While our pizza kits contain almost everything to make the perfect pizza at home, there’s one last crucial ingredient that can make or break your pie.  The cheese! You’ll need approximately 1 cup or 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella for each 14″ ( 1/2 cup or 4 ounces for each 12″) pizza crust.  Remember, its important not to over cheese your pies which can lead to excess water and oil and a soggy pie 🙁

We can’t stress this enough, it really does make a difference which type of cheese you top your pizza with.  To achieve pizza nirvana you will need to use a WHOLE MILK LOW-MOISTURE mozzarella which can be a little tricky to find.  The most popular selection in local grocery stores will be part-skim low-moisture and while you can use it, if you have a choice always go with whole-milk.

The next recommendation is that you buy it in 8 oz or 16 oz block form and shred it yourself.  While shredding it might be a little time consuming, it’s not just for bragging rights.  Bagged pre-shredded cheeses contain an anti-caking powder to keep it from clumping together and this powder tends to burn and alters the taste of the bake.  While it’s okay if you really need to use pre-shredded, we recommend running the shredded cheese under water in a collider for a minute or two to remove the powder..

If you are having trouble locating whole milk low-moisture mozzarella, you can always check the deli counter at your local supermarket.  Just ask for around 1 pound section of whole milk mozzarella cheese and shred it when you get home.  1″ thick is approximately 8 oz. so a 2″ chunk would be approximately 16 oz. (1 lb).

Finally, there are also fresh mozzarella options as well. This type of cheese is traditionally used on Neapolitan style pizza and not typically used on NY style pizzeria pizza. However, using a combination of both fresh and shredded cheeses makes a great pie as well.