I would think that people that were baking all the time would build up so much practice and experience that they could probably be surprisingly consistent.<p>If you were a professional baker, or you had to bake all your own bread, I&#x27;d think you would become intimately familiar with the performance of your oven, with the characteristics of your leavening agent (probably a continually refreshed yeast or sourdough culture that you&#x27;d keep going for years), and with the local flour.<p>Although, since I&#x27;m currently reading through the Aubrey-Maturin novels, I wonder if the predominance of all these puddings they are always eating had something to do with them being easier to prepare reliably, compared to baked deserts.