Lou?

You would need a really good melting cheese and I would say to layer it on in slices rather than grating. Maybe full milk mozzarella would give you the results you want better than skim mozzarella.

Hopefully someone else will chime in who knows more than I do.

It's the cheese....full milk mozzerella and not the pre-grated stuff in a bag. That has added things to keep it from sticking together.
Also provolone will do that too....and I like it on a pizza...just don't get the smoked variety.
Linda C

Lou put me on to using a combination of provolone and mozzarella, little more provolone than moz. It really is good but still not quite that mile long stringy cheese you are after.

Personally I think the secret to that is topping the pizza with sauce, then cheese, then your other toppings and cooking to almost done. Then add a top layer of cheese, moz or provolone. I think the stringiness comes from not having the cheese cooked too much, just a bit more than melted.

Nope....the string comes from thick cheese....and high butter fat.
Both provolone and mozzerella are cooked curd cheeses, which means the curd is cooked and then worked to get rid of any whey...and consequently it strings when hot...
Swiss does that too.
And of course if your pizza cools down the cheese stops stringing.
So maybe Sharon has something there...putting the cheese under the toppings to keep it hot longer.
Linda C

Azmom:
In the pizzeria I used all Provolone "slices."
I baked the pizza with just the Sauce for a short while.
Then I laid the provolone on, so that it wouldn't cook too long and burn.

At that time I used " New Yorker" Brand Provolone.It wasn't too Sharp but creamy.
And it didn't get like rubber, when it cooled a little.
Lately I've been using a Blend of different Cheese,with excellent results.

I have used a blend of Provolone, Mozzerella, Feta and
Cheddar.

Not worried about the stringy Cheese. Tastes have a Priority now.
Experiment a little more and get what you want !!!

A good sauce is very important to a Good Pizza !!!
LOU

I never buy the non-grated cheeses, but still have a hard time finding the whole milk mozzarella. I have to go to the gourmet grocery store to find it. Surprisingly, when I looked for Provolone at our closest semi-good (meaning high priced and not Walmart, but basically just okay) grocery store, I couldn't find Provolone, either. For that we had to go to the gourmet store. Go figure.

Sally

Sally : I thought I saw all the grated cheeses in Walmart's
Lou

I can get whole milk mozzarella and several different types of provolone at the wal mart here.

Bumblebeez:
I'm at my daughters ( linda214 )now in Del.Co.and I put the message in her name.
I didn't realize that she didn't sign out.I forget where you are in Pa.
Probably shop at the same Walmart's.
I'm in Folcroft right now. Will be back up the Pocono's tommorrow.
Lou

This weekend I made two Pizzas, meatlover and salmon. Food snob husband loved both which is pretty encouraging.

As suggested, I baked the pizza with sauce for a while. For meatlover one, I then added thinly sliced pound provolone, then toppings, and ½ pound thinly sliced whole milk mozzarella then more toppings for decoration. For salmon one, I broke ¼ pound Feta cheese in big crumbs, mixed in with toppings, and then layered 1/2 pound of whole milk mozzarella.

Unfortunately, I still could not get that stringy cheese effect. Both pizzas were of 12 inches baked on stone. How thinly and wide should I slide the cheese? Did I put too much or too little cheese? What did I do wrong?

azmom:
I was away for the weekend but I checked in once.
The Pizza's must have been really good.
The Feta would not have helped it to be stringy.

As I said before, I'm not worried about stringy anymore.
I would rather have the better taste.

Try chopping the Prov.and Mozz.mix it a little in a bowl
and putting it on after the sauce has baked a little.

The steam coming off might keep the cheese softer.

How was the taste, on the 2 Pizza's you made ???
Lou

Azmom, I'll bet that a pizza you tasted 20 years ago might well have ''Best Of'' status simply because it's been 20 years! This is just my personal opinion, but I never thought a mile long string of cheese hanging off my pizza was a particularly good thing. That said, it probably was fresh mozerella, which would be considered a high quality ingredient for making really good pizza.

I know Lou has a different way of making his pizza, but I lay my cheese down first (mozerella and provoline), after I've oiled the dough with a little olive oil. Then I dollop the sauce onto the cheese layer of the pizza, before adding the other toppings. I usually end up with a layer of parmesan cheese on top, and find I can make an extremely thin crust pizza with this technique without having to pre-bake the pizza. Getting the crust right is key.

