Interesting Cheese Texture and Color Please Give Opinion

[PizzaEater101]

See how this cheese melts.  This is related to my scamorza topic but I started a new topic because this might not really be scamorza.  I wanted your opinion.

Sbarro uses a cheese or cheese blend that when melted doesn't melt into one big gooey mess like many cheese do.  It melts but it melts in a different way where it stays very white and almost uniform.  You can see the individual cheese strands melted but not become one big piece of gooey cheese like other pizzas.

Bill aka Chickenparm showed me a pizza chain on the net called Pizza DiRoma and they have a similar look to their cheese.  Look at the pic and see what I mean.

I doubt it's a combo of just whole and part-skim mozz.  I was thinking maybe scamorza but I have done many experiments with scamorza and can't get this.   I know that these chains use cheese made for pizzerias specifically and are not just the regular stuff you and I buy.  They use blends and they are meant to melt in a specific way.  I'm curious if any of you have any idea how they do this?

Do you suppose it's whole milk and part skim milk moz and maybe added in some fake cheese, I mean soy based cheese just because it melts funny and stays very white?   I actually like the taste of Sbarro pizza and trying to replicate the cheese.

Any help would be appreciated.  Please see pic.  Thank you ...

[PizzaEater101]

Let me add one more thing.  I never have tried this soy type of cheese or any soy cheese but I can't imagine it tasting very good but I'm thinking maybe in a blend they can use that and real mozz to make something that taste good.  I might be wrong tho.

[scott123]

Sbarros is just a greater cheese amount than normal on top of a thick crust that insulates it and prevents it from melting too much. Less melted cheese is always going to be white with individual cheese strands. Some Italians call that filante or, loosely translated as 'thready.'  Thready cheese happens all the time on Neapolitan bakes because the quick bake time melts the cheese less.

I can't tell you what kind of cheese this place is, but I know exactly what happened that caused the effect that you're seeing.

Advertising executive/Owner at photo shoot: Hey, the pizza looks good, but the cheese isn't pulling away, could you do the pull thing?
Photographer:  Uh... well, the cheese is already beginning to cool
Ad guy:  How about adding more cheese?
Photographer: Hey chef, could you melt some more pizza on this? We need a pull shot.
Chef: Sure, whatever.

[PizzaEater101]

Scott, thanks for the info. 

At Sbarro it is thicker than real NY pizza that's true but I have eaten there a lot over the past couple of years and can say even tho it's thicker than real NY pizza it's not really a thick crust.  It's not even a typical "American" pizza thickness.  It's a thinner than that but thicker than NY pizza.  You don't go away feeling you been loaded down with a bunch of bread but you know it's not paper thin like NY pizza.   

[scott123]

Fair enough, a 'thicker' crust than NY, not a thick crust.  But that little bit of extra thickness and the extra quantity of cheese makes a big difference. To me, white thready mozz is a defect, so, even though I want more cheese, I can't push it too far or I get the dreaded undermelted effect.

Chau brought a patent to my attention for using cultures to lower the residual sugar in brick mozz (and thus generating less browning), but it's from the seventies, and, from what I can tell, it's common practice now, so I highly doubt you'll find one brand of cheese that resists browning considerably more than another.

http://www.patents.com/us-4085228.html

[PizzaEater101]

Scott, you hit the nail on the head.  You found the answer I was looking for.  I'm not a lawyer but I read that patent and read what you had to say about cheese with lower sugar (in this case I think it's lactose) makes sense.  Less sugar content means less easily burned or even browned.  The supplier of the cheese for the chains such as Sbarro, DiRoma, even Shakey's which has a white looking end product probably order that cheese that is good for that type of end result.   

I think most real NY pizza style pizza joints don't use low sugar content cheese and they get a traditional looking pizza. 

Not sure why I am so obsessed with pizza and how to achieve certain results.  Sbarro does not taste like a typically real NY style pizza but it's good in it's own right and it's different.  I do like it a lot.  But I like variety that's why I would go to Sbarro then maybe go to KONY pizza and then other places.  That's if I am not making my own pizza.  I make it most the time but for variety purposes I will og and eat out at pizza joints.

[chickenparm]

Sbarros is just a greater cheese amount than normal on top of a thick crust that insulates it and prevents it from melting too much. Less melted cheese is always going to be white with individual cheese strands. Some Italians call that filante or, loosely translated as 'thready.'  Thready cheese happens all the time on Neapolitan bakes because the quick bake time melts the cheese less.

I can't tell you what kind of cheese this place is, but I know exactly what happened that caused the effect that you're seeing.

Advertising executive/Owner at photo shoot: Hey, the pizza looks good, but the cheese isn't pulling away, could you do the pull thing?
Photographer:  Uh... well, the cheese is already beginning to cool
Ad guy:  How about adding more cheese?
Photographer: Hey chef, could you melt some more pizza on this? We need a pull shot.
Chef: Sure, whatever.

Ya know,now that you said that,for this photo,I can see where the extra cheese was applied on top of the cheese used during the original bake.You can see the new white cheese pooling onto the old cheese,and the color is much different.So they added cheese after a slice was cut,put the slice back,and reheated it again.

This look is very common in slice shops I would eat at in NY.People would order slices and have extra cheese put on top.When the slices came out of the oven,the new cheese was so white,while the cheese under it was more of a yellow orange tint coming through.

Aside from that,I understand what James was describing.I will tell you,the last time I ate at Sbarros,I did not notice a filante undercooked cheese on the pie.It was nicely melted and stayed white.Not stringy like the pies that are undercooked.You could be right though,but it just wasn't my experience the last time I was there.

The sbarros cheese will take on a slight yellowy color when it cools off.It will remelt easy when old slices are reheated again.

It is why I want to try Grande,for the best,the taste,and they also advertise it melts a creamy white color and doesn't burn like other cheeses do.Hope to order some soon!

 

[scott123]

This look is very common in slice shops I would eat at in NY.People would order slices and have extra cheese put on top.When the slices came out of the oven,the new cheese was so white,while the cheese under it was more of a yellow orange tint coming through.

It is very common, Bill. I used to see partially melted extra cheese slices coming out of the oven and just shake my head.  If I owned a shop, I would never put anything on a cooked slice of pizza.

[RoadPizza]

Scott123, I can see why you wouldn't want to put anything on a cooked slice of pizza, but if you ran a slice shop, you probably would have to.  Those extra toppings will add to your profits in the long run and as long as your guests ask for them, you will be inclined to accomodate them.

I'm not a fan of the white cheese.  Leprino's Pizza Cheese is a little salty (which I like), but it looks unnatural on display and does not melt as well as mozzarella, which is a reason we don't use it.