Baking Steel -Top, Bottom or Middle?

[quixoteQ]

Life is weird.  I spent over an hour surfing the web for ovens . . . I'm thinking about deleting my browsing history.

[Joshd]

Hi,

I'm new to the site and trying to get familiar with navigating it.  Forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask this question.  My baking steel is giving off a very strong odor from the steel.  Does anyone have any information on this or advice?  The steel is clean.

[TXCraig1]

Did it come pre-seasoned? If so, it's probably just some oil burning off.

[wiz_d_kidd]

So I just got one of these a while ago.  From some of the post I have read, some say put that thing on the bottom rack because in an electric oven which I have, that is closet to the heating element.  Yet others say right under the broiler to super heat it up and create a mini pizza oven.  What  school of though do most of you fall into?    I did try the bottom once so far and I have to say the steel did a great char but it took almost 7 minutes for the top to cook.  Im afraid to to the broiler method since I fear the reverse might happen.  Any suggestion or tips?  My oven is electric, newer goes to 550f with heating on both top and bottom but the bottom element is hidden as its done in most newer ovens.

I use two different positions depending on the style of pizza. 

For a Neapolitan style, I put the steel on the top rack and preheat/cook only with the broiler (top) element. Preheat time is about 20 min, just until the element turns off (with the oven door closed). Bake time is 110-120 seconds. 

For a Chicago thin crust (tavern style), I use the middle rack and preheat the oven to 500 deg F, but bake as soon as the oven reaches temp -- usually 30-40 minutes. Bake time is 8-9 minutes. If I preheat longer or use a lower rack, the bottom crust gets too dark before it cooks through.

Bottom line is that you need to use different rack positions for different pizza styles, how long you preheat, how long you bake, desired browning, etc.