A Model of Mozzarella Cheese Melting
and Browning During Pizza Baking1
ABSTRACT
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 fat-
free 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, free oil release,
melting)
Abbreviation key: AV = apparent viscosity, FO =
free oil, HSC = hydrophobic surface coating, LMPS =
low moisture part-skim, PC = physically covered.
INTRODUCTION
The functionality of melted Mozzarella cheese is
important because about 75% of all Mozzarella cheese
is used as an ingredient for pizza ( 1 ) . Low moisture
Mozzarella cheese and low moisture part skim
( LMPS) Mozzarella cheese, approximately 20% fat
Received September 15, 1997.
Accepted April 21, 1998.
1Use of names, names of ingredients, and identification of
specific models of equipment is for scientific clarity and does not
constitute endorsement of product by authors, Cornell University,
or the Northeast Dairy Foods Research Center.
1998 J Dairy Sci 81:2312–2319
MICHAEL A. RUDAN and DAVID M. BARBANO
Northeast Dairy Foods Research Center,
Department of Food Science,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
on a wet basis, are types commonly used for pizza
baking because of their desirable functional charac-
teristics ( 4 ) . Generally, proper functionality during
pizza baking includes complete melting and shred
fusion without the molten cheese becoming too soupy,
combined with some free oil ( FO) release, giving the
surface a shiny appearance without forming pools of
oil; some blistering and browning should occur but
without producing a burnt appearance ( 3 ) .
Given the healthier eating goals of consumers and
the continued demand for pizza, there has been in-
terest in developing a lower fat Mozzarella cheese (2,
7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14). It has been demonstrated ( 1 0 )
that a reduction in fat content leads to poor function-
ality during pizza baking; for example, during pizza
baking (commercial food service pizza oven at 232°C
for 5 min), lower fat cheeses (ca. 5 to 10% fat)
displayed limited shred melt and fusion, followed by
scorching of intact shreds, resulting in a pizza with an
atypical burnt appearance (10). In that same study,
higher fat cheeses (ca. 15 to 25% fat) that were
baked under identical conditions exhibited desired
functionality: complete shred melt and fusion, fol-
lowed by the formation of light brown blisters (10).
The differences between the cheeses as fat content
decreased were lower ratio of moisture to protein,
lower degrees of proteolysis, and lower FO release
(10). What are the key differences between higher fat
Mozzarella cheeses (referred to as full fat or LMPS in
the present study) and fat-free or lower fat Moz-
zarella cheese? How can fat-free and lower fat cheeses
be made to function like full fat cheese during pizza
baking?
Fife et al. ( 2 ) and Merrill et al. ( 7 ) investigated
the effect of the ratio of moisture to protein on the
functional properties of lower fat Mozzarella cheese
(2.2 to 15% fat). By increasing the ratio of moisture
to protein of lower fat Mozzarella cheese, those
researchers (2, 7 ) found some improvement in melted
cheese functionality; however, they did not report
data for pizza baking. Tunick et al. ( 1 3 ) increased
the amount of proteolysis prior to pizza baking by
storing lower fat Mozzarella cheese (7.0% fat) for 70
d, that is, about five times longer than the normal
aging period of about 2 wk ( 3 ) . They reported im-
2312
 OUR INDUSTRY TODAY
proved functionality during pizza baking, but, under
heating conditions >175°C the cheese browned exten-
sively. Because many pizza manufacturers bake pizza
at temperatures ≥260°C, the tendency of the cheese to
brown excessively has become a particular concern to
Mozzarella cheese manufacturers ( 6 ) . Thus, the lack
of proteolysis alone does not seem to be the key
difference causing the limited melting and scorching
characteristics of lower fat Mozzarella cheese. To
date, no studies have been conducted on the third
major difference between full fat and fat-free or lower
fat Mozzarella cheese, namely, the FO release.
Therefore, the objective of the present study was to
determine the effect of FO release on the functionality
of fat-free, lower fat, and full fat Mozzarella cheeses
during pizza baking. The effect of a physical barrier
on the functionality of fat-free, lower fat, and full fat
