Mozzarella

[Apprentice]

Hey, I live in Quebec, Canada and I use Saputo Mozzarella cheese on my pizzas. I was looking at pictures of pizzas and the cheese always looked kinda greesy and tasty. The cheese on my pizzas doesn't get that kind of texture. It melts and gets brown, you know, but it doesn't get greasy and I kinda like it when it's greasy/oily. Also, my dough is always baked before my cheese is has browned to my satisfaction. So, any suggestions for solving my ''problems''? haha


thanks

[chickenparm]

I'm not sure how you are using/applying the cheese,are you slicing or grating it?Or does it come pre shredded already?Is it whole milk,part skim or fresh mozz?

Have you seen my topics about burnt cheese? I found using some oil helped it melt longer and not brown as fast.

[scott123]

Frank, I googled 'Saputo' and, from the packaging, it looks like low moisture brick mozzarella, which is what you want.  Brick can vary, though. You might want to try different brands.

As Bill, mentioned, whole milk is critical. You're grating the cheese yourself, correct?

The other important aspect to properly melted cheese is crust thickness.  In order for the cheese to bubble, the crust must be thin. The less dough you have underneath the cheese, the less insulation you have, the easier it is for the bottom heat to reach the cheese and bubble it.

Heat is also important.  That intense, cheese bubbling bottom heat needs to come from a thick conductive stone or a modded oven.

[chickenparm]

I wanted to show you a picture of 2 different size hand held cheese graters I have.I don't have a machine to shred cheese,so by hand is what I use for home.

There can be a night and day difference on the pie between the 2 sizes.The problem is,most stores all sell a very generic,average grate size,and they are not ideal for cheese sizes on pizza.At least not to me.
Tacos or salads,yes,pizza,eh,not so much.


I found a hand held shredder that has extra large holes on one side.It shreds the cheese to a nice size,and reduces the breakdown found with smaller cheese shreds.Of course the milk quality is important too,as I have been finding out the hard way on pre shredded cheeses.

And like Scott has explained,it needs to bubble correctly as well.If the bottom doesn't heat up enough,the hot air in the oven will burn the cheese on top before its done cooking through the bottom.

[Apprentice]

Alright, thanks guys.