When I've taught people how to make it, I find that most everyone wants to use far too many toppings on their pizza. The last pizza I made had my friends remarking that they could taste everything I added...all the layers of flavor. That said, making good pizza isn't hard, yet takes some serious trial and error to learn how to do it well. There are lots of techniques and it seems everyone has different way to make it. Here's my recipe...I wrote it after using a combination of recipes and techniques, and Ann T's sauce. You can use any toppings you want of course, as this is just a guideline.

Claire de luna:
I love your History lesson. But I don't have a different way of making Pizza.
I try to make pizza the way the average person likes it.

In 55 years of doing this I have found that everyone tastes vary to extremes.

Not everyone likes a very thin Pizza and the same with a thick one.

Had about 10 friends in the business and took something that I liked, from each,
before I opened my own Pizzeria.
That is why I cooked in Pans, I could move them around a lot faster. Same results !!!

I've cooked the Sauce on top of the Cheese, on the Bottom,
sideways and upside down.

I have found thru the years that the Average person likes a meduim thickness Pizza,
with a nice size Crust, that is Crispy but very tender and tasty.

Meduim to me is 1/4 inch thickness. Some people like a Thick Sicialian Style Pizza.

Whichever, You choose, the sauce is important.

I cook mine slightly and use a lot of different Spices and ingredients.
It doesn't take too long to do this, so why not ???

It is the best I could come up with at the present.

Ann T's is Ok but I prefer my own. She has told me the same.

I won't put in my Sauce Recipe , unless someone want's it.

Thanks LOU

Lou, I hesitated to include my recipe for the same reasons, and generally have avoided the most recent pizza threads. I know tastes are highly individual, and mine is only another way to do it. There was no offense meant, and I hope none taken. There is no doubt in my mind I would love to eat a pizza made by you!

Claire :
There is no offense taken. I was clarifying what I've learned thru the years.
I try to Cook or Bake with Recipes that a majority will enjoy, not just myself.
LOU

I live on Long Island...most places use a whole milk mozzarella and that it..some make it with fresh mozzarella but thats usually on the specialty pizza....Glad to hear you like our pizza my favorite pizza place is in Patchogue called Del Fiores we drive 3 towns away for it but the best pizza is usually within the city limits IMO!

I really like stringy cheese on pizza too but usually avoid the whole milk mozzarella because of the fat. If that's the secret though, I will be trying it next time.

Where oh where is LucyNY?

Lou, I've heard that the cheese on the average pizzeria type pizza isn't mozzarella but something else entirely. Do you know if there's any truth to that?

Personally I've never been able to get my mozzarella to string up like that. And if I attempt a thick cheese topping like I used to get at the divine Stromboli's Pizza it never gets all melty without some of it crisping (ans still, no strings).

Part of the problem might be the height of a home oven interior vs the height of the pizzeria's oven interior. LucyNY has come up with a great, simple way to mimic the pizzeria's oven in your own home by using two pizza stones (baking the pizza on one hot stone while another hot stone is on the rack directly above the pizza, radiating heat down. Maybe this would help the cheese melting process?

Tonight I'm making pizza ala Lou (mozzarella & provolone), cooked ala Lucy.

I just had a thought! Italian Fontina cheese, maybe?

Nina

Nina:
I don't know for sure about the Cheese they use now. It may be a Blend.
But I can find out, if you want.

Lucy's stone over Baking, may help the Cheese from overcooking,
By circulating the hot air around ,instead of directly down and across the top.

I said a while back, that I built an oven and it worked better than the bought one.

It had a stone shelf. When the bottom didn't cook enough,
I took it out of the pan and finished baking right on the Stone, to brown the bottom.

Bumblebeez:
And I thought you knew more about Honey, honey.You are holding out on us. LOL
Did you ever have a Honeybee eat Maple Syrup, on your finger ???

Fini:
Try different Recipes with your Pizza. Don't worry about
recreating something.

Just, make the Best taste for you and your Family.
Thaaaat's what is important.

You can't make the Best in the World, because I've already done that. LOL! LOL!

LOU

Huh?

Bumblebeez: What's the Huh ? for.
Remember in one Post, I said you should know about Honey, because you're Bumblebeez ?
Lou

Well, that's right Lou! I forgot about that. I do know a lot about honey but not that much about stringy cheese. I bought whole milk mozzarella and unsmoked provolone today for pizza Friday night. We usually have something good to eat and watch a movie Friday night.

Lou, the pizzas were quite tasty. You are right; Feta would not make cheese stringy. I used it to go with artichoke hearts and salmon. We are the brave kind, like to be "creative" in all types of cooking sure have had tons of casualties landed in trash can. I get inspiration from regular dishes for pizza and try to find balance among topping, sauce, cheese and crust. I am thinking about making a tandoori chicken pizza and a seafood pizza with squids, lobsters and scallops. But need to find the right type of chesses and wine first.

