@@CharlieAndersonCooking Hi Charlie, I know your channel has focused a lot on pizza, but I was wondering if you could do a series on doner? Specifically that impossibly soft doner bread that’s used in German style doner sandwiches. Andong and Ethan Chlebowski both have videos going over doner sandwiches and they both found the bread so cloudy and soft they assumed it was something they were doing in the industrial process to get it like that. I was hoping with your skills you might be able to crack the code on that 😅
Charlie, you became my number one go to pizza channel. Your deep dive investigations in the big pizza world, and all the testing, busting some myth about pizza. That's fantastic and also meets my passion for pizza since decades.
here in Germany all the pizzerias use gouda cheese. the low moisture mozzarella isnt even available here. do you guys have gouda in the U.S. and do any pizzerias use it?
I have been using this combo: dash of Pecorino on the simple tomato sauce once spread on dough; one third each of Monterey Jack (excellent melting and flavor-boosting tanginess), whole milk low moisture mozzarella, and Buffalo mozzarella, then sprinkle of Grana Padano or Parmigiano over the top; I have found that sprinkling good Greek, Sicilian, or Calabrian oregano within the cheese mix instead of the tomato sauce works a certain magic with the cheese.
Whole milk low moisture mozzarella used to be hard to find in my area (Northern California) but for the past few years Safeway has carried it from Galbani. Great brand, definitely recommend it.
Most pizzerias on the East Coast use Grande brand cheese from Wisconsin. Its not available retail. If you can get your hands on some you will notice the difference. They have something called East Coast Blend which is 50/50 whole milk and part skim. Gold standard for pizza cheese. A lot of pizzerias use Grande.
brilliant...i reallllllllllly appreciate you doing all this work and sharing your findings! im forever on the quest to make amazing pizzas at home and the small tweaks and considerations (such as here with temperature vs cheese type variant) makes a huge difference. Thanks Charlie!!! Happy cooking!!!!
Hey Charlie! I’ve been following your journey ever since you posted your “I Tested the Internet’s Best New York Pizza Recipes” video about two and a half years ago. I just want to say-YOU have absolutely changed my life! Words can't even begin to express how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for the RUclips pizza community. I’m one of those people who watched every pizza-making video out there and practiced for years, but HANDS DOWN, you are in a league of your own when it comes to hard work and dedication to mastering New York-style pizza. And the fact that you share all this knowledge for FREE? Unmatched! Seriously, you’ve made a huge difference. I know at least three people who opened their own pizza shops and are killing it because of you! For the past 2-3 years, I’ve been making pizza every day, and I’ve been using your NY-style pizza calculator as my gold standard for at least a year and a half (no exaggeration). I even dropped about $1,000 on a Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo and all the other gear to make the best pies I can at home. Every day, it feels like my pizzas are getting better and better, and everyone who’s tried them says I should open my own place! Now, I’m happy to say that my business partner and I are in the final stages of opening our own shop. But there’s one thing that’s been bothering me, and I can’t seem to solve it. I don’t expect you to have time to respond-I know you’re super busy-but if you could, it would honestly mean the world to me! It’s my pizza stretching technique. I’ve been using your 1:1 dough calculator (which you so kindly shared with the community), and I’ve tried every flour I can get my hands on, from expensive 00 Italian to high-protein AP flour. But my dough always ends up too soft and tears easily. I’ve tried stretching it right out of the fridge and after it’s been out for 2 hours, but the dough still tears too much. My pies are amazing, but stretching them is so slow for the business-I have to be extra careful. I’ve tried using a dough weight for stretching, but it only works in the initial stages. Once the dough gets to around 6-8 inches, it’s too delicate and tears easily. I’ve tried different techniques, learned from RUclips, but none seem to work. So, what I end up doing is stretching it halfway, then using a rolling pin to keep some extra thickness around the crust. And I also use your prepping process, just like you show in the video (How to Make a REAL New York Slice at Home), where I take extra steps and time for gluten to develop. That’s my challenge right now. Anyway, I just want to say I hope you become the most influential pizza guy in America, because honestly, you deserve it more than anyone-way more than Dave Portnoy! Have a GREAT DAY! :)
Hey, that's great to hear! I appreciate the kind words. Regarding your dough stretching problem, it's tough to say without knowing your whole dough process but my first instinct would be to use a higher protein flour, and be sure you're kneading thoroughly to completely develop the gluten. It definitely shouldn't tear easily if you do both of those things - if anything it would become too tight and hard to stretch. I actually went in-depth on that exact topic in my pizza dough mastery workshop though (charlie-s-site-1fe4.thinkific.com/courses/pizzadoughmastery), so I'd recommend checking that out if you want a more definitive solution. It's designed to solve any problem you might have with handling / stretching dough, and you can ask me questions over there if you need additional support.
