How is Pizza Cheese Made? [A comprehensive Guide]

Pizza cheese, primarily mozzarella, is a kind of cheese specifically manufactured to be used on pizza. Pizza cheese includes both modified and processed cheese like mozzarella or mozzarella variants, provolone, and cheddar. Making pizza cheese is essentially the same process steps making regular cheese, with a slight difference in the lactose sugar amount of pizza cheese due to the added culture.

Introduction to the History of Pizza & Pizza Cheese

Pizza is for sure one of the most favorite and delicious foods all around the world. According to the American Dairy Products Institute, Mozzarella accounts for 402.5 million pounds of the cheese produced in the US.

People from the Neolithic period made it before there were ovens. Focaccia, the bread that Italians made pizza with, was cooked in fireplaces or on the fire of a flat rock. Once the hearth was hot, a thin dough sheet was laid on the stone until thoroughly cooked.

This was long before the pizza we know today was introduced globally. In fact, the pizza that we know today, consisting of tomato and cheese, was the pizza of Naples, made by a Neapolitan baker named Raffaele Esposito in 1889. Notable to mention, he added tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil toppings to pay respect to his country’s flag, Italy, and it was named after the Queen of Italy, Margherita Teresa Giovanni.

Since the first appearance of pizzas in Italy back in 1889, pizza has always been associated mainly with the delicious, magnificent ingredient—cheese! Although a couple of different cheese types are used in pizza making, the most famous and popular one is mozzarella, used on top of more than 30% of pizzas in the United States of America.

Provolone comes in second most popular cheese used in pizzas, while Cheddar, Parmesan, and other relevant cheese types are only used as a topping on pizzas.

Today, the improved pizza cheese quality has urged the fast food industry to set new standards that make fast food production much smoother and high-quality. Without the improvements in pizza cheese production, not many fast food brands would have made it to be this successful in the industry!

 

The Science of Pizza Cheese: What Makes It So Special?

Indeed, there must have been once when you were eating your slice of delicious pizza and as its cheese started to stretch, you began wondering how it melted and stretched like this? Well, the melting characteristics are all related to a combination of factors:

• The amount of fat content
• Protein bonding or breaking down, occurring with aging
• PH and salt levels of cheese 

A standard whole-milk mozzarella cheese is 50% fat and 50% protein and melts better, giving the cheese more flow. In contrast, part-skim mozzarella cheese contains more protein and less fat, so it only browns evenly in a shorter period but has less flow and stretchiness.

The key to a perfect baked pizza with browned cheese on top and a flow lies in combining primarily part-skim mozzarella cheese with 10% to 25% whole-milk mozzarella cheese for added flow and stretchability.

What’s Pasta Filata?

Pasta filata is an Italian word meaning “spun paste”. Pasta filata is considered a category for all cheese types made in a distinctive method of stretching curds in hot water, resulting in their elastic texture. Mozzarella and Fresh Mozzarella are the most popular examples of cheese in the pasta filata category. Mozzarella used in pizzas contains less moisture due to undergoing a period of aging, making the cheese shreddable and qualified to melt just perfectly fine!

The second most popular cheese used in pizza making is Provolone. Provolone, unlike Mozzarella, is a cheese that is aged for a more extended period, meaning at least a few months to even a year!

What are the Common Cheese Types Used in Pizza?

Cheese, the heart of any delicious and fantastic pizza, delivers the gooey stretch and the perfect melt that defines each slice!

While Mozzarella reigns supreme, there are actually other cheese types that play the same role of enhancing the texture and flavor of the pizza.

 

• Mozzarella: Mozzarella is the most essential and popular pizza topping, giving the pizza a strong and consistent flavor; creamy, fresh, and mild. Mozzarella has two variations: fresh and low-moisture. Choosing low-moisture mozzarella offers a longer shelf life and easier melting, while opting for fresh mozzarella is definitely creamier and must be consumed in the first few days of production.
• Cheddar: Cheddar is another favorite option in many pizzerias for its assertive presence and flavor, often at a 10% to 20% blend. Cheddar gives pizza a brown and rich color, making it eye-pleasing. The more cheddar is left to age(six months to a year), the more it flows and stretches.
• Provolone: Provolone is made similarly to Mozzarella with a minor difference, that it’s left to age sometimes for weeks, months, or even years! When young and mild, it’s closer to whole-milk, low-moisture Mozzarella but offers more flavor because of added extra culture.
• Ricotta: Ricotta, the Italian word for “recooked”, is a cheese that is traditionally made by boiling the leftover whey from the Mozzarella production process. Then, an acid like lemon juice is added to the whey to pull the second protein out. The protein that floats to the surface of whey is used to make Ricotta. Ricotta is creamy and holds its structure when heated, making it a fantastic choice for your pizza to have a gooey and melty texture!
• Parmigiano-Reggiano: Parmigiano-Reggiano, the Italian word for Parmesan, is a part-skim cheese that sometimes matures in up to 36 months, with an enhanced profile of flavor and aroma. Parmesan does not flow or melt like other cheese and is often added to pizza and other foods post-bake because if it’s cooked, it will dry out the little amount of moisture and ruin the cheese.

