Pizza: Low moisture mozzarella UK?

[roboto]

Anyone got any recommendations for low moisture mozzarella available in the UK?

Shredded cheese browns too easily and ball mozzarella is too wet!

 

[roboto]

Anyone got any recommendations for low moisture mozzarella available in the UK?

Shredded cheese browns too easily and ball mozzarella is too wet!

I should add, ideally from a supermarket or chain of shops. I'm looking for something I can buy regularly, and ideally not too expensive (I know I'm asking a lot, hah!)

 

[peebee]

Your problem is unlikely to be the cheese being too "wet", more likely you are cooking too cool (which you might not be able to do much about?) or using too much cheese. The usual bags of cheese (125-150g ball) should be right once drained, and will make 2 or 3 12" pizzas.

I used to use the cow's milk balls from Tesco's (the buffalo stuff is probably too wet). I make my own now, and, perversely, the difficulty is churning it out damp enough. The stuff you can grate (shred?) is diabolical.

 

[roboto]

I'm cooking on a pizza steel at '250' centigrade, although my oven is old with a dodgy seal so it's probably not actually that hot.

I've tried buffalo and cow mozzarella balls and even squishing them in paper towels didn't work so well, still a bit wet. Any advice on how to drain properly?

Otherwise I use pre grated mozzarella with as layer of cheddar to prevent browning to quickly, which works but it isn't quite Neapolitan is it?

 

[DavidDetroit]

A harder mozzarella and Monterey Jack. Sorry, don't know any brands.
the ratio is 3:2 mozzarella to Jack.

 

[Hanglow]

Pre shredded comes with potato starch to stop it sticking, so it burns quick.

Unfortunately UK supermarkets are not so good when it comes to low moisture mozz. Your best bet would be to cut the wet balls up, put it in a collander with a bowl beneath the day before you bake. That should get rid of a lot of moisture.

I've been buying pre cut mozz from A Di Maria where i also get flours, other cheeses, canned tomatoes and various italian salami. Then i vack pack the mozz in about 400g packs which is enough for 4 pizzas, as it freezes pretty well.

 

[F00b4r]

Put slices of the ball in a vacuum bag with kitchen paper either side and pull a vacuum a few times. This works great with a chamber vacuum sealer but will likely work with the bog standard ones too

 

[Wilfy]

Your problem is unlikely to be the cheese being too "wet", more likely you are cooking too cool (which you might not be able to do much about?) or using too much cheese. The usual bags of cheese (125-150g ball) should be right once drained, and will make 2 or 3 12" pizzas.

I used to use the cow's milk balls from Tesco's (the buffalo stuff is probably too wet). I make my own now, and, perversely, the difficulty is churning it out damp enough. The stuff you can grate (shred?) is diabolical.

I cook pizza at 450-500C and still have problems with the mozzarella being too wet. I’m going to start ripping it and then leaving to dry out for a few hours before using.

 

[peebee]

I'm cooking on a pizza steel at '250' centigrade, although my oven is old with a dodgy seal so it's probably not actually that hot.

I've tried buffalo and cow mozzarella balls and even squishing them in paper towels didn't work so well, still a bit wet. Any advice on how to drain properly?

Otherwise I use pre grated mozzarella with as layer of cheddar to prevent browning to quickly, which works but it isn't quite Neapolitan is it?

The problem with those pizza steels is the sellers fail to mention you need the oven (and steel) to get to 275C before they work well. Heston Blumenthal was an early experimenter with cooking on steel plates (BBC program, not sure if this bunch should be repeating it? Heston Blumenthal - In Search of Perfection ), but moving a heavy slab of very hot steel sounds fraught with dangers!

I was fortunate when I got my steel that my oven (which has a grill element) gets to 305C and cooks a pizza in 2-3 minutes. But before that I had a ceramic stone and clam like oven heated top and bottom with elements and that only got to about 220C. It usually cooked okay (10 minutes?) but sometimes created pools of water. I hope it is an electric oven? A gas oven can't work (creates moisture).

Draining: I just used to cut the ball and sit it on kitchen paper, but there are a few better suggestions in this thread. But using too much cheese (and toppings) is the biggest reason for soggy pizza (40-50g mozzarella per 12" is enough).

