A Model of Mozzarella Cheese Melting and Browning During Pizza Baking

Shreds of full fat Mozzarella cheese usually melt, fuse, and form light brown blisters, but fat-free or lower fat Mozzarella cheese shreds have limited melt and fusion and become scorched during pizza baking in commercial food service pizza ovens.Why is the functionality so different?Our results indicate that dehydration of the shred surface and subsequent skin formation are the critical events during pizza baking that limit melting and induce scorching of fat-free and lower fat Mozzarella cheese during pizza baking.When skin formation is prevented by lightly coating fat-free (<0.25% fat) and lower fat Mozzarella cheese ( 6 to 9% fat) shred surfaces with a hydrophobic material (ca.0.9 g vegetable oil/100 g cheese) prior to pizza baking, melting and browning of these cheeses were demonstrated to be similar to those of full fat Mozzarella cheese (21% fat).Therefore, fat within the interior microstructure of the cheese was not necessary to achieve the proper functionality of fatfree and lower fat Mozzarella cheeses during pizza baking.A model is proposed to describe the time series of events occurring during pizza baking.( Key words: browning, dehydration,