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My mom wants to do baking but her oven doesn't have bottom heating element. It only has an element on top, with a fan at the back.

She told me that she can't make me a good pizza or cake without it.

Is there any way around?

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    Are you sure she doesn't have a hidden baking element? Many newer ovens have a bottom element that's hidden out of site, but it's still there. Makes it a lot easier to clean. It does have a drawback, though, in that it can take longer to heat up.
    – Jeff
    Commented Dec 19, 2017 at 18:24
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    Lol, I bought her a new oven with a bottom heating element :P
    – Ali Yousuf
    Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 6:02

4 Answers 4

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Many modern ovens seem to have unusual element configurations, but with a fan it makes no difference, just use as the oven manual indicates

Cooking a pizza in any domestic electric oven is tricky, as it requires more heat than an electric oven can generate. Using a metal or stone slab helps

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For things that can be baked for a short period of time, you can partially compensate by adding a baking stone in the bottom of the oven, then sufficiently preheating the oven.

The stone will release its heat, resulting in there being some additional heat coming from the bottom of the oven.

For pizzas, you can move the stone closer to the top element, so that you can get it very hot, and then lay the pizza onto the stone, so that the bottom will cook from conduction, not just radiant heat.

If this still isn't enough for cooking a pizza, you can put the naked crust on the stone, let it cook until it's developed a bit of a crust on the top, flip it until you've browned the bottom, then remove it, top the pizza, and slide it back in (right side up).

You can also just brown it and then flip and top it, but your pizza will seem strange, as the top is now the flat side of the crust ... and the toppings will be more likely to slide.

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I have a similar type of oven. For basic baking (cake/brownies), I started turning the temp on the oven down about 20 degrees and baking the items for the max time. That seems to be helping.

HOWEVER, I am still struggling with pizza and pies (thus searching the internet, and stumbling onto this thread).

I might try the pizza stone method...

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I know using a cast iron skillet starting off your pizzas on the bottom rack depending on the thickness of the crust for 15 to 25 minutes and raising it to the second to the top for the last 7 to 12 minutes and the cast iron skillet will continue cooking once you shut the oven off to make it nice and crispy... I will absolutely not make a pizza any other way

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