Fresh mozzarella’s problem on pizza is water. It’s usually about 60% water, against 45 to 52% for low-moisture mozzarella, and in a long bake the cheese liquefies. If you haven’t yet decided between fresh and low-moisture, start with low-moisture vs. fresh mozzarella. This page assumes you want fresh, and covers which one to buy.
What differs between fresh mozzarellas
Moisture, within limits. In the US, any cheese sold as mozzarella must contain more than 52% and no more than 60% water. Makers don’t print their figure, and the nutrition panel can’t tell you either: fat and protein are rounded to the nearest gram on a 28 g serving, which can move an estimate of the water by up to about 3.5 percentage points either way (calculated). That’s too coarse to rank brands.
Packaging. Fresh mozzarella comes either packed in water or vacuum-sealed in plastic with very little liquid. Galbani, which sells both, describes its sealed 8-ounce ball as slightly firmer and saltier than its traditional water-packed fresh mozzarella (checked October 14, 2026). Water-packed cheese has more surface water to drain before it goes on a pizza.
Lower-moisture versions made for baking. BelGioioso says its Baking Fresh Mozzarella was developed for baking and high heat, with less moisture, and suggests it for pizza, hot sandwiches and baked pasta. A retailer’s listing describes it as a sliced 16-ounce log. For restaurants, BelGioioso sells a thin-sliced 2-pound pizza log made to a lower-moisture formula (all checked October 14, 2026). Neither has a published moisture figure.
Age. Forkish notes that brine-packed fior di latte goes sour within a week or two of production, so check the date. Sealed formats carry longer dates, but once the pack is open, follow its label. For one example, a retailer’s listing for Galbani’s 16-ounce log transcribes the package as saying to use it within three to five days of opening (checked October 14, 2026). That applies to that product, not to fresh mozzarella in general.
The brands
| Brand | Made by | Fresh formats | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| BelGioioso | BelGioioso Cheese, Wisconsin | Balls, logs and sliced logs, pearls, ciliegine; a reduced-moisture Baking Fresh Mozzarella | America’s Test Kitchen’s favorite, tasted plain; ATK says all its sizes share one recipe |
| Polly-O | Part of BelGioioso, per Polly-O | Ball, pearls, log, sliced log | Same company as BelGioioso, so compare the two lines by format and price |
| Galbani | Lactalis American Group | Water-packed pouch, sealed 8-ounce ball, logs | The sealed ball is slightly firmer and saltier than the water-packed one, per Galbani |
| Di Stefano | Di Stefano Cheese, Pomona, California | Mozzarella in tubs; burrata in several formats | The maker says its milk is received at night and made into cheese by morning |
| Grande | Grande Cheese Company, Wisconsin | Marketed to foodservice; its fior di latte is packed in brine, in restaurant-size tubs | Ken Forkish uses Grande fior di latte at his pizzeria |
| Calabro | Calabro Cheese, Connecticut, owned by Italy’s Granarolo | Fior di latte wrapped in plastic, not brine | Forkish likes it sliced for New York pizzas: white, and slow to brown |
Maker details are from each company’s own pages, checked October 14, 2026, plus two independent sources: America’s Test Kitchen’s tastings and Forkish’s The Elements of Pizza. Formats vary by store and region. Check prices on Amazon for Galbani, BelGioioso and Polly-O, or look for them in the deli case.
America’s Test Kitchen tasted the cheese plain, not baked. On a margherita pizza, ATK notes, fresh mozzarella softens but doesn’t melt completely, so the pizza ends up dotted with gooey cheese.
Which to buy for your oven
Portable pizza oven. A Neapolitan-style pizza bakes in 1 to 2 minutes, so the cheese has little time to break down. Any good fior di latte works, water-packed included, as long as you pat it dry. Mozzarella di bufala is richer, but Forkish warns it’s also wetter, so squeeze it a little and pat it down.
Home oven. A Neapolitan-style pizza takes 6 to 10 minutes on a steel or stone at 500–550°F (260–288°C). Choose a sealed ball or log, or BelGioioso’s Baking Fresh Mozzarella, drain it, and add it about 4 minutes into the bake, as Forkish does.
New York-style with fresh cheese. For the thin, wide slices of fresh mozzarella some New York pizzerias use, Forkish recommends fresh mozzarella wrapped in plastic rather than packed in brine, sliced.
How much. An 8-ounce (227 g) ball covers about two 12-inch Neapolitan-style pizzas at the 73 to 109 g each that the Pizza Calculator suggests, allowing a little for what drains away.
Compare brands yourself
A side-by-side at home answers the question for the brands you can actually buy.
- Buy the same format of each brand, for example all 8-ounce balls, and note the dates on the packs.
- Cut and weigh. Slice each cheese the same thickness, about 1/4 inch (6 mm), and weigh out 100 g of each.
- Drain them together. Spread the slices on racks or towel-lined plates in the fridge, uncovered, for the same time, say four hours. Weigh again. The weight lost is water. For scale, a 100 g sample at 60% water that loses 10 g is down to about 56% (calculated).
- Bake them the same way. Same dough, same oven, the same amount of cheese on each pizza, added at the same point in the bake.
- Judge what you care about: pooling liquid, how far the cheese spreads, browning, stretch and flavor. If someone else can serve them, taste them without knowing which is which.
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Sources
- America’s Test Kitchen, “All About Mozzarella” (2024): fresh mozzarella moisture, packaging, tasting favorites and use on pizza.
- Ken Forkish, The Elements of Pizza (2016), chapter 4 (fior di latte, bufala, plastic-wrapped fresh mozzarella, Grande and Calabro) and chapter 7 (cheese timing in home-oven recipes).
- US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 133.155: standard of identity for mozzarella.
- BelGioioso: Baking Fresh Mozzarella product page and the foodservice Thin Sliced Pizza 2 Lb. Log page (checked October 14, 2026); ShopRite’s listing for the 16-ounce sliced Baking Fresh Mozzarella (retail evidence for the size).
- Galbani (Lactalis American Group): Fresh Mozzarella Ball product page (checked October 14, 2026); Giant’s listing for the 16-ounce log, which transcribes the package’s after-opening guidance.
- Di Stefano Cheese: mozzarella product page and online shop (checked October 14, 2026).
- Grande Cheese Company: Fior di Latte product page (checked October 14, 2026).
- Granarolo: announcement of its acquisition of Calabro Cheese (October 2021) and current company profile (checked October 14, 2026).
- Polly-O: fresh mozzarella catalog and information page (checked October 14, 2026).
- Bake times and cheese amounts are the site’s Planner and Pizza Calculator values.