 

Industrial Pizza Cheese Production Step-by-Step

The growing demand for pizza and tailored cheese has urged us to dig deeper and understand the magnificent process of how pizza cheese is made and what the industrial production process is to make it.

The first and foremost step towards yielding pizza cheese is, of course, sourcing and processing raw materials and how important it is to check for the highest quality cow, buffalo, or sheep milk. Then, we can proceed with the rest of the industrial processing for each cheese type.

Milk Selection & Processing

The first step toward learning how to make pizza cheese is to ensure the milk that will be used in the cheese making needs to be from healthy cows, buffalos, or sheep, milked with completely hygienic and automatic machinery.

The hygienic milk is then taken to the factories and delivered to a place called “receiving milk”. The standardized milk is milk that has a casein to fat ratio between 0.7 (for WMM) to 1.2 (for LMPS), and then pasteurized. Pasteurization aims to destroy harmful pathogens and remove some of the whey protein for a maximum cheese yield.

Milk Acidification

A starter culture is then added to reach the ultimate potential for stretching step. With the help of microorganisms, you can achieve sufficient acidification, calcium, and pH levels. The starter cultures may vary:

 

• Streptococcus thermophilus
• Lactobacillus bulgaricus
• Lactobacillus helveticus

Among the three essential starter cultures, lactobacillus Helveticas is the only one that can ferment the glucose, resulting in excessive cheese browning when the pizza is baked.

Milk Coagulation

The next step in making pizza cheese, such as Mozzarella, is to add a coagulant, an enzyme that makes the proteins in the milk link and bond together. The most common coagulant is rennet, and it has different types:

1. Rennet coming from an animal stomach (Traditional Rennet)
2. Rennet coming from a bacteria (Bacterial Rennet)
3.  Rennet coming from recombinant bacteria (Vegetable Rennet)
4. Rennet coming from a fungus (Microbial Rennet)

The coagulant is mixed in the milk, transforming it into a gel-like form. This should take quite some time to begin thickening and coagulate to full firmness.

 

Curd Processing: Texture & Moisture Control in Pizza Cheese Production

After the acidification and renneting stages, curd processing is a crucial step in pizza cheese production. It contributes to the cheese’s texture, moisture content, and melting ability.

The curd is left to settle and cut into pieces. The smaller the pieces are, the more whey they can expel, resulting in firmer cheese, ideal for low-moisture Mozzarella cheese used in commercial pizza production.

In contrast, larger pieces of curds contain more moisture content and, therefore, have a softer texture and can be found in fresh Mozzarella.

Before whey drainage, the curd pieces are left to heal, stabilize and are stirred for about 30 more minutes. The excess whey is separated to prevent the final cheese product from becoming soggy.

 

Stretching & Molding: The Road to the Ideal Pizza Cheese

We’re almost there. To reach the perfect, ideal pizza cheese, famous for its stretchability and elasticity, the processed curds are heated (65-85°C) in hot salt water until entirely lump-free and pliable. In this step, the proteins are activated to create a chicken-breast-like texture in the cheese. The soften curds are mechanically stretched and formed into a smooth, fibrous texture.

At this stage, you may have successfully attained the perfect meltability and chewiness of pizza cheese, which is crucial for making your perfect, ideal pizza.

The cheese is shaped into blocks or shredded formats with the help of automated molding machines to ensure a uniform shape and size.

Cooling, Aging, & Packaging: How to Extend Pizza Cheese Shelf Life

The cheese blocks or shredded forms are cooled quickly and in the best way possible, often to prevent over-fermentation, and have a good texture. Various methods to cool the cheese include cold brine baths, air chilling, or blast freezing.