It may be you have to change style of pizza? Neapolitan might be the goal, but it's also the hardest to achieve because of the intense temperatures involved. Some of the "American" styles might be more appropriate. You might be jealous of my oven, but I haven't tried to work out the cost of electricity it is consuming, and the finish around the oven is starting to show signs of stress.

 

[peebee]

Not wanting to sound "negative" ...

So I've got a domestic oven that is as hot as Hades. So I can knock out Neapolitan style pizzas whenever I want (provided the oven doesn't succeed in burning the house down). And I can recommend anyone with a sub-demonic domestic cooker can make do with one of the "limp" pizza styles. Ya-boo.

But I've just had a pizza night. Had my favourite pizza combination. A "Neapolitan"? Na, that's just for showing off ...

Onion marmalade (Tesco Red Onion Chutney) and blue cheese (Tesco "Beacon Blue" goat cheese) with a scattering of pine nuts and rosemary. So my oven cooked it in two minutes, but this combination should cook fine in a more sedate ordinary oven as none of the ingredients will produce pools of water. The strong flavours are not everyone's taste, but it does show a little imagination will easily overcome the desire for the "classic" Neapolitan.

Made a fine accompaniment to the (hand-pumped) 1850 Whitbread Porter clone in the background.

 

[Paul Roberts]

Sorry if it's been said, tesco sell a block of pizza mozzarella. It's fairly low moisture and you grate it yourself. I find one block can do two large pizzas

 

[F00b4r]

Not wanting to sound "negative" ...

So I've got a domestic oven that is as hot as Hades. So I can knock out Neapolitan style pizzas whenever I want (provided the oven doesn't succeed in burning the house down). And I can recommend anyone with a sub-demonic domestic cooker can make do with one of the "limp" pizza styles. Ya-boo.

But I've just had a pizza night. Had my favourite pizza combination. A "Neapolitan"? Na, that's just for showing off ...

View attachment 40079
Onion marmalade (Tesco Red Onion Chutney) and blue cheese (Tesco "Beacon Blue" goat cheese) with a scattering of pine nuts and rosemary. So my oven cooked it in two minutes, but this combination should cook fine in a more sedate ordinary oven as none of the ingredients will produce pools of water. The strong flavours are not everyone's taste, but it does show a little imagination will easily overcome the desire for the "classic" Neapolitan.

Made a fine accompaniment to the (hand-pumped) 1850 Whitbread Porter clone in the background.

When fitting out the kitchen in the new house one of the criteria was to make sure the oven was “pizza capable” (300C on the main one), the last house that we were renting had a rubbish uneven oven and is was soul destroying trying to make decent pizza in it.
I like the combination you have put on. Try one of my favourites sometime: broccoli, garlic, blue cheese and walnuts (the walnuts will blacken but they will taste amazing, especially combined with the other toppings).

 

[lupinehorror]

morrisons also do a pizza mozzarella. got that and some rather strong flour on the way.

 

[roboto]

Thanks all. My crappy oven does make a decent pizza to be fair, but it takes about 6 mins total and I tend to cook the base and sauce for 2 mins first, then top and finish for another 4 mins.

I found the Morrisons pizza mozzarella, and while it's a lot better with regards to moisture, I found it lacked flavor, but then again it is only mozz and not a mature cheddar!

Much better for melting too, very stringy!

 

[An Ankoù]

Mozzarella comes in a bag full of liquid. You have to plan ahead and get the cheese out two days before needed. Dry it and wrap it in kitchen towel and squeeze the juice out. Do it again the next day and the day after that. Then you can coarsely grate it with a cheese grater and cheese up your pizza with it. I go 50/50 with emmantal.

 

[Hanglow]

New York and Roman pizzas would be the best bet to try in a home oven for thin ones and any of the US pan pizzas would also work well for thicker.

 

[peebee]

I've just upgraded my instructions (to myself!) for making mozzarella. I'll post it here in case anyone finds it useful. It won't make cheese that is too wet! In fact, it's work-in-progress trying to find the ideal technique for really succulent mozzarella. It is incredibly easy, but makes a lot of mess the first couple of times! You can't grate this cheese, and so you shouldn't be able to!

