What is the logic behind the choice of temperature for baking?
Obviously if you're following a recipe it will say what temperature to use, but I'd like to understand the reasoning behind it.
Is it a matter of density (thicker foods need to be cooked lower to reach the inside without burning the outside), or are there other factors in play?
Best Answer
If we had a magical (or 4d) oven that could heat up the inside of the food all at once and uniformly, the baking rule would be simple:
Any recipe that followed it would take way longer (several hours) than regular recipes, but the timings would be forgiving. The rule works because baking consists of growing the dough bubbles with water vapor and after that browning for flavor. Without a magical 4d oven and without hours to bake a dish, recipe authors have to experiment.
In ovens at higher temperatures the water near the surface of the dough or batter will first evaporate, keeping that region at 100°C. Once the surface dries its temperature starts to rise and eventually browns. While it browns, the region below goes into bubble growing mode and the process repeats. To get the whole dish cooked and browned at the same time requires an impossible balancing act because of how the bubble region moves depends on the dough's shape, its water content, its initial temperature, air flows in the oven ... There are many solutions to the balancing act and therefore many possible baking temperatures.
The exact details of all this are still the subject of research, as a recent paper exemplifies.