Homemade pizza problem

I've made pizzas at home for a while, homemade dough and all. Made one this past Sunday in a margarita style only using spinach instead of basil. I took a mozzarella ball and tore the cheese distributing the pieces throughout the top. While baking I noticed what looked like milky whey pooling around the middle area of the pizza as if whey had separated from the cheese. Has anyone else seen this in their pizza making/baking? Any idea how to avoid this using fresh mozzarella?

Drew

Drew-
I don't recall this happening to us, but it sounds like you may have had a bit of excess moisture/whey in the mozz. I would imagine if there was enuf moisture it could even result in a soggy crust <bleh>. You might want to try hanging the chesse in some cheese cloth for a few hours to help rid it of excess liquid, especially if you are pulling larger chunks which I would suspect would tend to retain liquid vs. thinner slices.

[Robin Garr]

My guess, like 'winger's, is that fresh mozz' - as delicious as it is - tends to be "wet." This may be an argument for saving the super-fresh for caprese and other eat-it-fresh options, and saving the melty goodness until it's been around for a day or two.

Or, if you're keen to preserve that super freshness, follow my Hoosier neighbor's advice about letting it drain its whey for a while.

We stared using Casio di Roma because of Bev's cow allergy. Then we found Buffalo Mozzarella and had the same problems Drew had; so we went back to the Casio which works just fine.

As mentioned above, it's the moisture. I've never hung it, I would just pat it/squeeze it dry with paper towel and grate it into smaller pieces. But it's still nowhere near my favorite cheese for pizza.

As mentioned above, it's the moisture. I've never hung it, I would just pat it/squeeze it dry with paper towel and grate it into smaller pieces. But it's still nowhere near my favorite cheese for pizza.

Yes, I use Grana padano or Romano or some other cheese. I don't care for the gooey-ness of baked mozzarella.

Yes, I use Grana padano or Romano or some other cheese. I don't care for the gooey-ness of baked mozzarella.

Yes, those are probably more 'traditional'. One of our standards is taleggio, and I personally love gorgonzola dolce although my wife is less a fan of blues. Both melt really well and have lots of flavor.

Otherwise we use various hard cheeses more or less like the ones you describe, even if they are from other countries (France, Spain).