Mozzarella cheeses during baking was also deter-
mined. Based on these results, a melting and brown-
ing model for Mozzarella cheese is proposed.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Simulated Pizza Baking Test
A test simulating pizza baking was used to
eliminate the influence of the pizza dough and sauce
on the baking characteristics of cheeses with different
fat contents. Three Mozzarella cheeses of different
composition were used in the test: commercial fat-free
Mozzarella cheese (<0.25% fat, 64.2% moisture, and
27.4% protein; Sorrento Cheese Co., Inc., Buffalo,
NY), low-fat Mozzarella cheese (5.8% fat, 54.0%
moisture, 32.1% protein; Cornell University, Ithaca,
NY), and commercial LMPS Mozzarella (21.0% fat,
49.1% moisture, and 25.8% protein; Sorrento Cheese
Co., Inc.). Shredded cheese (ca. 100 g weighed to the
nearest 0.01 g ) was spread evenly on the bottom of a
20.3-cm diameter × 3.2-cm deep preweighed alumi-
num pie pan. The cheese in the pan was then baked
in a conveyer belt forced-air type of commercial food
service pizza oven (Impinger model 1132; Lincoln
Food Service Products, Inc., Fort Wayne, IN) for 5
min at 232°C. There were three different treatments:
1 ) nothing was done to the pie pan or cheese (con-
trol), 2 ) about 1 g of vegetable oil (100% canola oil;
Commander Foods, Inc., Syracuse, NY) was sprayed
onto the surface of the cheese shreds after they were
placed in the pie pan [hydrophobic surface coating,
( HSC)], and 3 ) aluminum foil was placed over the
aluminum pan and cheese [physically covered, ( PC)].
A hand pump spray bottle was used to spray the oil
on the cheese surface. The average amount of vegeta-
ble oil sprayed on the fat-free, low fat, and LMPS
2313
Mozzarella cheeses was 0.84 g, 0.80 g, and 0.99 g,
respectively. After baking, the cheese was allowed to
cool to 25°C (ca. 5 min) and was reweighed to deter-
mine the amount of moisture lost. Moisture loss was
divided by the total initial weight of cheese, multi-
plied by 100, to express the moisture loss per 100 g of
cheese. Photographs were taken after baking to
record shred fusion, melting, and browning.
Actual Pizza Baking Test
The actual pizza baking test was used to confirm
simulated results for melting and browning behaviors
of the cheese during use as a pizza topping. The pizza
was made by placing 150 g of tomato sauce (Ragu
Traditional Old World Style; Van Den Bergh Foods
Co., Lisle, IL) on a 30-cm pizza crust (Frozen Deli
Style; P&C Food Markets, Inc., Syracuse, NY).
Cheese and oil coatings were applied as described. All
pizzas were baked using the same conditions (com-
mercial food service pizza oven for 5 min at 232°C ) as
the simulated pizza baking test. Photographs of the
pizzas were taken after baking to record shred fusion,
melting, and browning of the cheese.
Fat-free Mozzarella cheese (<0.25% fat, 66.4%
moisture, and 25% protein; Polly-O Fat Free, Kraft
Food Inc., Glenview, IL) was shredded, and 300 g
were placed over the sauce and crust. Prior to baking,
one-half of the pizza was temporarily covered with a
plastic sheet to prevent that half from being sprayed,
and the other half was sprayed with Pam (butter
flavor; American Home Food Products, Inc., Madison,
NJ) to form an HSC on the upper surface of the
cheese shreds on the pizza. The total spray time was
about 4 s, which corresponded to about 3 g of coating
material for 150 g of cheese. The exact amount of
hydrophobic material applied to the cheese was not
known because, in addition to canola oil, Pam con-
tained (in decreasing content) grain alcohol, lecithin,
natural favors, annatto, and propellant. Pam was
used instead of the hand pump dispenser with vegeta-
ble oil because the delivery system of the Pam gave
a more uniform application of the HSC on the cheese
surface. The use of vegetable oil in the hand pump
dispenser produced the same result as the PAM but
was not uniformly distributed on the pizza surface.
This same procedure was followed for LMPS Moz-
zarella cheese (Sorrento Cheese Co., Inc.).
Lower fat Mozzarella cheese (ca. 8.75% fat, 54.0%
moisture, and 31.0% protein) from a previous study
( 8 ) was also used in the pizza baking test. Cheeses
from each of the three treatments (control,
homogenized milk, and homogenized cream) were
shredded and distributed evenly over one-third of a
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 81, No. 8, 1998
2314 RUDAN AND BARBANO