1 litre whole milk, pasteurised is okay, but not sterilised or UHT. The milk can make a really big difference; if what you are using isn't working (e.g. curds not forming well), change where/who you get the milk from. Tesco "Jersey milk" works very well for me (perhaps too well?).

Makes about a 80-160g ball of cheese. Scale up for more but may have to create more balls. 50g of cheese is quite enough for a 12" pizza.

Suggest you use the "ADVANCED" instructions only after getting used to the ordinary instructions. The ADVANCED instructions makes much more succulent cheese.

Dissolve 2g citric acid in 50ml water.

Mix 0.35-0.75g liquid rennet (1/16 - 1/8 tsp) (ADVANCED: 3-5 drops!) in 20-25ml dechlorinated water (boiled and cooled will do, but if chloramine added use bottled water).

Stir acid solution into milk.

Heat milk to 32C in pan (milk about 30-40mm deep).

Mix rennet into milk (gentle back-fro motion) for 25-30 seconds only.

Cover and rest for 5-8 minutes (ADVANCED: 30-40 minutes). Keep close to 32C. DO NOT STIR!

Curds should have formed, optionally test for "clean break" with finger, leave longer if not ready. "Clean break"; stick your finger in parallel to surface and lift ... the curds should "break" over your finger as it comes to the surface.

Cut curds criss-cross into 25-30mm-ish blocks.

Warm to 43C over 10-15 minutes, very slowly move blocks, jiggle the pan, to encourage shrinking.

Carefully (don't cause too much breakup) separate curds (with pan-sized fine-mesh basket for convenience). Put whey on heat to 80-85C (make up to 1 - 1.5L with boiling water if necessary).

Break up (shred) curds roughly and cover in hot water (from tap) at 50-60C. Agitate gently. The idea is to start warming curds towards 60C without breaking down curds. The curds will not dissolve! Discard water.

Submerge curds in pan with hot whey.

Gently but quickly encourage whey together (gloves!) until can stretch under mainly its own weight and fold on to itself, 3-4 times, no more. Do not overwork! The more it's worked the tougher and squeakier it becomes. Stretching removes the granular texture. If using a mesh basket be careful not to push curds through the mesh.

Remove curds and form quickly into ball (like forming a dough ball).

Set aside to cool.

Think of something to do with the whey!

<EDIT: Sorry, got my weights mixed up ... corrected!>

 

[peebee]

ERRATUM! "Gently but quickly encourage whey together" in the above instructions should have been "curds" not "whey". And no spiders (or Miss Muffet) were harmed in this production.

You can use a culture to form lactic acid (instead of using citric acid) but I've no idea whether it is an improvement? And I've no idea how the supermarkets make such wet mozzarella?

 

[lupinehorror]

i've been using the morrisons pizza mozzarella too recently. it certainly has much less moisture than the regular stuff available from there or similar outlets.
easy to work with and keeps quite well in one of those slide to lock freezer bag type things.
having real issues with my hands recently so can't make dough. have resorted to the frozen stuff which, for me at least, is better than any of the pre-made bases i have at my disposal. all your base are belong to us. etc.

 

[roboto]

i've been using the morrisons pizza mozzarella too recently. it certainly has much less moisture than the regular stuff available from there or similar outlets.
easy to work with and keeps quite well in one of those slide to lock freezer bag type things.
having real issues with my hands recently so can't make dough. have resorted to the frozen stuff which, for me at least, is better than any of the pre-made bases i have at my disposal. all your base are belong to us. etc.

Plus one for your AYB reference. Sorry to hear about your hands, I've had a lot of success with no-knead recipes if that's any help? I pretty much roughly mix my dough so that it's 90% combined then leave it overnight, give it another stir the next day to incorporate any left over dry bits then let it mature in the fridge for a one or two more days (or until I have to knock it back to stop it escaping the tupperware!). It's pretty forgiving and I've left it for up to a week and it's still been usable, but after that the gluten tends to weaken and the dough falls apart if you stretch it too thin.