@4:30 Luigi's (Park Slope) and Joe's (Greenwich Village) both use part skim low moisture mozzarella. Lotta places uses a blend of whole and part skim. If you drizzle olive oil over part skim mozzarella, it helps a lot with meltability and it's healthier. And definitely a great tip, if you don't care for that, to have a light hand on whole milk cheese.
I'm actually a pretty big fan of the Walmart "full" moisture whole milk mozzarella. Its flavor is better than their low moisture whole milk (which I still use as well) but it's not dripping wet like Bel Gioso.
Bel Gioso is WAY down on my list of fresh mozz, any of the tubbed in water offerings at essentially any grocery is better than Bel Gioso, which is a shame as they are a GREAT cheese company 🤪
Hey Charlie! I've been baking pizza and bread for more than 15 years and there's nothing like enjoying a self made pizza, the problem I always struggle with is with the cheese... I live in Mexico and I've tried several brands and types of cheese, but saddly I can´t say that I'm happy with my results... today I bought an italian burrata and after the experiment I will share my findings with you... Thanks for sharing your experience!!
Its amazing to hear from you that Whole Milk Low Moisture Mozz is not available in parts of the country. Being from Jersey you can get it at literally any grocery store or big box store.
I haven't seen it in Canada either. Part skim, yes. there's varying moisture percentages between the handful of brands, most in and around the 40's, with some mozarella's labelled as "pizza mozarella"
All great info. There’s definitely a variety of styles. I buy whole milk Sargento or Galbani. Cut them in half inch cubes and spread. A few slivers of garlic and bake. Sprinkle some parm and oregano when pulled. But I’ll stay firm on the dough formula and time. Crucial.
Charlie. For your efforts you deserve every success in your ventures. Thanks for making my home pizza journey so enjoyable. Your videos are exceptional. Regards.. Tony from the UK
cows milk mozzarella is called ”fior di latte” in italy. Mozzarella usually means its buffalo. Outside of italy anything goes. Pregrated usually means the cheese has a starch coating to make it not clump, which will cause the issues you describe.
Honestly i personally prefer fresh mozz because it melds into the sauce and makes the whole pizza much less dry, especially since i tend to leave it in my oven a tad longer than others may like to, since i love a really crispy edge and bubbly sauce and soft cheese. When i try using dry mozz or other drier cheeses it always gets cold quickly and turns into a slab of rubber since im a slow eater with pizza. Most pizza places, especially in america use dry mozz though because its easier to get in big batches and theres less risk of it going bad due to the much lower moisture.
I’m fortunate enough to live in Northern Illinois with access to to our northern neighbors cheeses via Woodmans. I’ve been testing mozzarellas, brick cheeses, mild white cheddars, and nutty/different flavored 3rd cheeses. Some brick cheeses are too nutty. Some mozzarella is too fatty(like the Walmart stuff. I had a really bad result from Walmart whole milk brick.) I can only cook so hot in my oven though. I think I’ve got the Cheddar and Brick I like. A brick I prefer to Mozz. The flavour is kind of in between. The ones I like are both JS brand of Wisconsin… Mild white cheddar and Mild brick cheese. Brick for the base, Cheddar for flavor. Still searching for a good 3rd cheese to replace my Parmesan.
Thanks for the video! It's well-detailed and nicely animated as always. However, IMO, something seems off with your dough. The middle part should be thinner, and the crust should be puffy and airy. Have you tried using less yeast and perhaps lower hydration?
Provolone or muenster for a base. Get it from a deli, sliced. Then put it in the freezer in the cheap deli bag they give you until it dries out a bit (it will get mild freezer burn). Might take a couple months. Take it out of the freezer and thaw it out. Shred and top. You can do the same thing with mozzarella (not fresh) to lower the moisture content, but provolone has more flavor. I usually use about one part romano for every 10 parts base cheese. I only cook at detroit styles at ~500. No point in messing with other inferior styles.
I'm fortunate that my local Wally almost always has both full and part skimmed mozz. I'm under the impression that a lot of good pizzerias use a Grande product (East Coast Blend) that's 50/50 full and part skimmed, although logically straight full seems the better bet. I have great success freezing it, just cutting the 1 lb blocks into 2 Oz chunks, plastic wrapping them individually, tossing them in a 1 gallon zip lock, and pulling what I need when I need it. I always associate fresh with Neapolitan, where 900 degrees rules. My local Costco carried fresh bufa at a great price until covid, so i its been that long without. I've never much used either fresh for pizza though, just for antipastos and Capri salads. 🙂
I'm able to get close with a stone, it's definitely better than the oven alone, but yeah - I really gotta get a steel. I also found that cooking on the rack one lower from the top keeps the cheese from disincorporating as quickly, and gives the crust more of a chance to crisp up on the bottom. I haven't tried lower than that. I also need to figure out a better dough recipe because my gut always feels bloaty like the yeast is still fermenting when I eat my pizzas and it's not a fun feeling. I've been doing a 660g flour to 440g water dough with maybe a third of a packet of yeast - whatever amount that ends up being, and it's still too much! I feel like the dough still rises pretty good and fluffs up decently, and when I get the pizza bug again and can afford a steel I'll try even less yeast.
