are situations that you might get away with it, its not necessarily something Id recommend.

The inside of an oven with an oven thermometer on the baking rack

Simply Recipes / Irvin Lin