Cheese – Excess oil / holes in cheese when baking pizza

cheeseoilpizza

I'm making a simple pizza using:

  • A regular water/flour/yeast dough wo/oil, raised, kneaded and flattened thin with a rolling pin
  • High quality minced meat (<5% fat), pre-fried in a pan without oil, drained of excess fluid, added a little ketchup
  • Topped with white cheese (an European gouda type, 27% fat, whereof 17% saturated fat)

Baking at the bottom of the oven on a thin silicon mat on a wire rack at 225°C, a lot of small holes form in the cheese, maybe 1 cm apart, and there is a lot of oil(?) simmering around these holes.

This gives a somewhat strange end result, and makes the crust hard because the top seems to finish much slower because of all the excess oil the pizza is baking in.

Can someone explain the formation of these holes and the excess fat? Does it come from the cheese itself? How can I test / change things to get a uniform baking without the holes and oil.

Best Answer

I agree that cheese is very likely the culprit - here is an article on the scientific approach to Cheese on pizza (with an interesting graphic) that can prompt some informed expiramentation:

(Huffpost) The Best Mix Of Cheeses To Put On Your Pizza, According To Science

James and her colleagues analyzed the properties of seven different types of cheeses — mozzarella (which is the most often used in pizza), cheddar, Colby, Edam, Emmental, Gruyere, and provolone — and how they affect these cheeses while baking.

What did the researchers find?

Since cheddar, Colby, and Edam cheeses have “small elasticity,” they didn’t easily form blisters when baking. As for Gruyere, Emmental, and provolone, their large amount of free oil prevented moisture from easily evaporating and so resulted in less browning. Meanwhile, mozzarella easily blisters.

So, the researchers concluded in their study that mozzarella can be combined with any of the other six cheeses to create just the right amount of browning and blistering you prefer on a gourmet pizza — for instance, try cheddar for less blisters or provolone for less browning.

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