My Wal-Mart carries the block of whole milk mozz shown in the video. Out of necessity I've used a lot of it over the years. I don't hate it; the flavor is quite good. I try to offset the unwanted extra wetness by using crushed tomatoes for the sauce instead of whole peeled. Wal-Mart also often carries blocks of low moisture whole milk mozz but the flavor is not acceptable-- it's almost like a cheddar. At our relatively new Trader Joe's they carry a whole milk low moisture mozz in small blocks. It's easily the best of what I can get where I live, so I won't be buying my pizza cheese at Wal Mart again. The TJ's shreds and melts beautifully and has a good mozzarella flavor.
Love the channel - I learned many things watching your videos during my learning to make pizza journey. One thing I'm curious about is whether you've considered or tested is blending various types of cheese on pizza. Supposedly, some pizza shops combine Mozzarella with other 'melty' cheeses like Gouda, Gruyere, Fontina, etc. and in St Louis they use a blend of cheddar, swiss, and provolone called Provel. Do you ever experiment with this or use a blend on one of your specialty pies? Thanks for all your hard work.
Hi Charlie, I know your channel has focused a lot on pizza, but I was wondering if you could do a series on doner? Specifically that impossibly soft doner bread that’s used in German style doner sandwiches. Andong and Ethan Chlebowski both have videos going over doner sandwiches and they both found the bread so cloudy and soft they assumed it was something they were doing in the industrial process to get it like that. I was hoping with your skills you might be able to crack the code on that 😅
Without even watching, I’m saying whole milk mozzarella. Cube it, toss it in a food processor. Good to go. I buy it at chefs store for 2.99 a lb. Galbani in a 5lb loaf.
It's be great to see a video of torn vs sliced, vs grated vs cubed for Mozzarella cheese. I see many great pizzerias choosing different types of shapes but the same whole milk, low moisture type cheese. 👍 great video btw
When using fresh mozzarella its better to lay it on first then splotch the sauce in the gaps. Makes a big difference. Also the format of tge fresh mozzarella makes a difference. Sliced ovoline aren't as tightly balled and will melt better than ciligene
I'm sure you've been, but, Gust Galluccis on Euclid in Cleveland carries excellent Imperial brand low moisture while milk Mozzarella. It's mostly what I use on my pizzas.
Love your content Charlie, I was wondering if you have ever tried testing Fresh Mozzarella by removing some of the moisture out of it with a paper towel? I would think that might make it better suited for lower temp ovens and longer cook times.
Yesterday, I had a Shoarma pizza. (Yes that is the correct spelling, the American way is the dumb way, and sounds like Americans just spelling it out loudly, to some foreigner who speaks English.) Anyhow. I just had a Shoarma pizza, Usually those are so good! But, they put Blue Cheese on it, Now, It might go with lamb, but it definitely does not go with Shoarma. (They also used normal pizza sauce instead of Shoarma sauce which was disappointing. But not the biggest mistake.) End of Rant.
I have an ooni and I hate that with fresh mozerella, the pizza gets all watery. I try to put in paper towels to take mousture out, but it still happens.
Not sure if you’ll respond, but what’s the ideal pizza peel handle length? There’s a board of black walnut I saw at the store today I think has potential to be my first pizza peel haha
@@blueridgeorc Tomatos were not domesticated by european settlers. They are native to the andes and the northernmost peoples that cultivated them were the mesoamerican cultures, and that was surprisingly rare. Later when the tomato was brought over more commonly by portugese and spanish convoys, its use slowly spread to italy, where proto-pizza was already being made. Tomato sauce was then added, as well as cheese, and only after that was it brought over to the US in the late 19th century, which is why almost every pizza in america features both tomato sauce and cheese, while in italy you can still get pizza with different sauces or toppings that may not necessarily feature cheese, such as garlic infused olive oil.
@Jo-de3st so what you are saying is tomatos come from the americas? And italy didnt have tomatos until they tactically acquired them from the poor indigenous peoples? Yeah, thank the Muricas for tomatos and move on.
There is a reason that the OG pizza, which was accidentally vegan, gained a feverish popularity. Delicious! Dairy legit isn’t even important. It’s the inherent MSG & tang that it produces, which adds another tasty element. Nothing special about bovine breast milk. Do with that what you will. Will be doing the same. ✌️
Yeah, mozzarella melts nicely, but I've always found it one of the blandest cheeses one can buy, and when we're eating something like cheese, bland feels so wrong.
Thats also a very good option! Different types of cheeses work well with different takes on tomato sauce, whether its more heavily spiced or more acidic or is very concentrated and sweet. Mozzarella is great for very flavorful doughs and sauces since it lets those flavors shine while contributing lots of good texture.
