You're standing in the kitchen, flour on your hands, looking at a recipe from a European blog or an old family heirloom. It says to preheat the oven to 175. If you're in the United States, your heart probably sank a little. You know that 175 degrees Celsius isn't the same as Fahrenheit, but how far off is it? Honestly, it’s one of those temperatures that sits right on the edge of "standard," making it easy to mess up if you just guess.
175 degrees C to Fahrenheit is exactly 347 degrees Fahrenheit.
Most people just round up. They hit the "350" button on their oven and call it a day. Usually, that works fine. But for delicate pastries or long-roast proteins, those three degrees can actually change the moisture content of your final product. It's the difference between a moist sponge cake and something that tastes a bit like toasted cardboard.
The math behind the heat
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. You don't need a PhD, but knowing why the number is what it is helps you remember it. The formula is a bit clunky. You take your Celsius temperature, multiply it by 9/5 (or 1.8), and then add 32.
So, for our specific case:
$175 \times 1.8 = 315$.
$315 + 32 = 347$.
It's not a round number. That’s why it feels so awkward on a dial. Fahrenheit was based on a different set of reference points than Celsius. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit used a brine solution and human body temperature (which he originally got slightly wrong, but that's a story for another day), while Anders Celsius went with the freezing and boiling points of water. Because the scales don't start at the same zero and don't grow at the same rate, we get these weird offsets like 347.
Why 175°C is the "Goldilocks" zone
In the world of professional cooking, 175°C is basically the holy grail. It’s slightly lower than the standard 180°C (356°F) used in many commercial kitchens, but higher than the "slow and low" temps used for braising.
Think about the Maillard reaction. This is the chemical dance between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. It starts kicking into high gear around 140°C to 165°C. By setting your oven to 175 degrees Celsius, you are ensuring that the outside of your food browns beautifully without the inside drying out before it’s cooked through. It is the perfect middle ground.
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If you go up to 190°C, you risk burning the crust of a thick loaf of bread. If you drop to 150°C, you won't get that golden-brown finish. 175 is the safety net.
The 350°F Myth
Most American recipes call for 350°F. If you convert that back to Celsius, you get roughly 176.6°C. So, when a European recipe calls for 175°C, they are essentially asking for that classic, moderate oven temperature we all know and love. However, since most home ovens aren't perfectly calibrated, the 1.6-degree difference between 175°C and 350°F is often swallowed up by the oven's natural temperature swings.
Ovens cycle. They don't stay at one temp. They heat up, click off, drop ten degrees, and kick back on. So, while 175°C is 347°F, setting your oven to 350°F is usually the most practical move for the average home cook.
Altitude and its weird effect on your bake
Here is something people rarely talk about: your elevation changes how that temperature behaves. If you are in Denver or the Swiss Alps, water boils at a lower temperature because there is less atmospheric pressure.
At high altitudes, 175°C can actually be too much. Your liquids evaporate faster. Your leavening gases expand more quickly. This means your cake might rise beautifully and then collapse like a popped balloon because the structure didn't set in time. If you’re above 3,000 feet, you might actually want to increase your temperature by about 10 or 15 degrees Fahrenheit (about 5-8 degrees Celsius) to help the structure set before the moisture escapes. It’s counterintuitive, I know.
Specific applications: When 175°C matters most
Let's look at some real-world scenarios where you'll see this number pop up.
1. The Classic Victoria Sponge
British baking is famous for 175°C. For a Victoria Sponge, you want a gentle rise. If the oven is too hot, the cake peaks in the middle and cracks. At 175 (347°F), the heat penetrates the batter evenly. You get a flat top, which is much easier to sandwich with jam and cream.
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2. Roasted Root Vegetables
If you're doing carrots or parsnips with a honey glaze, 175°C is king. Higher temps will burn the honey before the carrots are soft. Lower temps will turn them into mush. 175 allows the sugars to caramelize slowly.
3. Large Poultry
While many people roast a chicken at 200°C (400°F) for crispy skin, a larger bird like a small turkey or a fat duck often does better at 175°C. It gives the fat time to render out without the skin turning into carbon.
Equipment variations and the "Convection" trap
We need to talk about fan-forced ovens. If your oven has a fan (convection), 175°C is NOT 175°C.
The fan moves hot air around, stripping away the "cold air envelope" that surrounds food. This makes the oven much more efficient. As a general rule of thumb, if a recipe says 175°C and you are using a fan oven, you should drop the temperature by 20°C.
Fan Oven Rule:
- Recipe says: 175°C (347°F)
- You set: 155°C (311°F)
If you don't make this adjustment, your cookies will be burnt on the edges and raw in the middle. It happens to the best of us. Honestly, I've ruined more batches of shortbread by forgetting to toggle the fan setting than I care to admit.
Practical steps for your next meal
Don't just trust the dial on your stove. Most ovens are liars. I’ve seen ovens set to 175°C that were actually running at 160°C, and others that were screaming at 190°C.
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Check your accuracy
Buy an oven thermometer. They cost about ten bucks. Hang it on the center rack and see what it actually says when the oven "preheats." You’ll probably be surprised. If your oven runs cold, you might need to set it to 180°C to actually hit that 175°C target.
Conversion quick-glance
Since you're likely here because you're in the middle of a project, here are the nearby markers for context:
- 160°C = 320°F (Slow baking)
- 170°C = 338°F (Gentle roasting)
- 175°C = 347°F (The sweet spot)
- 180°C = 356°F (Standard roasting/baking)
- 200°C = 392°F (High heat/browning)
How to handle the 3-degree gap
If your oven is digital and lets you set exact numbers, go ahead and punch in 347°F. If it goes in increments of 5, choose 345°F rather than 350°F if you are baking something delicate. If it’s a roast, 350°F is totally fine.
The most important thing to remember is that cooking is about sensory cues, not just numbers. A recipe might say 30 minutes at 175°C, but your kitchen might be humid, your eggs might be larger, or your pan might be darker.
Use the temperature as a guide, but use your nose and your eyes to finish the job. When you smell that "toasty" aroma and the edges pull away from the pan, it’s done, regardless of what the thermometer says.
Next Steps for Success:
Verify your oven's calibration with a standalone thermometer to ensure 175°C is actually 175°C inside the chamber. If you are using a convection oven, remember to subtract 20°C from the recipe requirement to avoid over-browning. For high-altitude baking, consider a slight temperature increase and a reduction in leavening agents to compensate for the lower atmospheric pressure.