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The oven tray provided with my oven is not symmetrical: one side is slanted and the opposite side has holes in the corners.

The manual does not provide any hints, I could only see an image where it looks like the slanted side is the one facing the door, but I'm not sure.

See image.

Which side is which one and why are there holes? I have a normal electric oven without rotating grill.

enter image description here

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3 Answers 3

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It doesn't really matter most of the time, but the sloped side should be the one facing you. Any rack designed to go inside the tray would better align with any grill (broiler) elements in that position. It also makes access easier if you don't have any rack in it & need to reach into the tray itself.

The holes may be for some additional attachment, or simply where the tray was hung whilst it was being enamelled. Any kind of heat-set powder coating needs to have a hanger which won't interfere too much with the eventual finish. Often they're placed out of sight, but that's not always possible, depending on the overall design.
Sometimes if you look, or even feel carefully, you can identify where the hanging wire/hook went, by the irregularity in the surface at that point.

Two lovely old enamelled trays showing the holes, with a cheap teflon one underneath, no holes

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  • I thought the two holes are meant to be used with a tool you can put inside and clip to take out the tray, but I couldn't find any. Your explanation is also reasonable
    – FarO
    Nov 23, 2020 at 9:21
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You can cook pizza directly on the tray. With the slope at the front, it's possible to put it in and take it out with a pizza peel. The other way round it's much harder. This way you can preheat the tray and don't have to take it out to load your pizza onto it

I prefer a stone, but this worked well when I was between pizza stones

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  • So why the holes in the corners at the back side?
    – FarO
    Nov 22, 2020 at 21:19
  • Without seeing your oven and tray, I can't be sure. They're a bit small for allowing air to convect (mine has 3 each side, each comparable to the one hole in yours). That would be another pointer to which way round - the tray tends to leave space at the front so no holes needed. But I have another idea. On the underside of the holes, does the metal stick out a little? This could be meant to catch on the rails at the sides of the oven, so it doesn't come straight out when you slide it forwards. My current one has a different stop formed each side but I think I've seen the holes do that.
    – Chris H
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:42
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I believe that the slanted side goes on the front of the oven. The design makes it easier to slip one's over mitten underneath the tray.

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