pizza. The pizza was sprayed entirely with Pam. The
total spray time was about 8 s, which corresponded to
about 6 g of coating material/300 g of cheese.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Simulated Pizza Baking
The results of the simulated pizza baking test are
shown in Table 1. For any given fat level, the
amounts of moisture lost for the control and HSC
cheeses were about the same, but the PC cheeses lost
less moisture. The low fat Mozzarella cheese was an
exception because, in this case, the HSC cheese lost
more moisture than did the control, but the difference
was small. These results were surprising because the
HSC was expected to prevent moisture loss from the
cheese. Also surprising was the large total water loss
from the cheese at all fat levels; Mozzarella cheese
was not expected to lose about half of its moisture
when baked under the conditions used for pizza bak-
ing. Given such large moisture loss, the functional
properties of the cheese after pizza baking (i.e., when
it is consumed), would be expected to be significantly
different from the functional properties of the cheese
before pizza baking. However, no reports in the litera-
ture compare composition and functional properties of
Mozzarella cheese before and after pizza baking.
More work is needed in this area.
Even though moisture loss from the HSC cheese
was the same or greater than the control, the effect of
the HSC on cheese melting and browning was dra-
matic. These effects for the fat-free, low fat, and
LMPS Mozzarella cheese are shown in Figure 1. For
the fat-free (Figure 1, top panel) and low fat (Figure
1, middle panel) Mozzarella cheeses, the entire sur-
face of the control cheese formed a hard, brown skin
and raised about 5 cm upon baking, followed by
scorching of the raised cheese surfaces. In contrast,
the HSC cheese shreds (Figure 1, top and middle
panels) melted, fused, and formed light brown
blisters such as those normally found with cheese of
much higher fat in the simulated pizza baking test
(Figure 1, bottom panel). These results indicated
that the moisture lost at the surface of the cheese
shred and subsequent skin formation was important
and that the total amount of moisture loss was not a
major factor. The control and HSC LMPS Mozzarella
cheeses (Figure 1, bottom panel) had the same melt
and appearance. This result was not surprising be-
cause the higher fat LMPS Mozzarella cheese inher-
ently has enough FO release to prevent surface
moisture loss and skin formation during baking.
Therefore, the added FO of the HSC treatment had no
effect (i.e., control and HSC appear the same) on the
baking characteristics of LMPS Mozzarella cheese
(Figure 1, bottom panel).
At all fat levels of Mozzarella cheese, the PC
cheeses lost about half of the moisture that was lost
by the control and HSC cheeses. For the fat-free, low
fat, and LMPS Mozzarella cheeses, this resulted in
complete cheese shred melt but no browning (Figure
1). The decreased moisture loss could have been due
to a decrease in heat transfer into the PC cheeses
compared with that of the control cheeses. That is,
the aluminum cover produces an insulative air space
(saturated with moisture) between the heat source
and the cheese that would be expected to reduce the
heat transfer from the oven to the cheese. This expla-
nation was substantiated in a separate experiment
(results not shown) showing that, when both cheeses
are subjected to the same baking time and tempera-
ture, the PC cheese came out of the oven about 35°C

