Hello my fellow Pizza-Friends,
In this post, I’ll share some tips—based on both personal experience and insights from literature and videos—on how to avoid ending up with a soggy pizza. Some of these might seem obvious, while others could make a real difference. When I first started using my outdoor pizza oven, which heats up to 450°C, I often struggled with soggy results. Over time, I learned a few tricks that helped a lot. These tips are just as useful for baking pizza in a standard home oven, and in my opinion, they can significantly improve the final result.
1. Dry the cheese!
One important factor in avoiding a soggy pizza is using dry mozzarella. You can either buy a low-moisture mozzarella that isn’t packed in brine, or prepare it yourself by slicing fresh mozzarella into thin strips the night before and letting them dry in the fridge overnight. By the next day, you’ll have perfectly dry mozzarella ready for baking.
In my experience—and that of many others—Fior di Latte (cow’s milk mozzarella) is the go-to cheese for pizza. Try to avoid pre-sliced “pizza cheese” from the supermarket, as well as Mozzarella di Bufala. While the latter is delicious, its high moisture content can make your pizza soggy. If you really want to use Mozzarella di Bufala, I recommend adding it after baking. That way, the pizza stays crisp and the cheese can shine with its full flavor.
2. Less is More!
As tempting as it may be to load your pizza with every topping you have, try to resist the urge to build “mountains” of ingredients. Instead, go for a thoughtful selection of toppings. Keeping it simple not only helps the dough cook evenly, but also allows each ingredient to shine without overwhelming the pizza or making it soggy.
Most importantly: go easy on the tomato sauce! Use only a small amount. Start by placing the sauce in the center of the dough, then gently spread it outward in small circles with a spoon. The center of the pizza is usually thinner than the edges, so it’s important to keep the sauce layer lighter there to avoid a soggy result. Ideally, there should be less sauce in the middle and slightly more toward the edges.
3. Analyze your ingredients
Which ingredients contain a lot of moisture? Besides mozzarella, fresh vegetables—like mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, or bell peppers—can release a significant amount of water during baking. This added moisture can easily make your pizza soggy. To avoid this, try not to overload your pizza with these types of ingredients. You can also consider combining only a few moisture-rich toppings, or pre-cooking them slightly to reduce their water content before adding them to the pizza.
I hope these tips help!
Also check out my Pizza recipe at https://pizzadoughcalculator.streamlit.app/.
