I'm getting into bread baking and have a lame apartment gas oven. I'd like to make a simple probe to put in the oven, based on a K-type thermocouple, with the MAX31855 thermocouple amplifier.
While there are hundreds of oven thermometers on the market, they are all oriented towards cooking meat and have two probes - one for food, one for oven temp. AND they have PITA alarms that can't be disabled to help alert when certain temps go over under.
I'd just like to be able to read the oven temp without opening the door. Also I'll need to reduce the heat at one point in the process from 450/500 down to 350 or so.... and cheap apartment gas ovens don't give very fine or reliable control.
My basic question is: How involved would i need to get with calibration? I don't need lab-grade readings, but would like to be "reasonably" (whatever that is!) to the actual temp. I'll need a range of say 100-500 degrees... Is this doable? :o
My wife uses and old bimetal coil thermometer in our 5th wheel trailer gas oven. If you can find one, you can use it for calibration of your instrument.
Yes generally bread baking is done at 350 or so. I’m doing sourdough where the bread is in an enclosed container to capture the initial steam release - makes for great “oven spring” and a nice rise. After about 15 mind or so the cover is removed and the bread is finished at the lower temp.
I like the boiling water and melting sugar.... I also have a soldering iron that shows its temp - which is at my top end. Now just have to figure out how to tweek the code to make the adjustments.
According to the MAX31855 Datasheet, the device is accurate to plus or minus 2 degrees Centigrade from -200 to +700 degrees Centigrade, so calibration shouldn't be necessary.