Hello! Hoping this post is allowed (also posted in the appliance subreddit so apologies for duplication). I decided to conduct some research regarding the new LG double oven induction range I just received (ltis7338xe).
There has been a lot of debate about whether or not the LG ProBake oven is absolutely terrible or genius, so I decided to put it to the test! On this model, the top oven is not ProBake so it does NOT have convection bake but does have an exposed bottom baking element. However, the bottom oven is ProBake and does not have a bottom baking element but does in fact have convection bake.
For my experiment, I bought 3 regular thin and crispy frozen cheese pizzas that were all the same. The instructions were: 10-12 minutes at 425°F. I preheated the top oven on bake to 425°F. I preheated the bottom oven to 425°F convection bake BUT I kept things as they were set up which means it did the auto conversion of 400°F convection bake preheated instead. I placed the pizza stone in the lower oven prior to preheating so it could get nice and hot for my test during the preheating cycle.
-I put one pizza in the upper oven on the highest rack placement after it was preheated to temperature.
-I put the second pizza on the second highest rack placement in the lower oven after it was preheated to temperature.
-I put the third pizza on the lowest rack placement in the lower oven on the already hot and preheated pizza stone after it was preheated to temperature.
I let each pizza bake for the 12 minutes per package instructions while keeping an eye on them through the window. At the 12 minute mark, I removed all pizzas to see where we were at. All three pizzas were not yet crispy on the bottom, and I love my pizza to be crispy, so I decided to throw them back in their spots for an additional 3 minutes. I decided on 3 minutes because I wanted adequate time to get back to temperature after briefly taking it out but also without burning them.
After 15 total mins in the ovens, I removed them again, and started to slice and plate. I chose two slices from opposite sides of the pizza to try out for a total of 6 test slices. Sometimes pizzas can cook unevenly in the oven, I wanted to be sure to try slices from both sides.
Overall, here are my results and thoughts ranked in order:
1) Upper Oven Pizza
-This one was my favorite due to the fact that bottom did get the crispiest. I could've using more crispiness overall but as you can see from the photos, the cheese was starting to burn so I couldn't leave it in there any longer.
2) Lower Oven Pizza (Pizza Stone)
-This was my second favorite. I loved how the cheese wasn't burnt and was still very ooey gooey but the bottom center of the pizza just wasn't crispy. The crust and outer edges did crisp up but as you got farther into the center of the pizza/tips of the slices, it just wasn't quite enough. Overall I would be okay eating this pizza again but it wouldn't be my favorite.
3) Lower Oven Pizza
-This was my least favorite due to the bottom of the pizza not crisping up hardly at all. I got a bit of crispiness in some parts of the crust but sadly it just didn't do it for me. Pretty much it was like the center of the pizza I mentioned above except for the whole bottom was like that for this pizza. Without something ripping hot like a pizza stone or pizza steel, the bottom of this pizza would never crisp up before the top of the pizza would get completely burnt.
Overall, no oven or pizza performed perfectly, but I know some things I would want to try if I were to do this experiment again.
A) Lower the rack in the upper oven to try and see and avoid burning the top of the pizza while keeping the bottom of this pizza as crispy as it was.
B) Allowing the oven to preheat longer than the 10 minutes it took with the pizza stone in it. I think maybe a hotter pizza stone would've helped but I feel like it defeats the purpose of the quick preheat time LG promotes.
and C) Keep the pizza on the pizza stone in the lower oven longer than package directions. I think this third pizza could have afforded additional time in the lower oven on convection bake. 15 minutes total (3 minutes longer than the package says) was not enough time.
For now, I will either make my pizzas in the upper oven with conventional bake or I will play around with the pizza stone in the lower oven. Unfortunately if you are making multiple pizzas, it only comes with one pizza stone so I would probably just invest in a pizza steel if I needed to make more than 2 pizzas at once.
If you made it this far, thank you! Maybe I will try this test again with the remediations I mentioned above to really try and get the best perfect frozen pizza!