Cooking: What Sort of Pizza Cheese/Cooking Produces This Effect?

[HighlyVolatile]

Inspired by an answer from @MCheetah, the old-school Chuck E. Cheese used to have this type of bubbly cheesy with slightly burnt bits at the top creating a freckly-looking effect on the pizza:

I've since become curious about how to replicate that effect. I was thinking it must be a very dry cheese or sets of cheeses if they don't just use Mozzarella, and maybe even medium-low in fat. Or maybe they drizzle oil on top to prevent all but little parts from getting burnt?

I kind of have a nostalgic fondness for that type of pizza.

Updates

+1 y

One thing I know from trying to look up Chuck E. Cheese is that until recent years, they didn't use freshly-grated cheese. They used pre-shredded.

Updates

+1 y

Tried a small experiment the other day using very dry cheese but instead of little pleasant burnt bits like in the above pic when I let it sit in the oven until parts were getting burnt, it made huge ugly burnt spots that just tasted awful. I don't understand how to keep it all small and nice like that. Also, wonder if they use a lot of sauce? Maybe the sauce is bubbling up under the cheese... or maybe it also has to do with the oven and how much heat is coming from the top. I have no idea!

[CuriousMufuxka]

From what I've noticed it's putting the cheese closer to the edge and having a more flat crust before cooking.

[HighlyVolatile]

The flat and thin crust is something I've been struggling with as well. Is there very little time spent proofing in those cases or very little yeast involved? I've tried rolling it so thin that I can easily tear the dough if I don't handle it very carefully with two hands, but it still ends up inflating quite a bit in the oven.

[CuriousMufuxka]

I've never proofed a pizza crust. Biscuits, sub rolls, pastries sure. I've used a large bowl with either a towel or multiple paper towels covered at room temperature. Still figuring out the time aspect, but around and hour and a half.

[HighlyVolatile]

Wow, I have to give that a try! I've been going very long on the proofing like 24+ hours taking notes from NY-style recipes and Neapolitan style. But I like a thinner crust if I can achieve it.

[dolemite89]

mozzarella with low moisture, i use it to make pizzas at home

[HighlyVolatile]

Do you drizzle any olive oil on top of the cheese before baking? I've been experimenting with a variety of what appear to be low-moisture Mozzarella brands, but they tend to burn in large chunks or not at all. I might also need to invest in a pizza stone. I've been using a cast iron pan heated on the stove with the dough, then top it, then transfer to oven.

[dolemite89]

ya olive oil on top of the cheese and around the edges of the crust. they might broil it in the oven to almost kinda sear the surface of the cheese too not sure

[Dinklex3]

No clue.
In college we made pizza in a brick oven and we used mozzarella where we'd cut or tear it up. It appeared like the pizza on the left.
Im guessing maybe the oven type and maybe using shredded cheese might give it the effect of the right.

[HighlyVolatile]

I might need to head over to a Costco or something (I got one an hour away by car). I've been experimenting mostly with Japanese brands of pre-shredded Mozzarella but maybe they're a bit different from American brands... or not. I figure I need to go through a process of elimination. :-D

[TrueConfection]

I never really noticed how consistent Chuck E. Cheese is with their pizza and I have been to a few of them on both coasts! I wonder if they come frozen from a supplier? It seems that whenever I reheat leftover pizza in the oven, it gets those black freckles.

[HighlyVolatile]

I was curious about that and what happens if I freeze and then thaw pre-shredded cheese and dry it out even more to a crumbly state. Might also be a useful hack if we have trouble finding the lowest-moisture Mozzarella.

[Anonymous]

first that pizza sucks. second some places use low fat mozzarella cheese me personally and a few good restaurants use regular mozzarella with regular fat content. also the temperature of the oven and where you place your oven rack make a big difference too. me and some restaurants place the rack on the top or second to the top others depending on the restaurant can use a brick oven others the real shittier restaurants use the bottom rack and whenever you see a bottom or middle rack being used for making pizza then the person cooking it doesn't know what the fuck they're doing.

[HighlyVolatile]

I've been using the top rack with the broiler setting but my oven is pretty small and weak (max 250 degrees C). I might need to try investing in a better one, although low-fat cheese is something I need to try (I think I've managed to find relatively low-moisture, but not simultaneously low fat).

I think the pizza is also kind of terrible but I have a nostalgic desire to have it again! It's the sort of horrible pizza I tended to find in places like Chuck E. Cheese, bowling alleys, and skating rinks in the 80s: nostalgic junk! :-D

[Opinion Owner]

you shouldn't set your oven on the broiler mode if you're cooking pizza or other foods on the top rack unless you want to broil it and pizza is something you don't want to broil. i set mine on the top rack at 450 degrees for 17-22 minutes and i use regular mozzarella cheese not the low fat kind otherwise it won't cook properly

[Iron_Man]

That looks like a great pizza if Chuck E. Cheese’s looks like that I’m gonna have to go in there and just order it one day maybe for take out have you tried it before how much is it and is it worth it?

[HighlyVolatile]

I haven't tried since I was a child in the 80s and only a couple of times on friends and family birthdays while visiting the US. I've heard the taste has changed a lot since then.

[Iron_Man]

I just looked at the menu its more expensive than Pizza Hut I can get an $18 New York style large pizza that’s pretty tasty. But if I ever had kids that would be the place to take them for like birthday dinners

[HighlyVolatile]

If I had the option, it's NY-style pepperoni for me every time! I have a hard time recreating it anywhere near as good as what I've had in the US though... so I thought maybe I could aim for "80s-style bowling alley/skating rink" as a second option. :-D

[Iron_Man]

Right good idea 👍

[MysteriousDarkness]

Why would anyone want to replicate that nasty 💩 they call 🍕?

[HighlyVolatile]

It has a nostalgic appeal to me. I want to call it "arcade/bowling alley/skating rink" junk pizza! :-D

[HighlyVolatile]

In Japan, the most popular way is Neopolitan which is exquisitely made with fresh, wet Mozzarella, not so much cheese (unless Quattro Formaggi) -- the dough does most of the heavy lifting. It's like "wine pizza" and very good but I miss the total junk I had in the US sometimes. :-D

[Shamalien]

It’s not the cheese, it’s the oven. A wood burner will get you these beauties

[dorksided1]

looks like broil setting in the oven to be honest

[MCheetah]

I still don't know, myself.