Cheese aging varies from cheese to cheese. Fresh Mozzarella, for instance, is sold and eaten immediately after production. Low-moisture Mozzarella, however, undergoes a brief aging process to improve the flavor and stability. This type of cheese has strong melting properties; therefore, perfectly ideal to use in high-heat pizzeria ovens for pizzas.

Now that all the steps toward reaching the perfect, smooth pizza cheese have been taken, it’s finally time to vacuum-seal or nitrogen-pack them to prevent oxidation and spoilage. The proper packaging will ensure safety and a longer shelf life. Another factor contributing to extended shelf life is storing the cheese at 1-4°C (34-39°F). Storing at this temperature will keep the cheese fresh while maintaining its meltability and stretch.

Essential Equipment for Industrial Cheese Production

The pizza cheese industry is evolving every day, and as a solution to the ever-growing costumers’ needs, various sets of industrial cheese-making equipment are developed to help manufacturers deliver high-quality, homogenous, and enhanced texture and flavor cheese to the customers.

These pieces of machinery are highly versatile and can be set to a specific automation level to achieve the desired outcome and suit the investment requirements. Some of these machinery pieces are:

 

Curdling Vats

Curdling vats are specialized equipment used to hold the milk during seeding, usually suitable for capacities of 2000 to 20000 liters. These machines are designed for various cheese types to drive the best result. The heating system in these machines evenly distributes heat throughout the curds and helps obtain grains of uniform size.

Steam Cooker-Stretchers

Due to the steam feature of these machines, a cooker-stretcher can melt and stretch different pizza cheeses such as Mozzarella cheese. Steam cooker-stretchers, usually with two bidirectional augers and an exclusive double jacket vat, allow using various raw materials such as curds, spices, rennet, and vegetable or animal fat.

Steam cooker-stretchers can reduce heating time, increase the chances of yielding cheese from milk, and help to eliminate oily water residues.

Cooling & Brining Vats

The cooling and brining vats are machines suitable for mozzarella, pasta filata, and any pizza cheese that serves as a secondary cooling system to cool the moulded and pre-cooled cheese to the point where they have a stable shape.

With these machines’ help, you can also add salt and remove moisture to improve resistance and prevent mold growth.

 

Conclusion

In this article, we tried our best to provide a comprehensive guide to the mysterious world of pizza cheese production and how it’s made. To attain the final product, pizza cheese, the manufacturing processes may vary based on cheese type, and therefore, every cheese must be carefully studied to achieve the best result.

Pizza cheese has had quite a journey from its beginning to today’s vast popularity, and manufacturers are constantly trying to engage with the competing cheese-making industry and offer better pizza cheese options aligning with consumers’ changing preferences.

 

FAQs

1- Is pizza cheese real cheese?

You can rest assured that pizza cheese is real; however, the quality of the cheese you use and its composition varies based on the type and production methods. The traditional and most common pizza cheese, Mozzarella, is made from either cow or buffalo milk. To produce this cheese, it needs to undergo steps such as coagulation, curd processing, and stretching to achieve the melting and stretchy properties.

Despite the difference in cheese modification, most pizza cheeses are legally labeled as real cheese, originating from real milk following a traditional cheese-making process.

Still, if you want to ensure the pizza cheese you choose is a hundred percent dairy-based cheese or a processed alternative, you must check the ingredients list thoroughly.

2- What is the best cheese for pizza?

There are various cheese options to choose from when it comes to pizza toppings, and one individual’s choice may be their personal preference. That being said, Mozzarella cheese is considered a classic choice for the majority as a pizza topping. Giving the pizza crust a creamy and stretchy texture, Mozzarella is a perfect addition to your pizza. Mozzarella is also an excellent base for other cheese types like Parmesan and Asiago.

Provolone is the second popular cheese used in pizza-making, offering a semi-soft texture with a slightly sweet flavor.

3- Is traditional mozzarella different from fresh mozzarella?

If you are a cheese enthusiast, you might have wondered if there is a difference between the traditional and fresh Mozzarella. The truth is that, yes, there is a big difference. Fresh Mozzarella uses vinegar or rennin in its production process, while traditional Mozzarella is more like Cheddar cheese and made with a bacterial culture. This bacterial culture helps to develop lactic acid, resulting in curdled milk.