TABLE 1. Moisture loss from fat-free (<0.25% fat), low fat (5.8% fat), and LMPS1 (21% fat)
Mozzarella cheese shreds that were left uncovered (control), covered with a hydrophobic surface
coating (HSC), or physically covered ( P C ) during simulated pizza baking (commercial food service
pizza oven at 232°C for 5 min).
Treatment2
Cheese
type Control HSC PC SEM LSD3
(g/100 g of cheese)
Fat-free 32.04a 31.58b 15.91c 0.54 1.73
Low fat 28.23b 29.25a 15.46c 0.17 0.56
LMPS 27.92a 27.30a 15.39b 0.25 0.81
a,b,cMeans within a row without a common superscript differ ( P < 0.05).
1Low moisture, part-skim.
2n = 3 per treatment.
3Least significant difference ( P = 0.05).

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 81, No. 8, 1998

 OUR INDUSTRY TODAY 2315

cooler than did cheese without a cover. The lack of

surface browning of the PC treatments also could
have been due to the high relative humidity at the
cheese surface during baking. More work is needed in
this area to identify the effect of PC on the behavior of
cheese during baking. In any case, covering the
cheese surface with the HSC (applied or inherently
present) or a PC as barriers has a dramatic effect on
fat-free, low fat, and LMPS Mozzarella cheese melt-
ing and browning during baking in a commercial food
service pizza oven.

Actual Pizza Baking

Fat-free Mozzarella cheese. Consistent with the
results from the simulated pizza baking test, an HSC
applied to commercially available fat-free Mozzarella
cheese had a dramatic effect on melt and appearance
during actual pizza baking (Figure 2). The top half of
the fat-free cheese on the pizza in Figure 2 was
covered with about 3 g of PAM cooking spray
(predominantly canola oil). The fat-free cheese com-
pletely melted and formed small light brown blisters
that were similar to those of the LMPS Mozzarella
cheese normally used for pizza baking. The untreated
fat-free Mozzarella cheese shreds in the bottom half of
the photo had limited melt and fusion, giving the
pizza an atypical burnt appearance (Figure 2). As
stated in the previous section, an HSC prevented
moisture loss from the cheese shred surface and sub-
sequent skin formation. Because skin formation was
prevented, adjacent cheese shreds melted, flowed, and
fused. The results in Figure 2 show that fat-free
Mozzarella cheese can have acceptable melt and ap-
pearance on pizza. Clearly, for fat-free Mozzarella
cheese, fat within the interior microstructure of the
cheese is not necessary for proper melting and brown-
ing during pizza baking.
Lower fat Mozzarella cheese. In Figure 3, an
HSC was applied to three different lower fat Moz-
zarella cheeses on the same pizza. The cheeses were
made from unhomogenized milk, homogenized milk,
and homogenized cream ( 8 ) . From the fat-free pizza
baking results (Figure 2), the HSC was expected to
increase lower fat Mozzarella cheese shred melting
and fusion and limit scorching. As anticipated, all
three cheeses in Figure 3 and full fat Mozzarella
cheese (Figure 4 ) had similar melting and browning
characteristics. Another important observation from Figure 1. Melting and browning during a test simulating pizza
Figure 3 was that the melted cheese made from baking (commercial food service pizza oven at 232°C for 5 min) for
homogenized milk or homogenized cream appeared fat-free (top panel), low-fat (middle panel), and low moisture,
part-skim (LMPS, bottom panel) Mozzarella cheeses. Treatments
whiter and more opaque than the control lower fat were no treatment (control, upper left), hydrophobic surface coat-
cheese made from unhomogenized milk. Upon close ing (HSC, upper right), and physically covered (PC, lower center).

