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I have been experimenting with Pizza and cakes. I can easily purchase mozzarella in India and have been using it for pizza, but it doesn't come close to the cheese Pizza Hut or Domino's use. Do they use some special cheese? I would like to experiment with cheese. I normally sprinkle oregano on cheese but I think there could be more to it.

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  • Do you want to add a little detail on what aspects the mozzarella you're buying is missing when compared to Pizza Hut or Dominos?
    – mfg
    Apr 14, 2011 at 19:27
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    I question the source of your mozzarella. Can good mozzarella be purchased in India? It can't in 99% of Canada, so I doubt it.
    – Doug
    Apr 16, 2011 at 6:06
  • @Doug, you may be correct. I use Amul Cheese, its a well known brand in India.
    – Kumar
    Apr 16, 2011 at 15:17
  • You want to get a good buffalo mozzarella. Though personally, I think to get a good pizza cheese flavour and texture going on, you need to combine the mozzarella with a hard cheese like a strong cheddar or montrey jack.
    – Orbling
    Apr 17, 2011 at 1:46
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    @Doug: do you really think Domino's uses "good mozarella"? I doubt really good mozarella exists in the quantities they require :) Most likely they use a mix of a bit of mass produced mozarella with mostly gouda or cheddar, which are cheaper and produced in far higher bulk.
    – jwenting
    Apr 18, 2011 at 9:37

7 Answers 7

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Pizza hut uses skim milk mozzarella on it's pizza, at least in the USA. Not sure what they use in other countries, but I would imagine it is still the same. Skim milk mozzarella is extremely stretchy, but loses a little on the flavor end. More expensive pizzerias normally spring for the full fat mozzarella cheese.

Dominos uses a mix of cheese, made up of mozzarella, Pecarino, Parmesan, and asiago cheeses. I think in their most recent reboot they switched to part skim mozzarella but I am not one hundred percent on that.

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  • "Skim milk mozzarella" sounds very technical, I will try to find pecarino and aisago chees, parmesan is readily availble :) thanks
    – Kumar
    Apr 15, 2011 at 13:47
  • Most grated mozzarella you can buy in stores (in the US, at least) is skim milk mozzarella.
    – tim
    Apr 15, 2011 at 14:01
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    grated mozerella???? doesnt mozerella come in blobs soaked in water?
    – Midhat
    Mar 28, 2012 at 22:20
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    Good mozzarella, yes. Cheap mozzarella, no.
    – Adele- Nexus of Potlucks
    Jun 13, 2012 at 4:48
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    @Midhat: you are right. The main problem is that should NOT even be called mozzarella. It is rather some generic pasta filata (spun paste) cheese, while mozzarella is a fresh, soft cheese. PS: it is called "Pec o rino" (meaning sheep cheese)
    – nico
    Jul 1, 2012 at 22:16
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One thing that's important to note when discussing American-style pizza cheese is that it's important that it be a very dry mozzarella.

There are two very different cheeses named "mozzarella": in Europe, the predominant variety is what, under US law, is called "fresh mozzarella", which comes in a ball, either shrink-wrapped or packed in water. In the US, it's allowed to be between 52% and 60% water. That type of mozzarella is not appropriate for use in making American style pizza, as its moisture is much too high. The result of making American-style pizza from grated fresh mozzarella can be a soggy mess, as the water leaks out of the cheese as it melts.

Note that very good pizza can be made from this type of cheese, it's just not appropriate for trying to make American-style pizza.

In the US, most mozzarella is "low-moisture" (45-52% water): dried, aged, and sold in blocks instead of balls, with a much longer shelf-life than "fresh" mozzarella.

I can't seem to a good reference again (all I find now are cheese snobs thumbing their nose at low-moisture mozzarella, or gourmands insisting that only full-fat cheese is acceptable), but I remember some years ago finding a site put up by a restauranteer discussing pizza cheese, that helped me solve the pizza woes I was having at the time.

The site noted that cheeses on the high end of "low-moisture" would result in exactly what I was getting to come out of the oven from my 50% moisture brand: an unappetizing translucent gray cheese, with a slight bitter flavor.

As I remember, they recommended a moisture level below 48%. I went and found a harder block of mozzarella than the brand I'd been using, and my pizza started coming out much better.

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Domino's (in the UK) claims to use 100% mozzarella. It's full fat, since they do offer a reduced fat cheese option (Which I've never ordered, since I'm pretty sure that reducing the fat will compromise the taste)

Source: Domino's UK site, personal experience

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The cheese that Domino's uses is a mixture of mozzarella, monterey Jack and white cheddar in equal proportions. I used to work there way back in the day when we were required to be trained on all of the aspects of making the pizzas even right down to what went into the ingredients.

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    They have changed their mixture with the pizza reboot that they did in 2009-2010. That is the old mixture that they rocked before.
    – sarge_smith
    Apr 16, 2011 at 5:05
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All of the chains use a "pizza cheese", it is made by Leprino Foods. It is not "real" mozzarella and is loaded with modified food starch.

When you talk about full fat I think you are refering to whole milk. It is a preference, there is no right or wrong when it comes to choosing a cheese. The new cheese domino's uses has a Provolone flavoring in it. The best pizza shops in the USA use a cheese made by Grande Cheese Co.

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  • If anyone can find one, I'd love to see a citation regarding the specific producers of "pizza cheese" used by larger chains.
    – logophobe
    Oct 2, 2015 at 16:12
  • This definitely needs a link to a source. And perhaps an explanation of what should be considered real mozzarella?
    – bornfromanegg
    Feb 16, 2021 at 8:20
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Go ahead and use a full fat cheese if you want. It won't taste anything like the big pizza chains. They all use a low cost "pizza cheese" that retains its chewiness after heating. Using a better quality cheese will not give you the desired results because it will release all the oils and become too greasy.

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  • I always use whole milk mozzarella on pizza and have never had a problem with it being greasy. It simply tastes better than skim milk mozzarella.
    – Carey Gregory
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:29
  • @CareyGregory are you specific to better taste/aroma or also better texture? Also, oily/greasy cheese is not always a bad thing on pizza ... but I guess american tasty prefers "stretchy-stodgy" to "stretchy-firm with a lot of aromatic oil" :)
    – rackandboneman
    Jun 7, 2018 at 13:45
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I know for a fact that Dominos uses a blend of mozzerella cheese mixed with modified starch, flavors, and preservatives. That's not real cheese. Says so on their website. "Cheese made with %100 real Mozzerella," until you actually check the ingredients list on the "Nutrition" tab.

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