Claire, no, no, no, that Long Island Pizza with mile long cheese is the best. I have fantasized going back to Long Island to find that place again. We dont mind going extra miles for good food, such as when in Europe, husband always detoures to London just for THE crispy duck from that small restaurant in Chinatown. Eileen, Del Fiores ? maybe it is the time for us to take a trip to Long Island.

Making good pizza crust is challenging, Claire and Lou, I will try your recipes. Nina, we wondered about the temperature difference between home and commercial ovens too. After I failed my last try of making stringy cheese pizza, husband showed me an ad of Commercial Pizza Oven. LOL.

Bumblebeez, lets know how your pizzas turn out.
May be I should use fresh mozzarella next.....

Azmom- I did get a nice degree of string on last night's provolone & mozzarella pizza. Not mile long but strandy.
I do a killer seafood pizza in a spicy red sauce (no mozzarella, though, I use grated parm...and throw some shrimp in there too) but we have a local place that does a to die for seafood pizza (extra garlic) with it's usual cheesiness & sauce. Personally I've found that fresh mozz gets more plastic-y than stringy when it cools.

As for crust, again, I must sing the praises of LucyNY as I do each and every time I make pizza now. She uses a french bread recipe instead of a pizza dough recipe and ever since I took her advice & started doing that the difference in dough is amazing. Very easily workable, nice thin & crispy crusts, just gorgeous.

Lucy uses Julia Childs' french bread recipe but I've been using the one from New Orleans Cooking. Here's my slightly tweaked version:

1 tbs active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 c warm water
Put ingredients into a 5 qt bowl, stir once & set aside.

5 c bread flour
2 tsp crisco
Lightly mix flour with crisco then add 1/2 cup of this to the yeast mixture. The yeast mixture will start to bubble (if it hasn't already). Then take

1 1/2 c warm water

And add it to the yeast mixture 1/2 cup at a time, alternating 1/2 c water with 1 c flour, mixing all the while, until you've incorporated all of the water & the 5c flour. If the dough is too wet add more flour as needed. Once dough is smooth & resilient place in an oiled bowl, cover & set in a warm place to rise until doubled.

Lou- no need to find out what the mystery cheese mix is, I'm having too much fun making pizza my way and I get no complaints from the other members of the household (maybe they complain that I don't make pizza often enough).

Nina

: An alterative to baking on a stone is to use pans.
A 12 inch round pizza will take from 8 to 12 ounces of dough.
According to thickness you want. After the dough is made weigh it out and roll into balls.
Oil the pans and place a dough ball in the pan and flatten slightly,
working the dough towards the side of the pan, with the palms.

Then let it rest a few minutes. Repeat this every so often until the dough,
reaches the side and up, enough for a crust about ½ inch. Let it raise slightly ,
Dock the dough all over, with a fork and put into the oven to bake at 400 deg.
If it bubbles while baking pinch it with a fork again.

When light tan specks show ,take them out onto a rack to cool fast.
Then you can use them right away or freeze , to use later.
When cooking the Pizza, place the Pre Baked dough back in the oiled pan ,
Or cook on your Stone.
Put a latel of sauce on the dough and swish it around, sprinkle some Parmesan or Romano ,
put it in the oven for a few minutes. Take it out and spread the topping,
of your choice and the Cheese Topping.
A good topping cheese is a mixture of Mozzarella and Provolone chopped and mixed.
The provolone gives it a good flavor and doesn't get like rubber when it cools.
I use all Provolone.
A little trick for baking. Keep a cup of water and brush handy,
to baste parts that are cooking too fast. If you can get new pans, they have to be cured in the oven, so they won't stick. Coat them with oil and bake them for at least 6 hours. Never clean them with soap and water. Just rinse with water & wipe with a paper towel.

DOUGH RECIPE:
1 cup of warm water (not hot)
1 Package of rapid rise yeast 1 tablesps sugar ,in a half cup of warm water
1/4 Cup of Veg. Oil
1 teasp.Salt
About 3 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 cup of Whole wheat flour

Place in a mixing bowl, the Water, 1 cup of flour, wheat flour , yeast if risen
Add the oil and salt and more flour.
Add enough flour to make a soft ball of dough, that doesn't stick to your hands.
Knead until smooth. Put it back in the bowl , Smooth side up and Rub on some Veg. Oil
Cover and set in a warm place to rise until it doubles in bulk.
I put it in a warm oven, Covered with a damp towel. It rises in about 1 hour.