I think you need to dig a Little Deeper on the history of pizza just like pasta it was created in Asia. Why does Italian countries always want to steal Asian people's ideas. maybe they're taking a play from the US playbook that so likes to do the same thing. From sports to cheese. Yes so called American cheese is also a Canadian creation. I'm sorry I just got triggered some people like pop or beer with their pizza I like the facts.
Neapolitan style pizza is overrated, most of the time raw to my liking if not super thin and done properly. There's so many good ones like NYC, but also Sicilian, Grandma Pie, Chicago, Detroit etc. Please show some love to deep dish aswell. Thanks for the wonderful content 🙏
When I crave pizza, I throw some tomato sauce on a flour tortilla, toss on whatever cheese I happen to have on hand, and use whatever toppings I have available in the fridge. Bake at 400 for 15-16 minutes and you’re good. Easy af
pizza places are cheap and lazy use canned sauce because they think "peak freshness" means something u havnt experimented with making your own sauce from scratch with real tomatos at their peak wherever u get them from perhaps local organic from a greenhouse or something with lights i cant take these videos seriously without that attempt or exploration into that . canned sauce can never compete i refuse to believe its impossible to do . also coal oven dave portnoy insists is the best u cant have a 9 pizza without one. it really comes down to the oven apparently and what material u burn with it has a bigger outcome than any of this cheese and dough stuff u keep insisting on adjusting. or even maybe the cheese needs to be made in house nobody is experimenting with shit and nobody has changed the type of flour in 200 years
theres 3 new video ideas for you is fresh sauce better than canned sauce? which material is the best tasting when cooking in a fire oven ? can you change the type of flour in pizza and get similar or better results
Dave is good at being entertaining while reviewing pizzas. He's not good at reviewing pizzas. I don't care what someone thinks of a pizza immediately after destroying their taste buds. Has Dave ever made a pizza himself?
Love that you’re incorporating testing with commercial equipment. Please do more for us pizza dorks.
Glad to hear you like it! I wasn't sure if most people would find it helpful or not.
@@CharlieAndersonCooking as another pizza dork, please keep it up! your channel its amazing!
@@CharlieAndersonCooking Hi Charlie, I know your channel has focused a lot on pizza, but I was wondering if you could do a series on doner? Specifically that impossibly soft doner bread that’s used in German style doner sandwiches.
Andong and Ethan Chlebowski both have videos going over doner sandwiches and they both found the bread so cloudy and soft they assumed it was something they were doing in the industrial process to get it like that. I was hoping with your skills you might be able to crack the code on that 😅
I gladly join the dorkettes. Been working on my pizza game for a decade. Still learning…
Pizza dorks, unit!
Charlie, you became my number one go to pizza channel. Your deep dive investigations in the big pizza world, and all the testing, busting some myth about pizza. That's fantastic and also meets my passion for pizza since decades.
here in Germany all the pizzerias use gouda cheese. the low moisture mozzarella isnt even available here. do you guys have gouda in the U.S. and do any pizzerias use it?
I have seen pizzerias use Gouda, but it's not often a standard in my experience. Provolone is fairly common, especially with "fast food pizza" here.
I have been using this combo: dash of Pecorino on the simple tomato sauce once spread on dough; one third each of Monterey Jack (excellent melting and flavor-boosting tanginess), whole milk low moisture mozzarella, and Buffalo mozzarella, then sprinkle of Grana Padano or Parmigiano over the top; I have found that sprinkling good Greek, Sicilian, or Calabrian oregano within the cheese mix instead of the tomato sauce works a certain magic with the cheese.
Whole milk low moisture mozzarella used to be hard to find in my area (Northern California) but for the past few years Safeway has carried it from Galbani. Great brand, definitely recommend it.
Id also recommend spiking your cheese blend with a hard cheese for flavor. Parm is good but pecorino romano is amazing
Most pizzerias on the East Coast use Grande brand cheese from Wisconsin. Its not available retail. If you can get your hands on some you will notice the difference. They have something called East Coast Blend which is 50/50 whole milk and part skim. Gold standard for pizza cheese. A lot of pizzerias use Grande.
A grocery chain where I live carries Grande whole milk mozzarella
@@wf2197 I highly doubt that. what chain?
I make my own. Costco Business Center has quality block mozz for like $3/lb, so I buy one of each whole/skim and blend it myself :)
brilliant...i reallllllllllly appreciate you doing all this work and sharing your findings! im forever on the quest to make amazing pizzas at home and the small tweaks and considerations (such as here with temperature vs cheese type variant) makes a huge difference. Thanks Charlie!!! Happy cooking!!!!
Thank you, I'm glad to hear you find it helpful!
Hey Charlie! I’ve been following your journey ever since you posted your “I Tested the Internet’s Best New York Pizza Recipes” video about two and a half years ago. I just want to say-YOU have absolutely changed my life! Words can't even begin to express how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for the RUclips pizza community. I’m one of those people who watched every pizza-making video out there and practiced for years, but HANDS DOWN, you are in a league of your own when it comes to hard work and dedication to mastering New York-style pizza. And the fact that you share all this knowledge for FREE? Unmatched! Seriously, you’ve made a huge difference. I know at least three people who opened their own pizza shops and are killing it because of you!
