Soupy Cheese

[sminttt]

I've usually had luck with low moisture mozzarella cheese but I didn't like the rubbery texture I usually got. I recently bought some of Angelo and Franco's mozzarella (stored in liquid) and loved the flavor but when I put it on my pizza it released so much liquid that I had to drain it off before eating. Then when I grabbed a slice all the toppings would slip off and the bottom was soggy. Any ideas on how to fix this? I usually use Peter Reinhart's napolatana pizza dough and bake it in my electric oven at 550 F.

[mrchipster]

Re: Soupy Cheese

I've usually had luck with low moisture mozzarella cheese but I didn't like the rubbery texture I usually got. I recently bought some of Angelo and Franco's mozzarella (stored in liquid) and loved the flavor but when I put it on my pizza it released so much liquid that I had to drain it off before eating. Then when I grabbed a slice all the toppings would slip off and the bottom was soggy. Any ideas on how to fix this? I usually use Peter Reinhart's napolatana pizza dough and bake it in my electric oven at 550 F.

I recommend making your own mozz from milk, it is quite easy and you can control the density dryness etc as you get experience.

Chip

[scott123]

Re: Soupy Cheese

When you work with fresh/non aged mozzarella (fior di latte, bufala), it's essential that you drain the water from the cheese. This can be done by breaking up the mozzarella into smaller pieces and placing it between paper towels.

Another source for excessive water is curdling. Fresh mozzarellas aren't engineered for the longer bake times of lower temp pizzamaking. If you bake them for too long, they can curdle (grainy curds separate from the watery whey) producing a watery mess. For 550 oven bakes, stick to low moisture mozz.

To avoid a 'rubbery' texture with low moisture mozzarella, it's essential to

1. Start with whole milk cheese, preferably grated by hand
2. Stretch your pizza nice and thin (so thin that you can start to see through it) so that the heat from the stone doesn't have far to travel to the cheese and can help bubble it from below. Bubbling is critical to good cheese texture. Bubble (heat from below) = good. Some browning (heat from above) is good, but you really want to maximize the heat coming from below. Too much top heat and too little bottom will dry out the top of the cheese and you won't get any bubbling at all.
3. Don't use too much cheese. Watch your sauce/other ingredients as well.
4. Grate your cheese and let it warm up a bit before baking.
5. Use a good stone to maximize heat coming from below

Lastly, if you're working with a 550 deg. oven, you don't want a 'Napoletana' recipe, nor do you want a dough with that much water. Water takes an incredibly large amount of energy to boil, so, the more water you have in your dough, the longer it takes to boil, and the longer it takes for heat/steam to reach the cheese from below.

With the right stone, a 550 deg. oven can make phenomenal NY style pizza. You should be looking for NY style recipes- and preferably not a Reinhart recipe, since he tends to be heavyhanded with the water.

[sminttt]

Re: Soupy Cheese

great feedback! thank you. I think I'll give that advice a try!