Had some dough cold fermenting for 6 days instead of my preferred 2 or 3 so I decided to experiment on this batch by sprinkling some sodium citrate on the pie before baking. I like to use sodium citrate in recipes like mac and cheese to aid emulsion. I was worried it wouldn't do much on pizza if it wasn't dissolving in a cheese sauce and just sitting on top instead.
I can say that it definitely had a clear and noticeable effect though. It made the cheese much gooey-er and sauce-like rather than a typical stretch. Pretty unique and overall pleasant experience.
The visual effect was a negative though in my opinion. In the last pic, you can see the sodium citrate slice on top compared to a normal slice on the bottom. The sodium citrate slice had a strange almost pinkish color to it that doesn't show up too well in photos but was less than ideal in person.
The real benefit comes from the longevity of the fresh pie and leftovers. Even 15ish minutes after pulling, the cheese on the sodium citrate pie maintained it's original texture and never got rubbery. Leftovers (cold or reheated) also seem to bounce back closer to original better than without sodium citrate.
Overall, definitely something I'll do again, but also definitely not something I'll do every time. Its just a little too fundamentally different from a classic NY slice to be a permanent part of the process. I will note that I tried sprinkling on a bit less on a third pie and that seemed to strike something of a balance, so may experiment with amounts (including actually measuring!) next time around.
by mmm_machu_picchu