When doubled, punch it down and knead it well.
Divide into Balls , about 11 to 12 ounces and place in oiled pans. 12" round
Dough should be about 3/16 " thick on the bottom and about ½" around the edge.
For Sicilian Pizza , I used most of the dough in a 11" X 16" pan
Follow the previous instructions.
Good luck, Lou

Nina:
If you like all that seafood you should try the Tiella.
I did one with all the seafood you mentioned It was Great.
Still have the Photo's and recipe.
Lou

Pizza Sauce and Spaghetti Sauce ( Gravy )
I used Pizza Sauce which is crushed Tomatoes and Puree, with Basil.
You can use canned tomatoes but make sure they are Italian or a deep red color.
Some choices are Contadina , Red Pack , Hunts , All Red, = Tutto Rosso.
A lot of others are sort of orange, red color.
.
Try 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1 can of tomatoe Puree.
You have to spice to your own taste. I use only Powdered Spices now.
And get the same results.
Start with 3/4 teaspoon of garlic pwd.
(add more later to taste)
1 tablespn. of onion powder. 1 teasp. Salt.
3 teasp. Sugar ( add more if it tastes too acidy ).
An Italian pinch of pwd.cloves.
3/4 teasp. Oregano ( or to taste ) it is strong.
1 teaspoon of Parsley,
1/2 teasp. basil.
1/4 teasp. black pepper.
½ teaspoon + of ( Chicken flavored Soup Base )
Large handful of Parmasan Cheese, after cooking about 1/2 hour.
Add water if it is too thick.

Continue for Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe can be used for Spagetti Sauce ( maybe you would want to cut down on the Oregano )
also just add a can of Tomatoe Paste and water to thin a little ,
if it is too thick it will burn easily. It will thicken as it cooks.
Add: 1/2 cup of fine chopped Onion.
And 3 bay leaves . Don't forget the Chicken flavored Soup Base.
Add uncooked Meatballs, Sausage and Chicken Thighs, when you start cooking. (cook at least 1 ½ to 2 hours )
Take the chicken out when it is done. ( About 1 hour )
Add the Parmasan Cheese after the sauce is cooked & stir
ALSO !!! season to your own taste. Add more or less of what you like.

LOU

Nina, Wow! I am so impressed that you got the stringy cheese, how did you do that?

Your killer seafood pizza sounds wonderful. I like the idea of making it spicy.

Nina, Lou, thank you for the recipes. Will try them soon. Lou, what is Tiella?

azmom- it was the mozzarella/provolone combo that did it. But the stringing stopped as soon as the cheese started to cool. It may have just been luck on my part.

I like to do a fra diavolo sauce for the seafood & I cut the shrimp in half lengthwise, then drop them into the hot sauce until they're just cooked. They curl up ridiculously this way but seem to work better on a thin crust.

Tiella is a 2 crust pizza, like a pie. You place the bottom crust in a deep dish with the edges draped over the sides, fill with whatever you please 7 top with the second crust & crimp the sides together. Poke a hole in the top for venting. If you do a search here you should be able to find Lou's recipe but do NOT look in the virtual pizza party thread because there are so many pictures of so many gorgeous pizzas that you'll be craving pizza for days (plus the tiella recipe isn't there).

Nina

Azmom: Nina:
Here is a little History of the Tiella.
I have a Photo Tuttorial saved somewhere. I'll put that in too.
Lou

June 29, 2006
Tiella Gaeta:
From time to time I get e-mails from Americans (and I mean Argentineans as well as US Americans) asking for some particular Italian recipe their grandmother used to make. I am happy to help whenever I can, I love those trips down memory lane, but occasionally I feel terribly sorry for not being able to lend my hand in their recipe search. Sometimes it is because, while I know the dish well, I have no idea of how the recipe looks like. Yet more often, I simply have no idea what dish they are talking about: the name might be familiar, but the description of the dish is not. The problem is that Italy simply does not have a national cuisine, but rather a collection of local ones that at times can change dramatically just going over the next hill. So, even for a born and raised Italian like me,m Italy remains an immense cooking school, with a promise of something new around the next road bend.

