You're Using the Wrong Cheese on Your Pizza
The best cheese for homemade pizza isn't one cheese, it's two. Here's the mozzarella-and-fontina base I build almost every pizza on.
Most people reach for one bag of shredded mozzarella, scatter it on, and call it a pizza. I get it. It's what we all started with.
But after making pizza for more than a decade, I can tell you the single easiest upgrade to a homemade pie isn't a better oven, a fancier sauce, or even more skill. It's a second cheese.
Here's the base I come back to again and again: fresh mozzarella and fontina, 50/50. Fresh mozz for the pull. Fontina for the melt. Together they give you something neither one does alone, and once you taste it, the single-cheese pizza feels a little flat.
Let me walk you through why it works, and the one trick that makes it really sing.
Two cheeses, two jobs
Think of these two as a team where each one covers for the other's weakness.
Fresh mozzarella brings the milky flavor, the soft pull, and those beautiful white pools with a little char on top. But on its own it can go watery, and it doesn't always knit into an even layer.
Fontina is the quiet hero. It melts smooth and even, with a gentle, slightly nutty, almost buttery flavor that fills in everywhere the mozzarella doesn't. It's the glue that ties the whole top of the pizza together.
Fresh mozzarella for the pull, fontina for the melt, that's the two-cheese base under almost every pizza I make. It's also just gorgeous. The contrast of the bright white mozz against the golden, evenly melted fontina makes for one of the best-looking pizzas you'll pull out of your oven. (Your phone will thank you.)
A note on which fontina you grab
Here's something I learned by cooking with both: not all fontina is the same, and the one you choose changes how you build the whole pizza.
My go-to is actually fontal, a younger, softer version of fontina that's easy to find at most stores. It's creamy, mild, and melts like an absolute dream. Because the flavor is subtle, it plays supporting, you get that smooth golden melt without the cheese competing, which leaves you free to build whatever you want on top. For an everyday pizza, this is the one I reach for.
Then there's the bolder option: aged, raw-milk Fontina Val d'Aosta from Italy. Still melts soft, but the flavor is strong, nutty, and downright distinct. It's so flavorful it can stand on its own, and when I use it, I pull back on everything else. No need to crowd it with toppings that'll fight it. A little sauce, the two-cheese base, and you let the cheese be the star.
(The pizza in this post? That's the classic raw-milk fontina, which is exactly why I kept it simple. You can see how the bolder cheese carries the whole pizza on its own.)
So think of it this way: fontal is my everyday team player; raw-milk Fontina is the occasional headliner. Reach for the mild fontal when you want a versatile, crowd-pleasing melt, and the bold Val d'Aosta when you want to keep it simple and let the cheese do the talking.
The trick nobody talks about: cut them differently
Here's the part that took me years to really appreciate, and almost nobody teaches it.
Don't cut both cheeses the same way. I cube the fresh mozzarella and I run the fontina through a shredder for fine, even shreds. That's on purpose, and there's real science to it.
Cheese melts from the surface inward. The more surface area a piece has relative to its size, the faster it melts. So:
- Fine-shredded fontina has tons of surface area. It melts fast and flows early, laying down a smooth, even, connected base across the whole pizza.
- Cubed fresh mozzarella has far less surface for its mass. It melts slower and holds its shape longer, forming those distinct creamy pools instead of dissolving into the sheet.
So by cutting them differently, you're staggering the melt on purpose. The fontina melts down first and creates the even golden layer. The mozzarella rides on top, holding just long enough to give you those signature creamy white pools with a little blistering. Same oven, same bake, two completely different melt behaviors working together.
It's a small thing. It makes a big difference.
One more rule: grate it yourself
Skip the pre-shredded bags. I know it's less convenient, but it matters.
Pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose and starch to keep the shreds from clumping in the bag. That coating does exactly what it's designed to do, it keeps the cheese from sticking together, which means it also keeps it from melting smoothly. You end up with a grainier, greasier, less connected melt.
Grate your own and you get clean, pure cheese that melts the way it's supposed to. It takes two minutes. Your pizza will be noticeably better for it.
How to build it
Keep it light. More cheese isn't better, an even, moderate layer melts and browns far better than a thick pile.
