Oven settings and shelf position for pizza

Short answer

Think in terms of which part of the pizza needs more heat. Bottom heat and the fan-with-bottom-heat ('pizza') setting favour the base; the grill favours the top; conventional heat gives both, slightly more at the top; fan gives even air heat that browns tops and edges. A lower shelf usually helps a lagging base; a higher shelf helps a pale top. For homemade pizza on a stone or steel, many cooks use a high shelf so the top gets radiant heat while the preheated surface does the base. There is no universal answer, because ovens differ: a simple test bake tells you how yours behaves.

Which heat source does what

A domestic oven heats pizza in three ways: by radiation from the elements and walls, by hot air (convection), and by conduction from whatever the pizza sits on. The bottom element heats the oven floor and whatever is closest to it, so it mainly drives the base. The top element (and the grill) radiates down onto the cheese and toppings. The fan moves hot air across every exposed surface, which speeds browning of the top and edges and evens out temperature.

CHOICE, the Australian consumer organisation, describes conventional (top and bottom elements, no fan) as reasonably even but slightly hotter towards the top; fan-forced as quicker and more even; the fan-with-bottom-element 'pizza' function as the one for browning a base; bottom heat only as an alternative for a crisp base without burning the top, used in the lower half of the oven; and the grill as top heat used near the top of the oven. Names and symbols vary by manufacturer, so check your manual.

Settings compared

Conventional is a reasonable all-rounder and the setting many packs assume when they do not say 'fan'. Fan is efficient and even, and many packs give a lower temperature for it, but it can dry thin edges and toppings before the base is done. Fan with bottom heat, where your oven has it, pushes heat into the base while the fan colours the top, which suits most pizzas. Bottom heat alone is useful when the top is ahead of the base — a heavily topped pan pizza, for example — but slow to colour the cheese. The grill is a finishing tool: fast, intense and uneven, and best for a short, watched burst of colour once the base is cooked.

With a stone or steel, many home cooks preheat on the strongest setting available and then use the grill for the last minutes to give the top the radiant heat a pizza oven's dome would provide. PizzaHQ's grill and broiler profile covers that technique and its risks.

Shelf position by goal

Shelf position changes how close the pizza is to each heat source. A lower shelf brings the base nearer the bottom element and moves the top away from the upper element, so it helps a pale or soft base and slows the top. A higher shelf does the reverse and helps a top that lags behind a done base. The middle is a compromise and what many packaged instructions assume.

With a preheated stone or steel, the surface does most of the work on the base, so a higher shelf (often the second from the top) is commonly used to get more radiant heat onto the top; America's Test Kitchen discusses how rack position affects how evenly a stone heats. A pizza on a cold tray, by contrast, needs to be lower, because the tray contributes little heat at first.

The oven floor and the inverted tray

Some cooks bake directly on the oven floor or on a tray placed on it, to get the most heat into the base. In ovens with an exposed bottom element it is not possible; in ovens with a hidden element under the floor it can work, but the floor can be much hotter than the dial suggests, so bases can scorch quickly, and some manufacturers advise against placing anything on the floor. Check your oven's manual first.

A baking tray turned upside down and preheated is a simple stand-in for a stone: it gives a flat surface with no rim to launch onto, and because it is thin it heats up quickly but stores less heat than a stone or steel, so the base may brown less on later pizzas. PizzaHQ's baking tray and domestic oven profiles cover this.

Testing your own oven

Ovens differ more than their dials suggest: hot spots, uneven fans and elements that cycle on and off all change the result. A quick test tells you more than any general advice. Bake two similar pizzas (or one frozen pizza and one test pizza) on different shelves or settings and compare the base and top; note which side browns first and turn pizzas halfway if one side colours faster. An oven thermometer shows whether the dial is accurate.

Write down what works — setting, shelf, surface, preheat time — so the next bake starts from your own oven's answer rather than a generic one.

How the methods compare

Common misconceptions

“Fan is always better for pizza.”

Fan heat browns tops and edges evenly, but it does little extra for the base. A fan-with-bottom-heat setting, or conventional heat with a preheated surface, often does more for a crisp base.

“The middle shelf is always right.”

The middle shelf is a compromise. A lower shelf helps a lagging base; a higher shelf with a preheated stone or steel helps the top.

“The temperature on the dial is the temperature in the oven.”

Ovens often run hotter or cooler than their dial and cycle around the set point. An oven thermometer and a test bake show how yours really behaves.

What this page cannot tell you

PizzaHQ has not tested these settings in its own kitchen. Ovens vary in element layout, fan design and accuracy, and settings are named differently by each manufacturer; your oven's manual and a test bake are the authority. For packaged pizza, the pack instructions remain the baseline.

Related

Evidence

• Oven settings and symbols guide — CHOICE
• How to Get Your Pizza Stone to Heat More Evenly — America's Test Kitchen
• How to make pizza crust crispy (and why yours isn't browning) — King Arthur Baking Company
• On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (revised edition) — Scribner