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 81, No. 8, 1998

2316 RUDAN AND BARBANO

inspection, the red tomato sauce can be seen through

the melted control cheese (Figure 3). This increased
whiteness of the melted cheeses made from
homogenized milk or homogenized cream had not
been observed previously ( 8 ) because of the high
degree of browning and scorching occurring during
pizza baking of these same cheeses without the HSC.
Therefore, homogenizing the milk or homogenizing
the cream significantly increased the whiteness and
opacity of both the unmelted ( 8 ) and melted (Figure
3 ) lower fat Mozzarella cheese.
Full fat Mozzarella cheese. The effects of lightly
coating shredded commercial LMPS Mozzarella
cheese with the HSC prior to pizza baking are shown
in Figure 4. Because no difference in melting or
browning was observed in the simulated pizza baking
test between LMPS cheese with or without HSC, no
difference was expected between LMPS cheese func-
tionality in the actual pizza baking test. As antici-
pated, the top (HSC) and bottom (no HSC) halves of
the pizza exhibited similar melting and browning
characteristics. As explained earlier, LMPS Moz-
zarella cheese inherently has enough FO release to
prevent moisture loss and skin formation on the shred
surface during pizza baking. Therefore, the added
HSC had no effect on the melting and browning of
LMPS Mozzarella cheese.
In conclusion, the role of fat release in Mozzarella
cheese during baking was clearly identified. These
results indicated that, for melting and browning, the
overall amount of fat was not important, but the
amount released on or applied to the shred surface
during baking was important.

Model of the Dynamics

of Melting and Browning
The results from this study and the information
from the literature have shown that fat, moisture,

Figure 2. Appearance at room temperature of a pizza topped

with fat-free Mozzarella cheese after baking (commercial food serv-
ice pizza oven at 232°C for 5 min) with no treatment (control,
lower half) and with a hydrophobic surface coating (HSC, upper
half).
Figure 3. Appearance at room temperature of a pizza topped
with lower fat (designated as low-fat) Mozzarella cheese ( 9 ) made
from unhomogenized milk (control), homogenized milk (H. milk),
and homogenized cream (H. cream) after baking (commercial food
service pizza oven at 232°C for 5 min); the entire pizza was covered
with a hydrophobic surface coating prior to pizza baking.
Figure 4. Appearance at room temperature of a pizza topped
with low moisture, part-skim (LMPS) Mozzarella cheese after
pizza baking (commercial food service pizza oven at 232°C for 5
min) with no treatment (control, lower half) and with a hydropho-
bic surface coating (HSC, upper half).

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 81, No. 8, 1998

 OUR INDUSTRY TODAY 2317

and protein all affect Mozzarella cheese melting and

browning during pizza baking. In addition, the time
series and locations of events taking place are impor-
tant. Our model describes how full fat Mozzarella
cheese melts and browns, why fat-free and lower fat
Mozzarella cheeses do not melt and brown similar to
full fat, and how the HSC affects the functionality of
fat-free and lower fat Mozzarella cheeses.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 are schematic diagrams of the
surface of an individual cheese shred and the changes
that occur as the temperature of the cheese increases
during pizza baking for full fat, fat-free or lower fat
cheeses without an HSC and for fat-free or lower fat
cheese with an HSC, respectively. All cheese shreds
on the surface of the pizza are assumed to behave in
the same manner as the individual shred. Because
full fat, fat-free, and lower fat Mozzarella cheeses
have different composition with respect to fat,
moisture, and protein, the cheese surface resulting
from shredding these cheeses will reflect these differ-
ences. For example, as the fat content of the cheese
decreases or increases, the area of fat at the surface of
the shred also decreases or increases, respectively;
the same is true for moisture and protein.
Full fat cheese: initial melt. Starting from
refrigeration temperature (Figure 5a), the fat con-
tinues to melt and become liquid (complete at 38°C),
expanding as temperature continues to increase. The
relative expansion of the melted fat is larger than
that of the protein matrix, which forces some of the
fat to move from the protein matrix and to the cheese
shred surface (15). The diffusion of fat over the shred
surface coats most of exposed protein and moisture
regions of the individual cheese shred with liquid fat
(Figure 5b).
Full fat cheese: shred flow and fusion. As the
cheese temperature further increases during pizza
baking, the interactions of protein and protein, pro-
tein and water, as well as protein and calcium
change, and the AV decreases, causing the cheese
shred to collapse and flow because of gravity (Figure
5c). Based on the softening points of various cheeses
( 1 1 ) and the results of analytical tests measuring AV
of Mozzarella cheese ( 5 ) , shred flow and fusion prob-
ably begin within the temperature range of 55 to Figure 5. Schematic diagram of an individual cheese shred at
4°C ( a ) , 38°C ( b ) , and 55 to 80°C ( c ) , showing areas of fat,
80°C. However, more work is needed to understand moisture, and casein matrix for full fat Mozzarella cheese.
better the effect of temperature on softening point, Figure 6. Schematic diagram of an individual cheese shred at
flow, and apparent viscosity ( AV) of Mozzarella 4°C ( a ) , 38°C ( b ) , and 55 to 80°C ( c ) , showing areas of fat,
moisture, and casein matrix for fat-free or lower fat Mozzarella
cheese. Furthermore, additional work is needed to cheese.
identify the important interactions between cheese Figure 7. Schematic diagram of an individual cheese shred at
4°C ( a ) , 38°C ( b ) , and 55 to 80°C ( c ) , showing areas of fat,
components (i.e., among proteins, proteins and water, moisture, and casein matrix for fat-free or lower fat Mozzarella
and proteins and calcium) that are responsible for cheese with a hydrophobic surface coating (HSC).

