Cheese burns

Ask yourself

• Which cheese, and how much fat and moisture does it have?
• How long and hot was the bake?

Likely causes

1. #1

   Low-moisture, high-fat cheese exposed to very high heat for too long

   Generally accepted

   Cheeses with less water to evaporate first reach browning, and then burning, temperatures faster.

2. #2

   Cheese placed too close to a very hot top element (e.g. a broiler)

   Generally accepted

   Direct proximity to intense top heat accelerates browning past the point of control.

Rescue it now

Not fixable once burnt; scrape off visibly burnt patches if the rest of the pizza is otherwise fine

Prevent it next time

Match cheese choice to bake temperature and time, and watch closely rather than relying on a fixed timer near very high heat

Related

Go deeper

Guides that treat this as an outcome to improve, an environment to work with, or a flavour to understand, rather than only a problem to fix.

Related problems at this stage