. I was reading William Black's "Al Dente", a very well written and enjoyable book about Italian food and history, and stumbled upon his description of Tiella Gaeta, the stuffed "bread" typical of Gaeta . Now, I spent many of my childhood summer holidays in the area near Gaeta, so I had heard the name before, but I must admit I had no idea what the dish was. Black describes food in such a delicious way something he definitely has a knack for that I knew I had to get a bite of tiella as soon as I could. I also wanted to learn more about it.
I did not manage to find much about the history of this dish, but to me tiella symbolises the perfect union of love for food, local ingredients and a practical take to eating. According to some sources tiella was the fare of the local mariners: simple to eat yet delicious. Tiella is essentially two disks of bread dough, brushed with plenty of oil, stuffed with a moderate amount of simple ingredients, sealed and baked.
You can find similar items throughout many countries whose eating culture is centred on wheat, but tiella Gaetana has a couple of peculiarities that make it unique. First of all, the border sealing the two disks of dough is always wavy like the sea. The dough itself is made without oil, yet the bottom and top of the "bread" should be brushed abundantly with extra virgin olive oil. Finally the stuffing, which has a few rules of its own. The most classic of tiellas is made with octopus, some gaeta olives, tomatoes, parsley and plenty of olive oil, but there are plenty of variations: escarole and olives, escaroles and bacclà (salted cod), anchovies, tiny calamaretti and zucchini and cheese (sheep) are just a few. The purist say that once you cut the tiella into quarters and bite into it, there should be so much oil in the filling that it runs down your forearms. I don't find that particularly appetising, to be completely honest. Traditional recipes can be good, but sometimes there is a reason why evolution is better. On the other hand, I completely agree with the keepers of the Gaetan tradition when they claim that tiella should only be paired with wine, never water. A nice cool wine from Lazio or Campania goes down a treat with it.
For my taste of tiella, I followed Black's tip and went to Chinappi a tiny and somewhat hidden bakery that specialises in Tiella. It was a difficult choice, but the first go had to be tiella with octopus, which was simply delicious. The oily dough was a delectable container for the filling of sweet tomatoes, firm (but not hard octopus, rich of sea aromas, and the occasional slightly bitter punch of the olive.

Here is a Tutor:

.
" Tiella of Gaeta, Italy "
I used my Pizza Dough, rolled it out thin( but not enough )
Laid it in a 10 inch oiled pan. Went over the edge about 1 inch.
I had some Calamare Marina Sauce made, so I chopped the Calamare small and
added about 15 Shrimp cut in half. The Sauce was thick.
I spooned this on the dough.

You can add whatever you like to this . Olives, Etc.

Then I placed another thin dough on top,inside to the edge.
I folded the 1 inch overhanging bottom Dough over, into the pan and made a wavey edge like a Pie Crust.
This is supposed to be a Mariners dish. The Crust is to represent Ocean Waves.
It is then brushed with EVOO , ready for the oven.

Out of the oven, Fini !!! It came out a little thicker,than I planned.
But, I think it will go fast, this weekend.
I didn't time it but it took about 1/2 hour or more, to bake.
Rotated and brushed with oil 2 times. Finished baking on a stone, to cook the bottom.

Here is another with Escorelle, EVOO, Garlic, Pepper and minced Calamari.
I added some Pepperoni, to make it a Surf and Turf.

I've put many Recipes in the CF but never entered any into the Recipe Archives.
If anyone has recipe of mine, that you like and want to
put it into the Archives,
It is OK with me.

See?! See?! Could you just fall face first into that ocean of seafood tiella? I also love the escarole one (with the toothpick propping the top crust up like the hood on a car).

You just wait until I make my pizza rustica, Lou ;-).

Nina

Nina:
I just made some in a Skillet. Didn't put too much Riccotto,because I was hungry.
This one is called a Risotta Omelet.
Besides , I need the Riccotto to make a Italian Easter Cheesecake.
Lou

I did it! Finally got that mile long stringy cheese.

Tonight after spreading out pizza source, I covered the entire pizza with big deli style mozzarella cheese slides, added topping and then more shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. I baked the pizza on a pizza screen over a heated pizza stone under 500F degree. 5 minutes before pizza was done, I tossed more thinly sliced fresh mozzarella on top of the pizza.

The pizza was very tasty. When I saw the long cheese strings, it was a happy moment.

So, I guess the trick is to use tons of mozzarella and in big thin slices.

Yay! Congratulations, AZmom. I'm so glad you magaed to solve the mystery of the stringy cheese (now try throwing some provolone on there...trust me). I'll bet that the experimenting was fun, though.

Nina

Nina, thank you. I was hoping that you would see the posting.

I will try adding provolone next time. Heard about an idea of sprinkling some Asiago right after the pizza is out of the oven. Have to try that too.

Hi Nina and Azmom:
Try baking the dough with the Sauce a little before you put the Cheese on top.
That way it will not cook as much and still stay Stringy.

I've found that the Provolone gives it a better flavor and
don't get as rubbery when cooled a little.

A lot of the members have been mixing it in, since we first talked about this.
I use all New Yorker Provolone but this may not be everyone's choice.
Lou