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If I'm in a rush then half an hour pre heat is all it gets but ideally an hour. I guess better ovens would need less time. Mine is just a basic elec fan jobbie.
Are you sure you're not on some grill setting? Fan ovens should heat pretty evenly so maybe your fan* has died? They are easy to replace if that's the case.
Temp wise I was told (by the guy who runs Thoughtful Bakery in Bath) that around 95°C internal temp is what you are after. I used to check my breads but never had one that wasn't cooked after 35mins so stopped bothering.
*There are normally two fans - the internal one that makes the oven an even temp by circulating hot air around the inside and one that circulates air around the back (outside) of the oven to stop the units burning/elecs overheating) so simply hearing the fan going isn't good enough to check. You need eyes on the fan.
Arducius-
Thanks, so I’m not under heating it then. I’m preheating on the fan oven, it’s all working as it should, I even had it apart the other week to change the fan element and gave it a full check over then.
When I tried the casserole it was hot as fuck, water sizzled inside it instantly and I was frit to burn myself handling it with a tea towel, but the loaf was really pale and flat at 30 mins. On the pizza stone it was as if the stone had sucked the heat out of the base of the dough, it didn’t really form a crust at all on the bottom, just barely sealed the dough.
I’m going straight at it in a preheated thin metal tin this time, see if that confirms pre-heating problems.
Stevethecoffee
How long are you pre heating your casseroles / pizza stones? I preheated the oven to 250 for over an hour with the heavy pot in the oven but the loaf took over an hour to cook and didn’t turn out well and on the pizza stone the bottom was raw while the top burned. I’ll be getting a zappy thermometer tomorrow what temp do I need?