Last Updated on May 2, 2022 by Share My Kitchen
Pizza. Freshly baked deliciousness that you can enjoy as part of your self-care or bonding time with your family. I will admit that I am lazy. Honestly, I prefer to buy a good-quality frozen pizza or taco pizza instead of making my own pizza crust.
Perhaps you are the same as me and you are wondering if it is okay to bake pizza in a convection oven. Would it be okay?
Definitely. You can make pizza in a convection oven. It also tastes and feels exactly like real pizza.
Here’s how it works.
Note: It is important to remember that the manufacture of products matters. Poor quality convection ovens could result in messy or even soggy pizza. You can trust several brands though.
- Oster ovens offer the best value for medium-sized pizzas (up to 15 inches).
- A cuisinart convection oven is the superior choice of pizza. Although it is not recommended for larger pizzas, it will fit smaller pizzas (13 inches).
What is a Convection Oven?
If you don’t know the difference between a convection and a conventional oven, this article will help you.
Convection ovens are electric ovens that use fans to circulate hot air and heat the dish you’re cooking.
This allows the dish to reach a temperature that is suitable to cook it faster than if it were baked in a traditional oven.
It works faster than a traditional oven because the heat is distributed evenly and doesn’t rely on natural convection to circulate all the warm air.
Although these ovens are all different, some traditional units have convection capabilities. Therefore, you can use the same oven with a convection feature.
When is convection cooking appropriate?
For the recipes you’re using, you will need to adjust the timing indicated as most recipes are designed for conventional ovens.
With a traditional oven that comes with a convection setting, you can use that setting when the time comes.
However, convection ovens are more effective for certain foods.
The convection setting is great for cooking foods like bread, pizzas, cookies and pies.
Still when it comes to delicate foods that require time to rise and remain moist, it is not recommended to use a convection oven.
It could disrupt how the dough rises.
While some bread pieces can be cooked using this type of oven, such as tougher sourdough bread, soft breads do not come out as good.
It is because the dough must rise and stay soft, but that will be more difficult to do in a convection oven.
Cooking Pizza in a Convection Oven
Do you have a new pizza recipe to try? Using a convection oven is an excellent choice to do it.
Because of the hot air in a convection oven, the pizza can be baked from all sides.
This melts the cheese, crisps the toppings, and browns and crisps both the crust and the bottom of the pizza.
Here’s how to make a perfect pizza.
These are the things you need to know in order to use a convection oven:
- Bake at 25° lower than the temperature used in a regular oven.
- You should check the food sooner than you would normally. You run the risk of food burning because the food is being cooked faster.
- To ensure air circulation, use trays or pans with low sides, and cover the oven shelf with foil
Temperature and Time
The first thing you need to do is to adjust the oven settings by decreasing the cooking time by 25%, or by lowering its temperature by 25 degrees.
You can also verify with the manual if the convection settings are available on your traditional oven and also check if there is an automatic setting change.
Once you have verified that your oven automatically changes the setting, you won’t need to adjust the temperature or cook time.
Step 1: Modify the settings
You will first need to lower your oven’s temperature.
As mentioned, the convection oven heats up faster than a traditional oven so you need to lower the heat to get the best pizza results.
When using a conventional oven, you will need to lower the temperature by 25 degrees than what the pizza box specifies for conventional ovens.
Step 2: Place Your Pizza
After the temperature has been set and the oven has warmed to the desired temperature, place the pizza on a pan, screen or pizza stone.
These options will be available on some convection ovens.
You can also place the pizza directly on an oven rack or on a cookie sheet. The bottom of the pizza will be very crispy if you do this.
Step 3: Bake the pizza
Once you’ve decided where to cook your pizza, place the pizza on it.
Once that’s completed, place it on the middle rack of the oven.
Then, bake it for 12-18 minutes. This depends on what you have on your pizza and the thickness of the crust.
Before you start using the oven, set the timer for the lowest time indicated in the recipe.
This will allow you to determine if the time is right, or if the pizza needs to be returned to the oven for another few minutes.
You will be able to set the timer for each dish more accurately once you understand how the oven works.
Step 4: Crisp the Crust
If the pizza looks done, but you still want to crisp it up a bit, you can put it in for an additional minute to brown the crust.
It is important to not keep it in for too long or it may dry out and burn.
Step 5: Take Out the Pizza
Once you notice that cheese has started bubbling and has a crisp crust, you are ready to take it out of the oven.
Let it cool down for at least five minutes, then use a pizza cutter to cut it into medium-sized pizza slices.
You shouldn’t cut into the pizza immediately, even though it might seem like the best time. Doing so could cause some cheese to tear away.
It is important that the cheese sticks to each slice of bread, so let it cool down before you cut.
Important Things to Remember When Cooking Pizza In Convection Oven
You will need to cook your pizza for a longer time if you have many toppings.
A pizza made with only cheese takes less time to prepare and to cook than a pizza made with more toppings.
This is because the oven has more to cook if you have meats, different cheeses, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, onions and garlic.
Hence, you need to add another minute or two if you want to have more toppings.
You can also use a knife to cut the pizza if you don’t own a slicer. You will need to make sure that the knife is sharp enough to cut through the crust without removing all the cheese.
Also serrated knives will drag the cheese along, so stay away from those.
Here are some tips for cooking frozen pizza in a convection oven:
When using a pizza stone to bake, allow it to cook for a couple of minutes. It is possible for the pizza stone to break if it is exposed to water right after cooking. Allow the pizza stone to reach a safe temperature before you rinse them using a soft sponge.
When cooking multiple pizzas at once, don’t overload the oven! Even if you have an advantage over regular ovens, the heat distribution may not be adequate to cook your pizzas at the right time. To prevent pizzas from cooking poorly and for a long time, do not interrupt the convection oven’s airflow.
With this brief guide, we answered the question “How to make frozen pizza in a convection oven?” and covered the benefits and the more complicated aspects of making frozen pizza in the convection cooker.
Why would you cook frozen pizza in a convection oven instead?
- Pizza cooks quicker than usual. The frozen pizza cooks faster due to the efficient air circulation, which saves you both time and money. Also, you can bake more pizzas with the convection oven’s rapid air circulation. You can cook multiple pizzas simultaneously thanks to efficient heat management.
- Convection ovens bake pizza better than traditional ovens. They move the air around faster and get rid of moisture quicker. Due to the hot air drying the moisture out of the dough, pizzas cooked in convection ovens have superior quality and taste. The pizza you will get is crispy and crumbly because the risk of moisture being condensed back is less.
- A convection oven cooks pizza evenly because the heat is distributed proportionately. Because the heat penetrates all of the pizza at a constant rate, it produces uniformly cooked pizza. Consequently, the dough is well-cooked and refined and the heat also reaches the topping. Consistent and sufficient heat is essential to guarantee that the topping tastes tasty and is warm; melted cheese and tender meat.
Conclusion
Although cooking pizza using convection oven doesn’t require much effort, adjustments must be made so that it doesn’t dry out or burn.
It works differently to a regular oven so you’ll need to follow these instructions to make the best pizza possible.
Remember these tips and steps to help you make a delicious pizza for your family.