In Cheese

Cheeses help pizza soar to its peak flavor—and with so many vari eties available, the possibilities seem endless.

BY TRACY MORIN

When pondering the impressive versatility of cheese (not to mention its gooey, melted goodness when baked on a pizza), it doesn’t come as that much of a surprise that U.S. consumers’ intake is steadily growing. According to Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, per-capita cheese consumption increased every year from 2008 to 2018, for a total of 18% growth in that decade alone, to 37.9 pounds.

Of course, cheese remains a staple in pizzerias, but most operators have gone beyond basic mozzarella, venturing from cheddar-flecked baked-potato pies to blue cheese-studded buffalo chicken varieties. And, as evidenced by the collection of cheese-laden recipes here, those iterations represent merely the tip of the iceberg. Here, we present pizzas that incorporate a variety of cheeses—soft, hard, flavored, aged—in a mishmash of ways to inspire your own kitchen experimentation.