For the past 2-3 years, I’ve been making pizza every day, and I’ve been using your NY-style pizza calculator as my gold standard for at least a year and a half (no exaggeration). I even dropped about $1,000 on a Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo and all the other gear to make the best pies I can at home. Every day, it feels like my pizzas are getting better and better, and everyone who’s tried them says I should open my own place!
Now, I’m happy to say that my business partner and I are in the final stages of opening our own shop. But there’s one thing that’s been bothering me, and I can’t seem to solve it. I don’t expect you to have time to respond-I know you’re super busy-but if you could, it would honestly mean the world to me!
It’s my pizza stretching technique. I’ve been using your 1:1 dough calculator (which you so kindly shared with the community), and I’ve tried every flour I can get my hands on, from expensive 00 Italian to high-protein AP flour. But my dough always ends up too soft and tears easily. I’ve tried stretching it right out of the fridge and after it’s been out for 2 hours, but the dough still tears too much. My pies are amazing, but stretching them is so slow for the business-I have to be extra careful. I’ve tried using a dough weight for stretching, but it only works in the initial stages. Once the dough gets to around 6-8 inches, it’s too delicate and tears easily.
I’ve tried different techniques, learned from RUclips, but none seem to work. So, what I end up doing is stretching it halfway, then using a rolling pin to keep some extra thickness around the crust. And I also use your prepping process, just like you show in the video (How to Make a REAL New York Slice at Home), where I take extra steps and time for gluten to develop.
That’s my challenge right now. Anyway, I just want to say I hope you become the most influential pizza guy in America, because honestly, you deserve it more than anyone-way more than Dave Portnoy!
Have a GREAT DAY! :)
Hey, that's great to hear! I appreciate the kind words. Regarding your dough stretching problem, it's tough to say without knowing your whole dough process but my first instinct would be to use a higher protein flour, and be sure you're kneading thoroughly to completely develop the gluten. It definitely shouldn't tear easily if you do both of those things - if anything it would become too tight and hard to stretch. I actually went in-depth on that exact topic in my pizza dough mastery workshop though (charlie-s-site-1fe4.thinkific.com/courses/pizzadoughmastery), so I'd recommend checking that out if you want a more definitive solution. It's designed to solve any problem you might have with handling / stretching dough, and you can ask me questions over there if you need additional support.
@4:30 Luigi's (Park Slope) and Joe's (Greenwich Village) both use part skim low moisture mozzarella. Lotta places uses a blend of whole and part skim.
If you drizzle olive oil over part skim mozzarella, it helps a lot with meltability and it's healthier. And definitely a great tip, if you don't care for that, to have a light hand on whole milk cheese.
I'm actually a pretty big fan of the Walmart "full" moisture whole milk mozzarella. Its flavor is better than their low moisture whole milk (which I still use as well) but it's not dripping wet like Bel Gioso.
Bel Gioso is WAY down on my list of fresh mozz, any of the tubbed in water offerings at essentially any grocery is better than Bel Gioso, which is a shame as they are a GREAT cheese company 🤪
Key to the fresh mozz use in high temp is to cut them up into smaller pieces, They melt more completely and you don't have rubbery chunks coming off.
Hey Charlie! I've been baking pizza and bread for more than 15 years and there's nothing like enjoying a self made pizza, the problem I always struggle with is with the cheese... I live in Mexico and I've tried several brands and types of cheese, but saddly I can´t say that I'm happy with my results... today I bought an italian burrata and after the experiment I will share my findings with you... Thanks for sharing your experience!!
loving your journey Charlie!! Best of luck!!!
Thank you!
Its amazing to hear from you that Whole Milk Low Moisture Mozz is not available in parts of the country. Being from Jersey you can get it at literally any grocery store or big box store.
I haven't seen it in Canada either. Part skim, yes. there's varying moisture percentages between the handful of brands, most in and around the 40's, with some mozarella's labelled as "pizza mozarella"
All great info. There’s definitely a variety of styles. I buy whole milk Sargento or Galbani. Cut them in half inch cubes and spread. A few slivers of garlic and bake. Sprinkle some parm and oregano when pulled. But I’ll stay firm on the dough formula and time. Crucial.
You know your stuff man. Watching this while I eat home made pizza :)
Wisconsin brick cheese for the win
Charlie. For your efforts you deserve every success in your ventures. Thanks for making my home pizza journey so enjoyable. Your videos are exceptional. Regards.. Tony from the UK
Thanks for providing some solid grounding to understanding the “why we do it this way” with cheese and temps.
cows milk mozzarella is called ”fior di latte” in italy. Mozzarella usually means its buffalo. Outside of italy anything goes. Pregrated usually means the cheese has a starch coating to make it not clump, which will cause the issues you describe.
