Get to Know the Oven Better and Never Burn Frozen Pizza Again
Baking a couple of frozen pizzas at once can seem like a pretty straightforward task. After all, there are a few racks in your oven that seem to be perfect for a few pizzas. If you’ve tried this in a traditional oven, you might end up with one burnt pizza and one undercooked pizza. To prevent this from happening, you must understand which heating zones your oven is.
As heat radiates from the element (usually found at the bottom of the oven), the air inside and the walls of the oven also heats up. Hot air rises and circulates, and the walls radiate heat to the sides. If you are dealing with only one pan, it is best to place it on the center rack; it is the smoothest region. In the case of a pizza cooked on the lower rack, the toppings are burnt and undercooked, while a pizza cooked on top will have an undercooked but well done filling.
When you add a second pot, things get a little more complicated. Rick Martinez explains:
When you place two trays in the oven at the same time, in the lower and upper halves of the oven, you create three heating zones. The first is a very hot area at the bottom of the oven next to the heat source. The second is the moderately hot area at the top of the oven, where the heat from the ceiling is trapped by the top sheet. And the third is the colder zone in the middle of the oven between the two baking sheets.
There are two ways to get around this. You can just cook one pizza at a time on the center shelf, or you can rotate the pizza from front to back and top to bottom halfway , as Martinez suggests. This will provide a crispy but not burnt crust and an evenly cooked filling. (Of course, this tip is not limited to pizza , but can be used anytime you have two baking sheets in the oven at once, be it pizza, cookies, or rolls.)
Never bake food in the oven again | Bon appetit