Provel cheese
A processed cheese blend distinctive to St Louis-style pizza, valued for its smooth, low-stretch melt rather than the stretch typical of mozzarella.
- Milk
- Cow's milk
- Moisture
- moderate
- Fat
- moderate
- Stretch
- low
- Browning
- low
- Oil release
- low
- Salt
- moderate
- Use timing
- pre bake
- Heat tolerance
- high
- Burn risk
- low
Melt behaviour
Melts to a smooth, gooey texture without significant stretch or browning
Suits the moderate, even bake of St Louis-style party-cut pizza, and its processed-cheese formulation makes it unusually forgiving of a domestic oven's uneven heat
Storage and preparation
A processed blend (commonly cheddar, Swiss, and provolone); regionally specific to the St Louis area
Common problems
- Genuine Provel is hard to find outside the St Louis area, so most attempts elsewhere are really the mozzarella/provolone/cheddar approximation, not the real thing
- Its low-stretch, no-pull melt is easy to mistake for an under-melted cheese if you're expecting a typical mozzarella-style cheese pull
Substitutions
- a blend of low-moisture mozzarella, provolone, and white cheddar approximates the flavour, though not exactly
Styles using this cheese
A smooth, low-stretch processed cheese blend distinctive to the St Louis area, replacing mozzarella entirely and giving the style its characteristic melt.
Evidence
Provel is a processed cheese blend regionally specific to St Louis-style pizza, distinctive for its smooth, non-stretching melt.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch — history of Imo's Pizza and Provel cheese — St. Louis Post-Dispatch