Honestly i personally prefer fresh mozz because it melds into the sauce and makes the whole pizza much less dry, especially since i tend to leave it in my oven a tad longer than others may like to, since i love a really crispy edge and bubbly sauce and soft cheese. When i try using dry mozz or other drier cheeses it always gets cold quickly and turns into a slab of rubber since im a slow eater with pizza. Most pizza places, especially in america use dry mozz though because its easier to get in big batches and theres less risk of it going bad due to the much lower moisture.
Isn't that what sauce is for?
Lmao. Another person eating wet pizza. Yuck.
I’m fortunate enough to live in Northern Illinois with access to to our northern neighbors cheeses via Woodmans.
I’ve been testing mozzarellas, brick cheeses, mild white cheddars, and nutty/different flavored 3rd cheeses.
Some brick cheeses are too nutty. Some mozzarella is too fatty(like the Walmart stuff. I had a really bad result from Walmart whole milk brick.)
I can only cook so hot in my oven though.
I think I’ve got the Cheddar and Brick I like. A brick I prefer to Mozz. The flavour is kind of in between.
The ones I like are both JS brand of Wisconsin… Mild white cheddar and Mild brick cheese. Brick for the base, Cheddar for flavor.
Still searching for a good 3rd cheese to replace my Parmesan.
Thanks for the video! It's well-detailed and nicely animated as always.
However, IMO, something seems off with your dough. The middle part should be thinner, and the crust should be puffy and airy. Have you tried using less yeast and perhaps lower hydration?
Provolone or muenster for a base. Get it from a deli, sliced. Then put it in the freezer in the cheap deli bag they give you until it dries out a bit (it will get mild freezer burn). Might take a couple months. Take it out of the freezer and thaw it out. Shred and top. You can do the same thing with mozzarella (not fresh) to lower the moisture content, but provolone has more flavor. I usually use about one part romano for every 10 parts base cheese. I only cook at detroit styles at ~500. No point in messing with other inferior styles.
I'm fortunate that my local Wally almost always has both full and part skimmed mozz. I'm under the impression that a lot of good pizzerias use a Grande product (East Coast Blend) that's 50/50 full and part skimmed, although logically straight full seems the better bet. I have great success freezing it, just cutting the 1 lb blocks into 2 Oz chunks, plastic wrapping them individually, tossing them in a 1 gallon zip lock, and pulling what I need when I need it.
I always associate fresh with Neapolitan, where 900 degrees rules. My local Costco carried fresh bufa at a great price until covid, so i its been that long without. I've never much used either fresh for pizza though, just for antipastos and Capri salads. 🙂
7:10 transition on point
I'm able to get close with a stone, it's definitely better than the oven alone, but yeah - I really gotta get a steel. I also found that cooking on the rack one lower from the top keeps the cheese from disincorporating as quickly, and gives the crust more of a chance to crisp up on the bottom. I haven't tried lower than that. I also need to figure out a better dough recipe because my gut always feels bloaty like the yeast is still fermenting when I eat my pizzas and it's not a fun feeling. I've been doing a 660g flour to 440g water dough with maybe a third of a packet of yeast - whatever amount that ends up being, and it's still too much! I feel like the dough still rises pretty good and fluffs up decently, and when I get the pizza bug again and can afford a steel I'll try even less yeast.
slow age dough in the fridge 3 days punching it down a couple times.
My Wal-Mart carries the block of whole milk mozz shown in the video. Out of necessity I've used a lot of it over the years. I don't hate it; the flavor is quite good. I try to offset the unwanted extra wetness by using crushed tomatoes for the sauce instead of whole peeled. Wal-Mart also often carries blocks of low moisture whole milk mozz but the flavor is not acceptable-- it's almost like a cheddar. At our relatively new Trader Joe's they carry a whole milk low moisture mozz in small blocks. It's easily the best of what I can get where I live, so I won't be buying my pizza cheese at Wal Mart again. The TJ's shreds and melts beautifully and has a good mozzarella flavor.
I agree with TJs mozz. Came here to post the same
Love the channel - I learned many things watching your videos during my learning to make pizza journey. One thing I'm curious about is whether you've considered or tested is blending various types of cheese on pizza. Supposedly, some pizza shops combine Mozzarella with other 'melty' cheeses like Gouda, Gruyere, Fontina, etc. and in St Louis they use a blend of cheddar, swiss, and provolone called Provel. Do you ever experiment with this or use a blend on one of your specialty pies? Thanks for all your hard work.
I've tried a bunch of WMLM mozzarella best ones for me were Trader Joe's and Galbani.
You should slice and allow fresh mozzarella to strain overnight to remove the excess water
Hi Charlie, I know your channel has focused a lot on pizza, but I was wondering if you could do a series on doner? Specifically that impossibly soft doner bread that’s used in German style doner sandwiches.
