22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the best baked cheese? ›

What Are the Best Cheeses for Baking? While French cheeses like brie and Camembert are obvious choices for baking, they aren't the only options. Fresh or brined cheeses including ricotta, goat cheese, feta, and blue also bake up beautifully.

You can serve this mixed into pasta or over roasted vegetables such as zucchinis, tomatoes, and peppers. Goat's cheese with a rind bakes very well as it melts slightly while retaining it's lovely, creamy texture.

An Array of Options

Cheeses with high moisture content, “like a Havarti, mild cheddar, Monterey Jack or mozzarella, are going to melt really well,” he adds, “whereas harder cheeses, like Asiago or Parmesan, tend to not be as creamy,” so you're able to manipulate them more.

Most types of cheese only need two or three ingredients, milk, cultures and rennet. These simple ingredients will ripen the milk, form curds and whey and add flavor to the finished cheese.

But as the weather gets hotter, maybe we should take a look at some cheeses that don't melt. There's a family of semi-firm cheeses — among them, queso panela, queso fresco, paneer, halloumi, feta, cotija, ricotta and soft goat cheese — that won't melt over direct or indirect heat in your kitchen.

“Soft cheeses such as cream cheese, cottage cheese, shredded cheeses, and goat cheese must be refrigerated for safety,” according to the USDA. And, according to the USDA FoodKeeper chart, cheesecake should be consumed within five to seven days after baking—or opening a pre-bought cheesecake.

“When cheese is heated and thus melts, it releases various volatile compounds which are not present when the cheese is unmelted,” Alibrandi says.

Thing is, once cheese is heated too far beyond its melting point, the proteins firm up and squeeze out moisture—the same way protein does in meat. When this occurs you're left with rubbery, clumpy bits of cheese protein that separate from the fat and moisture.

There's one type of cheese that no amount of tweaking will melt: Acid-set cheeses, like fresh goat cheese, quick farmers cheese, paneer, queso fresco, and ricotta, just can't do it.

Natural cheese is made from four basic ingredients including milk, salt, a “good bacteria” and rennet, an enzyme. From there, cheesemakers can adjust the basic recipe by adding other ingredients to make all of the cheeses we know and love.

What are the 3 main components of cheese? ›

There are three main components for making cheese: the milk, a coagulant, and bacterial cultures. Cheese is made mostly of milk, whether from cows, sheep, goats, buffalo or a blend of these milks. A coagulant is a substance added to milk to help solids form out of the liquid portion.

High-end cheeses are typically made by artisan cheesemakers who use traditional methods to create their products. These methods often involve using raw milk, which is milk that has not been pasteurized or hom*ogenized. Raw milk has a richer flavor than pasteurized milk, which adds depth and complexity to the cheese.

What is the best melting cheese? Cheeses with more moisture and lower melting points - cheddar is one of the most popular choices, but Swiss and Gruyère are also terrific options.

Fresh mozzarella such as Fior di Latte or Buffalo Mozzarella is more suited to a classic Neapolitan pizza as it melts beautifully without browning too much at the high temperatures.