[bigiain]

If it works, it's delicious and you end up eating heaps more than usual.

If your first two or three attempts a baking bread fail, then you end up becoming one of those people with 85% of a 20lb bag of flour in the cupboard waiting for the weevils to move in...

(The temp calibration on my oven is way out. Doesn't matter too much for roasting chickens or cooking lasagne, but baking is more temperamental than that, and way too easy to fuck up. Luckily I only bought a 1kg bag of flour to fail hard with...)

[klipt]

You can still make crepes or roti on your stovetop, or porridge in your microwave. No need to let the flour go to waste.

[wolco]

Porridge is made from oats where I live. Is it made from wheat flower where you live?

[klipt]

Not commonly, but you can make porridge out of many things, including almost any grain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porridge#Varieties

Wheat flour's talents tend towards baking because of its high gluten content, so in a sense it's "wasted" on porridge. But if your oven isn't working it's less of a waste than literally throwing it away!

[ars]

Porridge from fine flour?

[klipt]

It's certainly possible, see eg Velvet Porridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porridge#Wheat

[CrazyStat]

You can get an oven thermometer for like $3, unless those have also sold out.

[kevingadd]

This only helps much if the calibration is off linearly - in my case not only is the calibration off but the temperature flux up/down is more pronounced than it should be. I still make do, but it's definitely very easy for stuff to come out burnt or undercooked as a result.

[evgen]

Other have suggested ways to check your oven temp control, but one way to mitigate the problem slightly is to add some thermal mass to your oven. Unglazed quarry tile makes a nice baking surface and a double layer of that will prevent big temp oscillations in your oven.

[ars]

> but the temperature flux up/down

Have you checked if your air vents are blocked? Ovens don't have adjustable fires, they are always on/off.

I can't think of any kind of failure that would cause unusually high swings.

[adrianN]

When the temperature sensor in caked with something that provides thermal insulation the resulting lag in temperature feedback would mess with the oven's temperature control.

[Zenbit_UX]

Hate to be the one the point it out, but have you considered you might not be great at baking?

[wolco]

Bread machine is a just compromise for thosw type of folks.

[throwaway55554]

> waiting for the weevils to move in...

Hatch. If you get weevils, they were already there just waiting to hatch.