Andong and Ethan Chlebowski both have videos going over doner sandwiches and they both found the bread so cloudy and soft they assumed it was something they were doing in the industrial process to get it like that. I was hoping with your skills you might be able to crack the code on that 😅
Without even watching, I’m saying whole milk mozzarella. Cube it, toss it in a food processor. Good to go. I buy it at chefs store for 2.99 a lb. Galbani in a 5lb loaf.
It's be great to see a video of torn vs sliced, vs grated vs cubed for Mozzarella cheese. I see many great pizzerias choosing different types of shapes but the same whole milk, low moisture type cheese. 👍 great video btw
When using fresh mozzarella its better to lay it on first then splotch the sauce in the gaps. Makes a big difference. Also the format of tge fresh mozzarella makes a difference. Sliced ovoline aren't as tightly balled and will melt better than ciligene
Fresh thyme and some giant eagles sell whole milk low moisture mozzarella in their delis in Cleveland
Very interesting video and makes me glad I'm from St. Louis where the best mozzarella for your pizza is no mozzarella.
I'm sure you've been, but, Gust Galluccis on Euclid in Cleveland carries excellent Imperial brand low moisture while milk Mozzarella. It's mostly what I use on my pizzas.
make America GRATE again. Buy block cheese, not cellulose filled preshredded cheese
i never buy shredded. no pizzaria in their right mind would serve that.
@@marik-718 Many do buy pre-shredded cheese, but they go through it so fast that they don't need the anti-caking agents.
@limitisillusion7 i thought so.
I'm sure I love Charlie for these videos just as much as i love pizza and that is allot
I just bought a cheese grater and a block of cheese right before this video popped up on my feed. Definitely being spied on.
Polly-O is in almost every major retail grocer...that's the best you will find in retail.
Charlie out here mogging us with his dough arms 😂 Fr though, thank you for your free pizza education, it’s the best
Love your content Charlie, I was wondering if you have ever tried testing Fresh Mozzarella by removing some of the moisture out of it with a paper towel? I would think that might make it better suited for lower temp ovens and longer cook times.
Put a plate on it and let it drain over night
My favorite is Provel whatever that is!😅Thank You
Yesterday, I had a Shoarma pizza. (Yes that is the correct spelling, the American way is the dumb way, and sounds like Americans just spelling it out loudly, to some foreigner who speaks English.) Anyhow.
I just had a Shoarma pizza, Usually those are so good!
But, they put Blue Cheese on it,
Now, It might go with lamb, but it definitely does not go with Shoarma.
(They also used normal pizza sauce instead of Shoarma sauce which was disappointing. But not the biggest mistake.)
End of Rant.
SHUWORMUH
You can often get whole milk mozzarella at the deli counter
low moisture?
I have an ooni and I hate that with fresh mozerella, the pizza gets all watery. I try to put in paper towels to take mousture out, but it still happens.
I find fresh mozz nearly flavorless and mostly about texture. Low moisture whole milk mozz is the way to go...if you can find it
I love low moisture! ♥ I used it in my recent video and got some inspiration from you :)
Thank you!⭐
Your vids are very informative.
Thanks for doing the heavy lifting. Hopefully I’ll one day find myself standing inside your pizza place. 😊👍🏼
Thank you, hope to see you in there some day!
Walmart's whole milk mozzarella is actually decent. I would still blend it with another cheese.
If one wants to count callories, one shouldn't just use less whole milk cheese but consider skipping pizza altogether
Do you use yeast when you make your dough? I have seen it presented both ways, but I never know which is better.
What are your thoughts on gas style pizza ovens like the ooni? Would you consider doing a video on those?
I think he used those at his popups and he made perfect looking pies.
Not sure if you’ll respond, but what’s the ideal pizza peel handle length?
There’s a board of black walnut I saw at the store today I think has potential to be my first pizza peel haha
I don’t know who makes off brand Food Club but they have the best shredded whole milk mozzarella from grocery stores
Starting to bake deep dish pizza and cheese is bottom layer. What type of cheese for pan pizza?
It was also made without tomato sauce until 'murica changed that. Love the series
No, i dont think tomato sauce on pizza is an american invention...
@Jo-de3st do you know where Tomatos come from? Hint, they arent native to europe, asia, africa, pacifica, antartica etc etc
@@blueridgeorc Tomatos were not domesticated by european settlers. They are native to the andes and the northernmost peoples that cultivated them were the mesoamerican cultures, and that was surprisingly rare. Later when the tomato was brought over more commonly by portugese and spanish convoys, its use slowly spread to italy, where proto-pizza was already being made. Tomato sauce was then added, as well as cheese, and only after that was it brought over to the US in the late 19th century, which is why almost every pizza in america features both tomato sauce and cheese, while in italy you can still get pizza with different sauces or toppings that may not necessarily feature cheese, such as garlic infused olive oil.
@Jo-de3st did i say they were?