- Stretch your fermented dough and get it onto a floured peel.
- Thin layer of sauce.
- Scatter your cubed fresh mozzarella and your fine-shredded fontina evenly, roughly equal amounts, and go lighter than you think.
- Launch onto a screaming-hot Baking Steel, preheated at 500°F for at least an hour.
- To get this crispy neapolitan style pizza, I launch with the broiler coils red hot, time it for about 2 minutes, then switch your oven back to convection bake for 2 more minutes.
That's it. A crisp bottom, a golden even melt, creamy pools of mozzarella, and a pizza that looks like it came out of a real pizzeria. Watch me build it below...
What's covered in this video
In this class, I walk through the whole two-cheese base, start to finish:
- How to prep fresh mozzarella so it doesn't make your pizza soggy
- Why fontal and Fontina Val d'Aosta behave differently in the oven, and when to use each
- How cutting the cheeses differently changes the way they melt
- Building the mozzarella-and-fontina base step by step on a screaming-hot Baking Steel
- Why grating your own cheese beats the pre-shredded bag
- Answers to the most common cheese questions from a room full of home cooks
Make it your base
The best part: this isn't a one-pizza trick. The mozzarella-fontina base works under almost anything. Margherita. Sausage. Caramelized onion. Figs and prosciutto. Build it as your foundation and then add whatever you love on top.
Master the two-cheese base, and start with great dough and a screaming-hot steel, and you'll never go back to one bag of shredded mozzarella again.
Andris
FAQ
What is the best cheese for homemade pizza?
The best base is a combination of two cheeses: fresh mozzarella and fontina, in roughly equal amounts. Fresh mozzarella brings the milky flavor and the pull; fontina melts smooth and even and ties the whole pizza together. Using both gives you better flavor, a better melt, and a better-looking pizza than mozzarella alone.
Can you mix cheeses on pizza?
Absolutely, and you should. Combining cheeses lets each one do what it does best. A fresh mozzarella and fontina base is one of the most reliable combinations there is: mozzarella for flavor and char, fontina for an even, smooth melt.
Is fontal the same as fontina?
Not quite, and fontal is actually my everyday go-to. Fontal is a younger, softer, milder cheese often sold as fontina; it's creamy and melts beautifully with a subtle flavor that makes it incredibly versatile. True Fontina Val d'Aosta is an aged, raw-milk Italian cheese with a much bolder, nuttier, more distinct taste. Both melt well, fontal is the easygoing everyday choice, while real Fontina Val d'Aosta is a standout flavor for when you want the cheese to be the star.
What's the difference between fresh mozzarella and fontina on pizza?
Fresh mozzarella is high-moisture, mild, and milky, and it forms soft, creamy pools with a little char. Fontina is a smooth-melting cheese with a gentle nutty flavor that spreads into an even golden layer. Mozzarella brings the pull and the look; fontina brings the melt and the glue.
Should you shred your own cheese for pizza?
Yes. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with cellulose and starch to prevent clumping, and that coating keeps it from melting smoothly. Grating your own gives you a cleaner, smoother melt. It takes two minutes and makes a real difference.
Does the size you cut cheese affect how it melts?
Yes. Cheese melts from the surface inward, so finer shreds melt faster and more evenly while larger cubes melt slower and hold their shape. Shredding fontina finely and cubing fresh mozzarella lets you stagger the melt, the fontina creates an even base while the mozzarella forms distinct creamy pools.
About the Author
Andris Lagsdin invented the Baking Steel in 2012 using steel from his family's Stoughton Steel Company in Hanover, MA. a shop his family has run since the 1970s. What started as a Kickstarter project (backed after an endorsement from Kenji López-Alt on Serious Eats) has grown into the go-to tool for hundreds of thousands of home pizza makers. Every Baking Steel is still made at the family shop.
Before launching Baking Steel, Andris trained under renowned chef Todd English and spent 15 years in the family steel business. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore.
Today he teaches thousands of students how to make pizzeria-quality pizza at home through his free online classes and recipes.
In 2026, Andris launched the 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix the same recipe he's been teaching for over a decade, now in a bag. Just add water.
