Bake 425˚ Brings the Best Ingredients to Your Home

When I went inside , I felt like I was back in San Francisco. There are handwritten notes on chalkboards advertising the local sources for protein and vegetables (Bell and Evans chicken--awesome), sparkling white surfaces and a cute red oven they use for baking demos. This is a place that prides itself on finding the best quality ingredients, something I truly appreciate.

I ordered a personal size margherita pizza, a "ginormous" cookie, Dottie's apple crisp and some Knudsen's vegetable juice and sparkling water. It took some time to get the order as they assemble the pie for you, including rolling out the dough (nothing is pre-made), but I was fine exploring Lancaster Avenue for a little bit. 

The staff is extremely friendly and committed to their product. I enjoyed speaking with the woman who put my order together from start to finish. After she rung me up, she gave a group demonstration to me and the other customers on the ins and outs of baking the pizzas and cookies at home. 

I arrived home, moved the rack to the bottom and then pre-heated my oven to 425˚. I placed the pizza on the parchment paper on the rack and let it bake for 15 minutes. It wasn't quite the color I wanted, so I let it bake for two or three more minutes. The pizza was crisp along the edges, cooked well on top but a bit underdone on the bottom. Next time I think I might remove the parchment and bake directly on the rack, halfway through baking time. The pizza was decent--the tomato sauce tasty, the crust thick and doughy, and there was plenty of basil. The fresh mozzarella melted thoroughly. 

The "ginormous" cookie baked well but also needed a few extra minutes in the oven. It was glorious when it emerged, and the abundant chocolate chips were wonderfully gooey. This chocolate chip cookie was stellar and easily big enough for two or three people. 

The apple crisp came out of the oven hot, but the topping was not all that crisp. I baked it for about five minutes longer than recommended, but it never quite got the texture that I was looking for. The apples were delicious and cinnamon-y though.

I love the idea of Bake 425˚--what could be better than organic, high quality ingredients and baking pizza at home so that it's as fresh and hot as can be? The pizza is indeed tasty, and the cookies were incredible from the first bite through the last. The apple crisp betrayed its namesake, but all in all since it , I would say that some kinks are still being worked out. Bake 425˚ is worth visiting, but the instructions are a bit off for my own oven. Ovens are notoriously inconsistent and are sometimes off by as much as 100 degrees. Bake 425˚ is a noble endeavor and strives to bring better quality food to your home and succeeds. However, the instructions can not be guaranteed for every oven and your perfect pizza/cookie/etc. will take some trials to figure out.