@Jo-de3st so what you are saying is tomatos come from the americas? And italy didnt have tomatos until they tactically acquired them from the poor indigenous peoples? Yeah, thank the Muricas for tomatos and move on.
Charlie is back!
Buf sells low moisture buffalo mozzarella now.
I wish I had the wherewithal to start a pizza joint but my city is a little oversaturated
The best cheese to use is actually Monterey Jack it melts like mozzarella and has more flavor
im gonna try aging my own fresh store bought mozzarella for like a week or two see if i can turn cheap stuff into gold
Without even watching, I’m saying whole milk mozzarella. Cube it, toss it in a food processor. Good to go
Fresh or not fresh? I put BOTH! 😂
good cheese info!💚
You can just make the mozzarella. It's so easy, seriously.
Great information! Never hear about this
Winco has whole milk mozzarella
Winco rules
For certain styles it is, for others not so much.
bs
You do GREAT work!! Thanks.
Thank you, I'm glad you like the videos!
Who here uses Costco cheese? 🤦🏻♂️ I use Galbani but pre shredded. I just need to buy a block and grate it myself going forward
Walmart whole milk mozzarella is
It-s a lot harder finding good pizza cheese in middle america then you make it out to be .
There is a reason that the OG pizza, which was accidentally vegan, gained a feverish popularity. Delicious! Dairy legit isn’t even important. It’s the inherent MSG & tang that it produces, which adds another tasty element. Nothing special about bovine breast milk. Do with that what you will. Will be doing the same. ✌️
flatbread.
Dude, I don't know if you deleted my comment about Al Capone, or if I just forgot to hit the "post" button
I actually prefer a nice fontina and provolone to mozzarella but that’s just me
Yeah, mozzarella melts nicely, but I've always found it one of the blandest cheeses one can buy, and when we're eating something like cheese, bland feels so wrong.
Agreed...provolone..
Thats also a very good option!
Different types of cheeses work well with different takes on tomato sauce, whether its more heavily spiced or more acidic or is very concentrated and sweet. Mozzarella is great for very flavorful doughs and sauces since it lets those flavors shine while contributing lots of good texture.
I’ve been using Monterey Jack on my Detroit pizzas lately.
Fontina makes the best grilled cheese.
I get it, but that ending was some bs imo. I won't watch and will just assume it's some form of steel... Other than that, thank you for the info!👍
Ur the goat.
What happened to doing the squares?
its cake
IMO 50/50 part skim and full fat
same. 100% full fat is too greasy
@@robbiesarris9072 Thats clarified butter.
@@BlackJesus8463 im talking about boogie2988
Mutsarella not motsarella 😅
That Walmart Whole milk mozzarella is ass.
You look like a guy teaching cover calls😂
I think you need to dig a Little Deeper on the history of pizza just like pasta it was created in Asia. Why does Italian countries always want to steal Asian people's ideas. maybe they're taking a play from the US playbook that so likes to do the same thing. From sports to cheese. Yes so called American cheese is also a Canadian creation. I'm sorry I just got triggered some people like pop or beer with their pizza I like the facts.
Neapolitan style pizza is overrated, most of the time raw to my liking if not super thin and done properly.
There's so many good ones like NYC, but also Sicilian, Grandma Pie, Chicago, Detroit etc.
Please show some love to deep dish aswell.
Thanks for the wonderful content 🙏
I've never said this but, first.
When I crave pizza, I throw some tomato sauce on a flour tortilla, toss on whatever cheese I happen to have on hand, and use whatever toppings I have available in the fridge. Bake at 400 for 15-16 minutes and you’re good. Easy af
Yup!
pizza places are cheap and lazy use canned sauce because they think "peak freshness" means something
u havnt experimented with making your own sauce from scratch with real tomatos at their peak wherever u get them from perhaps local organic from a greenhouse or something with lights
i cant take these videos seriously without that attempt or exploration into that . canned sauce can never compete i refuse to believe its impossible to do . also coal oven dave portnoy insists is the best u cant have a 9 pizza without one. it really comes down to the oven apparently and what material u burn with it has a bigger outcome than any of this cheese and dough stuff u keep insisting on adjusting. or even maybe the cheese needs to be made in house nobody is experimenting with shit and nobody has changed the type of flour in 200 years
theres 3 new video ideas for you is fresh sauce better than canned sauce? which material is the best tasting when cooking in a fire oven ? can you change the type of flour in pizza and get similar or better results
@@tinnyfoiler7126 Hes has done all those exempt woodfired will be smoky.
@@BlackJesus8463 im pretty sure he hasnt done anything he just merely implied that he thought canned sauce was fine without doing experiments
Dave is good at being entertaining while reviewing pizzas. He's not good at reviewing pizzas. I don't care what someone thinks of a pizza immediately after destroying their taste buds. Has Dave ever made a pizza himself?
Without even watching, I’m saying whole milk mozzarella. Cube it, toss it in a food processor. Good to go