To mix or not to mix?

[AJ72]

Hi guys,
I'm trying to get the cheese flavor of the pizzerias of the 80's that I grew up eating.  Tried the ECB and liked it a lot but found myself mixing in some other experiments.  I'm happy with ECB but not the flavor of when growing up.  I just picked up some loaves of Grande Whole Milk blocks.  I will try GWM tomorrow for the first time straight.  Can I expect to get that nostalgic flavor with GWM by itself or do I still have to mix something with it to get "that flavor"?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tony

[scott123]

What's ECB? I tried googling it didn't come up with much.

My crust is pretty much the crust of my youth, but my cheese still needs a little work. Using greater quantities of cheese was a big step.  Presently, I'm a pretty big fan of 50/50 part skim/whole blends. If I use part skim on it's own, it browns too quickly and if I use whole milk by itself, it breaks down completely and I get no sauce layer. The one thing that I haven't been able to achieve with a 50/50 blend is a layer of orange glistening milkfat on top. I can get it with pepperoni, of course, but not a plain cheese pie.

I've been fighting trying Grande because I firmly believe that my childhood pizzerias would never have shelled out that type of money, but I may bite the bullet and give it a shot.  I have noticed that, in recent years, my supermarket brand whole milk mozzarellas have gotten extremely soft and mushy. This is probably why they're breaking down so easily and mixing with the sauce. I also tend to store my mozzarella a couple weeks and this tends to make them even softer.

[AJ72]

Scott, ECB is Grande East Coast Blend.  Sorry, I should have been more clear.  Again, I will be using Grande Whole Milk straight for the first time on Sunday.

Thanks,
Tony

[Chet]

   I know this cheese has been around for awhile. but lately I have a liking to Draggone, anyone try it lately

     Chet

[Tscarborough]

Scott, is white cheddar your missing ingredient?  I know when I have used it in a blend there is more oil bleeding out of the cheese than with straight mozz.

[chickenparm]

Growing up in NY,I ate at alot of pizzerias.That said,only a few handful of places had oil running off the pizza onto the plate,especially when you folded it.I'm talking cheese pizza,not the other toppings.

I wish I knew what cheese they used back then.I have been trying to find the cheese that will give me this as well.

So far,whole milk mozz does it a little bit,but I have to cut it a little thicker than normal, so it melts down white and doesn't destroy itself before the pizza is done.

That said,I had to take the wife and kids to the mall the other day.They wanted pizza for lunch so we ordered 2 large pies from Sbarros there.The cheese only pizza melted and stayed white,did not brown nor burn,and some orange oil kept dripping off the slices when folded.We did not eat all of it...a few hours later in the box,a few slices left over,cheese was still white.Reheated at home,it melted again,more orange oil.

Where I live in my areas KY ,Sbarros is the closest thing to NY style pizza one can get around here.I do not know what cheese they use,I will ask them next time.Yet I have a feeling it may be Grande.I hope they wont play, "Its a secret recipe" ,type of game again.It was pretty good cheese though.
 

[Jackie Tran]

The one thing that I haven't been able to achieve with a 50/50 blend is a layer of orange glistening milkfat on top. I can get it with pepperoni, of course, but not a plain cheese pie.

Scott have you considered drizzling olive oil with orange food dye?    Just a thought.

Chau

[scott123]

Scott, is white cheddar your missing ingredient?  I know when I have used it in a blend there is more oil bleeding out of the cheese than with straight mozz.

Thanks, but I'm a mozzarella purist.  The only thing that I do that my favorite pizzerias don't do is cold fermentation.  At least, I don't think they cold ferment. But I know they don't use cheddar- and if they don't use it, I don't use it. Them's the rules.  If I'm going to recreate the magical pizza of my youth, I have to work within that paradigm.

So far,whole milk mozz does it a little bit,but I have to cut it a little thicker than normal, so it melts down white and doesn't destroy itself before the pizza is done.

I've been pondering a thicker cut on the whole milk. Over the years, I've watched my favorite places make pizzas and the shred on the cheese is pretty much what I use now.  I'm not sure if the cheese was pure white when cooked or not.  Perhaps.  I do recall that it was never stringy (undercooked), but it was always very granular. I remember one of my buddies didn't like his cheese, so he'd give it to me (that's the kind of friend you want to have  ) and, where the cheese met the sauce was very rough and pebbly textured.

Scott have you considered drizzling olive oil with orange food dye?    Just a thought.

  I have thought many times about olive oil.  It would give me my precious oil layer (and would probably be the right color), but as I said before, if my pizzeria didn't do it, neither can I. In all my time in NY slice places, I've never seen an oliera.

[chickenparm]

Scott,
I was trying to recall in my head,and I remember a Pizza place I would frequent in NY,had very large shredded sized pieces of cheese in their box.I seem to recall the shreds being a lot larger than one can shred at home.

Maybe perhaps,they shred them into larger sizes than say a bag from the store or a grater we can buy from the store?

These cheese shreds were like the size of medium sized french fries if I recall correctly,not the smaller shoe lace sizes we are used to at home.That aside,a place in NY called Napoli's used cubes instead.It was fantastic.
 

[c0mpl3x]

add about 8% oil to your sauce.  light olive or soybean/peanut/canola/veggie does the trick.

i did that to the sauce in this pizza
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v303/c0mpl3x/1002101349.jpg

you can see the results of the NY style pockmarks from oil boiling upwards

[chickenparm]

Com,
I have made a few pizzas that had either olive oil or corn/or canola oil in the sauce and it did produce some of oily grease run off.I am still experimenting with it,but have not found that right mix of oil in the sauce and cheese yet.I never added that much,was afraid I would ruin the sauce with too much of an oily taste.

Yet you may be correct,this might be the easiest way to acquire it.If done right,it can be soo good!
 

[c0mpl3x]

if you are using 4oz of sauce per 12oz dough add about 1/4/-1/2oz of oil of your flavor of choice to your sauce.  corn is sweet and corn tasting,  peanut is very mild and neutral,/soybean is very undetectable, yet both are neutral yet lightly bitter.  olive is olive in taste.

[gfgman]

Had a slice in NYC recently that was very good.  I'm certain it was mozz only.  Could have possibly been buffalo or some blend of buffalo and regular. 
There's a very good place locally that I'm pretty is not straight mozz.  Tastes like provolone to me.  I know there is a grande mozz/provolone blend available. I use sorrento whole milk mozz.  I tried the east coast blend and didn't think there was enough difference in taste and overall quality to make worth switching.  The sorrento is easily available,the ECB is not.  I mix a little bellagioso mild unsmoked provolone with some parmesan and start with a little of that on the pizza, then the whole milk mozz on top.  Very nice taste.
In fact, I'm getting ready to throw a plain pie in now that will be my first crack at a sauce with some added red wine.  My gauge lately has been, did I just eat a pizza that would have left me very disappointed had I paid for it at a local pizzeria, or was I blown away by the taste, and impressed enough that I would go back a second time to a pizzeria that served that pizza.   

GMan