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 81, No. 8, 1998

2318 RUDAN AND BARBANO
the observed effect of temperature on softening point,
flow, and AV of Mozzarella cheese.
It is absolutely critical that the surface of the shred
not dry to the point of making a skin or hard shell
that prevents the softened cheese from flowing. In the
early stages of convection heating, a temperature gra-
dient exists between the surface and the center of the
cheese shred. The center of the cheese shred must
reach the softening point and flow before the higher
temperature at the shred surface causes a skin or
hard shell to form. Once the entire cheese shred
softens and flows, it fuses with adjacent shreds. Even-
tually all of the shreds fuse and form one molten mass
of cheese on the pizza.
Full fat cheese: blister formation and brown-
ing. Above 100°C (at the cheese surface and below),
water is converted to steam; this steam and the
trapped air between cheese shreds collect in bubbles
under the molten cheese surface. Next, the cheese
surface over these bubbles begins to rise from the
expansion of the trapped air and steam, initiating the
formation of a blister. The size and characteristics of
the blister are dependent on the size of the bubble
and, with respect to the cheese, the amount of expres-
sible serum, proteolysis, ratio of moisture to protein,
pH, and any other factors that influence the AV of the
cheese. That is, the greater the capacity of the cheese
is to stretch without breaking and releasing the
trapped air and steam, the larger is the size of the
blister. As the cheese rises, the top of the blister
becomes thin, liquid fat at the surface flows down the
sides of the forming blister, moisture is lost from
cheese at the top surface of the blister, and the top of
the blister turns brown. At other locations on the
surface of the pizza, where FO is still present and
excessive moisture is not lost from the surface, the
cheese remains white. The areas with different
browning appearance differ only in the degree of sur-
face moisture loss, which explains why a Mozzarella
cheese with a homogeneous lactose or galactose con-
tent can have a heterogeneous appearance (localized
browning) during pizza baking. This series of events
leads to the overall appearance of full fat cheese on
pizza after baking (Figure 4).
Fat-free and lower fat cheeses: melting and
browning. For fat-free or lower fat cheeses, there
initially is an absence of fat or a lack of fat, respec-
tively, at the surface of the shred (Figure 6a). There-
fore, there is insufficient fat diffusion on the surface
of the cheese shred during heating to 38°C (Figure
6b). At higher temperatures, the cheese shred surface
rapidly dehydrates, and a brown skin or shell forms
on each shred (Figure 6c) before the cheese has
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 81, No. 8, 1998
reached the temperature that allows it to flow and
fuse with adjacent shreds. Further dehydration leads
to excessive browning and scorching of the surface,
giving the pizza an atypical burnt appearance with
many dark brown intact shreds present as shown for
fat-free Mozzarella in the lower half of the pizza in
Figure 2.
Fat-free and lower fat cheese: melting and
browning with HSC. After the fat-free or lower fat
Mozzarella cheese shown in Figure 6a is lightly
coated with a small amount of hydrophobic material
(Figure 7a), the fat coating at 38°C (Figure 7b) is
sufficient to prevent the rapid surface dehydration
during pizza baking as the temperature increases.
Therefore, cheese shreds from fat-free and lower fat
Mozzarella with an HSC soften and flow (Figure 7c)
and fuse with adjacent shreds as the temperature
increases from about 55 to 80°C. As a result, during
actual pizza baking, melting, browning, and blister
formation are similar (except for differences in fre-
quency and spacial distribution of blisters) for fat-
free (Figure 2, upper half), lower fat (Figure 3), and
full fat Mozzarella cheeses (Figure 4).
CONCLUSIONS
Lack of fat diffusion over the shred surface results
in rapid surface dehydration and skin formation that
