How To Prep Fresh Mozzarella To Avoid Soggy Homemade Pizza

Homemade pizza is a wonderful thing. It's not difficult to make, and the result is often much better than any frozen pizza. It can even be better than takeout pizza since you control what it's made with and how it's made.

Once you've mastered the dough, you can have fun with a variety of toppings, like the kind of cheese you will use to finish your pizza. There are so many choices: Parmesan, swiss, cheddar, provolone, and even goat cheese or Brie. But the classic pizza cheese is mozzarella. The way it melts so smoothly, its mild flavor that doesn't compete with other toppings, and that fabulous cheese pull when you take a bite just can't be beaten.

But fresh mozzarella is pretty wet. And wet toppings can cause a pizza disaster. A damp crust not only has a horrible texture, but it won't brown as well in the oven. What's a home pizza maker to do? Here's how to prep fresh mozzarella to avoid soggy homemade pizza.

Fresh mozzarella generally comes in a ball and is packed in liquid. This cheese is traditionally made from buffalo milk, which gives the cheese a lovely tang. But fresh mozzarella sold in the United States is made from cow's milk, according to Mozzarella Company. 

Mozzarella cheese is soft and full of moisture. If it wasn't stored in water, it would flatten out over time and lose that moisture. It's typically stored in brine, water, or whey, the liquid left over when cheese forms into curds. When you slice into a ball of fresh mozzarella, you'll notice how soft it is and how much liquid oozes out with every cut. While that's delicious if you are going to eat the cheese out of hand, it can be problematic on pizza.

It's easy to dry fresh mozzarella cheese for pizza. Just take it out of the liquid, slice it, or tear it into small pieces, and let it sit on a kitchen towel (or paper towel) for about 25 to 30 minutes, per Proudly Wisconsin Cheese. You can use another towel to absorb moisture from the tops of the slices. And to remove the most moisture, slice the cheese thinly to expose more surface area. You can get even more liquid out by first slicing the cheese and putting it into a strainer over a bowl to drain, according to Food Network. Then refrigerate the cheese for a few hours to let the liquid drain off and finally, pat it dry.

If you really want to make sure your fresh mozzarella isn't going to dampen your pizza, follow the previously mentioned directions — drain it thoroughly and pat it dry — and then you can combine it with some shredded low-moisture mozzarella. Just as the name says, low-moisture mozz has less liquid. It is aged for a few weeks, so it also lasts longer than the fresh variety, per MasterClass.

So buy a block of low-moisture mozzarella, grate it, and mix it with the drained fresh mozzarella. Now you have the perfect pizza cheese. Use this combination to make your own pizza. Try grilled pizza with corn, prosciutto, and tarragon for a fabulous change of pace, a savory and simple chanterelle mushroom and leek pizza, replicate Domino's thin-crust pizza in your own kitchen, or make garlicky Santarpio's shrimp scampi pizza for a special dinner.