There are some kinds of food that evolved out of that question. French tarte flambée (a very thin pizza-like dough with a topping of sour cream, bacon and onion

There are some kinds of food that evolved out of that question. French tarte flambée (a very thin pizza-like dough with a topping of sour cream, bacon and onions) was used to determine if the oven has the right temperature for bread. If the temperature is right is bakes in a handful of minutes. So you'd heat up the oven and do a couple of test-bakes with a quick tarte. Then you'd bake the bread while not heating the oven. After the bread, the oven has the right temperature for cakes.