The Mack’s clone attempt was made yesterday and although the pizza was really good, it didn’t taste like a Mack’s pizza in the cheese, sauce or crust. It had somewhat of a Mack’s taste, but that isn’t good enough.
The dough ball opened beautifully, was pressed out very hard (to try and keep the rim from rising), could be tossed and twirl easily, and was nice in every way. Even though the dough was pressed out hard, the rim wanted to get some huge bubbles while in the oven, which I used the bubble popper to deflate. There was still some rim rise as can be seen in the picture. The rim didn’t brown enough until the bottom of the crust appeared to be baked enough.
The cheddar melted beautifully and tasted buttery and creamy on the slices, but something was missing from the taste of the cheese. It didn’t have exactly the tang as Mack’s pizza cheese does. I don’t know if it was the cheese and sauce combination, or if I used too much cheddar and sauce. There was a fairly high amount of cheddar and sauce on the pie when it was dressed.
When I talked to the one distributor of the Nasonville cheese he told me some pizzerias want the cheddar aged more before they use it on pizzas. I can’t be sure from the dates on the Nasonville cheddar I purchased really how long the cheddar was aged, or really when it was made.
I guess it is back to the drawing board for me for another attempt at a Mack’s pizza. I guess I have to change something in the dough formulation, but really don’t know what to try, except to use shortening and really don’t know how much shortening to try. For the sauce and cheddar, I guess I would add less the next time to see if that changes the flavor profile in anyway.
All the taste testers did really like this pizza, but this wasn’t a clone Mack’s pizza. I had different taste testers taste the Nasonville cheddar plain and they all said it was the creamiest cheddar they have ever tasted.
Norma