limits melting and allows scorching of fat-free and
lower fat Mozzarella cheeses during pizza baking in
commercial food service pizza ovens. A barrier to
block moisture loss at the shred surface that prevents
skin formation, using an HSC, gives fat-free and
lower fat Mozzarella cheese melting and browning
characteristics similar to those of full fat Mozzarella
cheese. This new knowledge, along with the
knowledge from prior research, should lead to the
development of reduced, low, and fat-free Mozzarella
cheeses for use on pizza products that will have ac-
ceptable sensory characteristics over a wide range of
pizza baking conditions.
FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDS
Prevention of dehydration and skin formation at
the surface of the cheese shred appears to be the key
that unlocked the mystery of Mozzarella cheese melt-
ing and browning during pizza baking. It is likely
that this concept applies to cheeses other than Moz-
zarella and, perhaps, other fat-free and lower fat
foods as well. For example, FO release at the cheese
surface might enhance melted functionality of fat-free
and lower fat processed cheese. More work should be
 OUR INDUSTRY TODAY
done to identify other areas of application of this
technology.
Another exciting area opened up by this research
would be the development of a unique delivery system
for the HSC. It might not be practical for fat-free or
lower fat Mozzarella cheese manufacturers to spray
oil onto cheese shreds prior to packaging because of
clumping of the shreds in the package. Furthermore,
for a frozen pizza, a coating of oil on the cheese shreds
might give a consumer the impression that the pizza
is greasy or high in fat content. One way to overcome
these problems would be to encapsulate the oil in a
material that would contain the oil in powdered form
on the surface until it is needed (about 40°C). Gela-
tin, because of its melting properties, might be one
source of encapsulation material.
Now that the melting and browning of fat-free and
lower fat Mozzarella cheeses can be controlled, other
problems associated with the sensory characteristics
of these cheeses need to be addressed. Before work
can be done to improve the sensory aspects of the
melted cheese after pizza baking, quantitative tests to
measure the important characteristics need to be de-
veloped. Even after an HSC has been used to improve
the melt and appearance of fat-free and lower fat
Mozzarella cheese on pizza, there is still a difference
in the postbaking chewiness and flavor of the LMPS
Mozzarella and fat-free or low-fat Mozzarella cheese.
Fat-free and lower fat Mozzarella can be excessively
tough and chewy after baking on a pizza. The de-
velopment of an objective method to quantify the
postbaking chewiness of the cheese will be an impor-
tant tool necessary to solve this problem. The lack of
fat-like or butter flavors is another important defi-
ciency of fat-free and lower fat Mozzarella cheese. The
HSC technology includes the ability to add flavors to
the coating that is applied to the cheese shreds. For
example, butter (or other) flavors could be added to
the oil. As only one of the many possibilities, a deliv-
ery system to apply this technology could consist of a
butter-flavored oil encapsulated in gelatin and ap-
plied to the surface of cheese shreds prior to pizza
baking.
Before the start of this research, the goal of produc-
ing a high quality fat-free or lower fat cheese for use
on pizza seemed impossible because of the poor melt-
ing and excessive browning of these cheeses during
baking. However, now that the melting and browning
of Mozzarella cheese at any fat level can be con-
2319
trolled, it will be possible to develop a high quality
pizza with significantly less fat.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank Maureen Chapman, Laura Lan-
dolf, Joanna Lynch, Lloyd Metzger, and Pat Wood for
their technical support and the Northeast Dairy
Foods Research Center and Dairy Management Inc.
for their financial support.
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