Rubbery cheese on pizza - how fix?

Instead of a pre packaged blend, you might try using some fresh mozzarella. In the cheese section of most supermarket chains, you can usually find fresh mozz that's packed in salted water. If you use this with a blend of fontina, another soft cheese, you should get a pizza topping that's less greasy and chewy. I find that the prepackaged grated cheeses have less moisture than freshly grated cheese, which could be one reason for the "rubbery" feedback you got.

Not sure if you know about Bob's Red Mill products, but they make a very affordable gluten-free pizza crust mix:

http://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Gluten-16-Ounce/dp/B001D0676C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310577636&sr=8-1

Poor quality fresh mozzarella reminds me of rubber... just saying. so make sure you get something decent quality or you'll have the same problem.

Pre-shreaded cheese is usually inferior quality cheese to the whole blocks. and fact, many brands sell "for commercial use only" products that are VERY superior to what you can buy at the super markets. That's why when I want to make pizza, I buy it from a pizzeria or a deli that makes pizza.  Pretty sure the ones that use Grande Cheese are required to put that big stupid poster on their wall, but it's the brand I've grown accustomed to using for pizza.

To be clear, "domino's" isn't what he was referring to when he said "pizzeria".  Grande offers a premium product and marketing collateral to their customers.  They can buy Grande without plastering it all over the place, but the marketing collateral is there to "add value" to the product by advertising the use of premium ingredients. 

Also, using a "blend" can be problematic.  Different cheeses melt differently.  Also, the "mix" itself varies from brand to brand.  Needless to say, the quality of cheeses also varies from one product to the next.

I would question what the cheese looks like when it comes out of the oven.  It should be fully melted, very little oil residue, and it shouldn't be "white".  It should be browned, but not overly browned.  Also, if you start with a frozen cheese, the finished product tends to be rather inflexible.  It just seems to "crust" together somehow.  Part-skim is healthier than whole-milk cheese, but the taste of whole milk is better, IMHO. 

You can bump the heat up to 500 (if your oven goes that high).  Most pizza ovens run in the range of 450-550 (some considerably higher, but those are very fast baking with a desired char on the crust).

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcieluck 

Pre-shreaded cheese is usually inferior quality cheese to the whole blocks. and fact, many brands sell "for commercial use only" products that are VERY superior to what you can buy at the super markets. That's why when I want to make pizza, I buy it from a pizzeria or a deli that makes pizza.  Pretty sure the ones that use Grande Cheese are required to put that big stupid poster on their wall, but it's the brand I've grown accustomed to using for pizza.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gobblygook 

Also, using a "blend" can be problematic.  Different cheeses melt differently.  Also, the "mix" itself varies from brand to brand.  Needless to say, the 

 

I won't blend, but I will layer.  I will pick a good melting cheese (or one that merely softens when baked) and cover it with a finely grated cheese that doesn't really melt at all, but caramelizes well and adds nice salty flavor. Mozzarella covered in romano is a great example of this.  Ricotta covered in romano is a great pizza topper too; provides a different texture than your usual mozzarlla covered pie; and for some toppings is the best cheese to use, especially when using juicier vegetable toppings like tomatoes; and obviously one of the only choices if you're considering putting a cheese on your desert pie.  Really if you're looking to avoid "rubbery" at all costs, pick up any ricotta from any store. Even poor quality ricotta can be spiced up in a variety of ways. 

I agree on the ricotta.  I've started using that as a bend with grated cheddar and sometimes parmesan sliced over.  I have no idea how they would work for a celeriac, but they taste pretty fine together.

I could say quite a bit about pizza at this point but I am just going to say that a mix of shredded mozz (50%) shredded jack (30%) and shredded parm or even asiago (20%) makes for a good mix. You can dink around with the percentages to get the flavor you like. Also there are plenty of places to find a really decent gluten free pizza crust recipe so you can actually taste what you are cooking.... isn't that part of what cooking is about? If my computer wasn't in storage I'd have a link to give... but google gluten free goddess and it should get you in the right direction. best of luck.