Introduction

One thing before we begin, it’s a good idea to calibrate your oven using a reasonable reference temperature. If your thermometer reads too high by 25 degrees then you will  calibrate your oven to be off by 25 degrees. That’s not a good idea.

Start with a good thermometer that you can place in your oven. I used this device http://thermoworks.com/products/alarm/oven_temp_timer.html from ThermoWorks. While you are there, invest in a thermapen, you will wonder how you ever cooked without it.

Next, check the calibration of your thermometer by doing an ice bath check, http://thermoworks.com/learning/thermapen101_creating_an_icebath.html. Then check your thermometer with boiling water http://thermoworks.com/learning/foodservice101_boiling_point.html. My boiling point is 208.1F and my thermometer settled in at 208F. I now trust it to be close enough.

Put the temperature probe into the middle of the oven with the tip suspended in the air, not touching a rack. If the probe tip touches a rack it will measure the temperature of the rack which is very slow to change. I held the tip of my probe up with a can opener. Close the door.

Turn you oven on to convection bake at a temperature of, say, 375F. Initially the oven will get hotter than 375F then, after about 15 minutes, will start to control about 3 degrees above and below what it thinks is 375F.

Watch your thermometer and write down the maximum temperature reached when the oven is heating (you should hear the clicking relays for the heater elements). Next, write down the minimum temperature reached before the oven starts heating again.

Once it was heated up, my oven would go from, according to my thermometer, 382F up to 388F and back down again. So, I figured that the calibration was high by 10 degrees F.

To adjust the temperature offset, start by turning the oven off. Then press and hold the SET CLOCK button for 5 seconds as described in the owners manual under Extended Options (page 10).  This is the place where you can set your oven for French, Celsius, 24 hour clock, and all sorts of other stuff, but just hit ENTER past these menus until you find TEMPERATURE OFFSET.

Type in the offset that you need. I needed -10F so I typed in <1><0> then pressed TIMED COOK to give me negative 10. There is a message at the bottom of the screen telling you to press TIMED COOK to change to a negative or positive offset.

Hit ENTER to save. Then turn the oven off and you are done.

It is a good idea to test the change. Turn on the oven, 375F on convection bake. Let the oven settle and it should oscillate around 375F by a few degrees.

If you are happy with the calibration, bake some cookies. If you aren’t happy, record the temperatures and try again. If the oven doesn’t settle down, read the instructions again and don’t panic, you won’t hurt the oven. If you get really confused, just set the offset to 0 (zero) and it will be the same as it came from the factory, then ask somebody for help.