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I know that most of the time Mozzarella cheese is used for pizza and often in combinations with other cheeses including cheddar.

I have noticed in quite a few things I cook like sandwiches, quesadillas and such that both mozzarella and cheddar are very stringy when melted which is perfect for a pizza.

So is it possible to use cheddar as the main cheese in pizza instead of mozzarella?

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    Using mozzarella for pizza is a regional thing. I had never heard of using mozzarella on pizza before I visited this site, and I worked in a pizza place in my second semester at university.
    – rumtscho
    Jun 1, 2014 at 23:04
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    Oh wow. What kind of cheese do you put on pizza? @rumtscho In America moz is omnipresent. Most any pizza you can find here has a mozzarella base. Sometimes with a little Parmesan. Very rarely cheddar. Also, I'm under the impression that mozzarella is the go-to for Italian pizza as well.
    – Preston
    Jun 2, 2014 at 0:21
  • @PrestonFitzgerald Every pizza I've ever seen in Italy had mozzarella. Jun 4, 2014 at 19:18
  • In Germany, it is normal to use any semi-hard yellow cheese as long as the flavor is mild. Edamer, emmentaler and gouda are good candidates, all in a young version.
    – rumtscho
    Jun 5, 2014 at 22:40
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    I'm protecting this to avoid more "sure, I like cheddar" answers. The question could probably use some editing to avoid that, too; I'll try to return later for that.
    – Cascabel
    Jan 26, 2015 at 22:41

6 Answers 6

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You can use small amounts of cheddar mixed with the other cheeses. But you'd be disappointed in the results if you tried to use it as the main or only cheese on the pizza.

Cheddar cheese doesn't tolerate sustained, high heat as well as some other cheeses. It can scorch, which tastes and smells bad, and/or the fats can separate from the solids as a yellowish oil. The sharper the cheese is, the less well it will tolerate heat.

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    Can you say at which temperature and time range it takes for this to happen? I use mild cheddar for my pizzas all the time, which I cook at 350 for about 20 minutes, and never get a bad taste or smell.
    – mdegges
    Jun 5, 2014 at 13:39
  • I agree with the above, but I wanted to add that I believe the mozzarella typically used is low moisture to prevent sogginess.
    – geoffmpm
    Jun 5, 2014 at 21:24
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Yes, it is absolutely possible. It is your pizza after all. The problem you may face is that cheddar usually does not melt as well as Mozzarella. Also, moz has a neutral-salty taste so cheddar will have a greater impact on your overall flavor.

I personally like to pair cheddar with ground beef sauteed with onions on pizza. You may still want to add some moz to get that velvety melt that people often think of when they think "pizza".

I highly suggest using a blend of moz and a nice, shredded sharp cheddar though (about a 4:1 moz-cheddar ratio). That will give you a nice cheddar zing. Best of both worlds.

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As others have said you can use it for pizza as well. My best results are from a mix (also what others have said).

The only thing I would like to add though is that you might want to consider adding the Cheddar half way through the cooking (or close to the end) because of the way it melts compared to Mozza.

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Gonna say, I have had no negative experiences with cheddar cheese on a pizza. It does tend to melt and run to a larger extent than Mozzarella, so you want to be more sparing, but overall it's great.

If you experiment with a wide range of cheeses, you'll find that certain cheeses complement various flavours in your palate - test it out on housemates/family and you'll find they'll all have their own favourite combinations, too.

Personally on any salami pizza, i'm going to go immediately for the cheddar over the mozzarella. Every time.

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Yes, absolutely.

How well it will work will depend on the particular type of pizza you're making. I love cheddar with taco-type pizza toppings. I love feta cheese, for that matter, with roasted beets on a pizza. There's no reason why you should limit yourself to just one type of cheese if you want to experiment with other cheeses.

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Cheddar cheese will not melt correctly. It is ok on low heat for short periods (grilled cheese), but baking it long enough to cook the rest of the pizza will make it toughen up and secrete oil.

When I worked at a pizza place (many moons ago), they used about 6-8 oz mozzarella, and 2 each of provolone and cheddar, or something like that. It gave an interesting flavor, and everything seemed to melt just fine.

So use it if you want, but you'll want to make a thinner crust pizza that you cook longer at a lower temp. If you are doing a grill pizza where you put the toppings on towards the end, it may work very well.

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  • most pizza places have greasy pizza not because of the cheese but because of the oil thy used in the dough + the thin, smooth sauce they use.
    – Caters
    Jul 4, 2014 at 1:48

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