That is the question. Whether 'tis quicker in the oven to broil... -HAMlet
Three commonly used baking settings are Bake, Convect Bake, and Broil. So what’s the difference?
Conventional Bake
You are probably most familiar with this oven setting. Radiant heat emitted from the "bake element," which is the metal coil at the oven floor, heats the air. The "broil element," which is the metal coil on the oven's top, also turns on to expedite the pre-heating process, but the bake element produces most of the heat. Because hot air is less dense than cooler air, the hot air will rise to the top of the oven. As hot, moist air passively rises to the top, items on higher racks tend to cook faster than those on the bottom.
Pros: A strictly conventional bake oven is less expensive than a convection oven. Conventional bake setting works best when cooking more airy batters like cake batter versus denser batters like banana bread. Most baking recipes call for conventional baking.
Cons: Conventional bake setting produces less even heating (temperature is different in each part of the oven). Food takes longer to cook than in a convection bake setting.
Convection Bake
The convection bake setting not only emits heat, but it also actively circulates hot air with blowing fans. Depending on the model, a convection oven can have fans up to 3 sides and multiple heating elements. The result is an even and dry oven temperature throughout every corner of the oven. Convection ovens can cook more food faster, which is especially helpful when coordinating multiple baked dishes for a holiday dinner (assuming these dishes cook at the same temperature). For example, you could evenly bake three rows of cookies simultaneously. The circulating air dries the food surface and it is specially helpful for baking pizza because the crust gets browned and crunchy.
Most recipes provide a temperature and cooking time for a regular bake oven. To convert from conventional bake to convection bake, a general rule of thumb is to either decrease the cooking time by 25% or lower the temperature by 25 degrees.
Pros: Multiple racks of food can be cooked evenly and more quickly. Works well with meats, vegetables, cookies, dense breads (e.g. banana bread), pies and pizza.
Cons : Convection bake does not work well with airy batters like cake, souffle, and light bread. The circulating air can alter the consistency of the batter and cause a dense or lopsided baked good.
Broil
The broiler directly browns or sears food using high radiant heat from the oven top’s heating element.
Pros: Wonderful for developing the Maillard reaction to give food a browned finish and complex flavor. Good for the cheesy topping of Mac and cheese and baking a caramelized crust on a steak.
Cons: Do not cook food with this setting. Since the heat is so intense, the exterior might burn before the interior is properly cooked or heated. Food is typically broiled as a finishing touch.
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