Fior di latte, mozzarella, burrata and stracciatella: the Italian cheeses on pizza explained

Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese made from a pouch of mozzarella filled with stracciatella, a soft mix of shredded mozzarella and cream. It’s one of several Italian cheeses you’ll spot on pizza menus, alongside fior di latte, buffalo mozzarella, smoked provola and hard cheeses like Grana Padano, and each one behaves very differently in a hot oven.

At Wood Fire Smoke, fior di latte is our everyday cheese, and you’ll find it across the menu at our four neighbourhood pizzerias in Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Congleton and Sale. But we get asked about the others a lot. So here’s everything, explained in one place, with a handy comparison table further down. It’s all part of our wider Neapolitan pizza guide.

What is fior di latte?

Fior di latte is a fresh mozzarella made from cow’s milk. The name means “flower of milk” in Italian, which tells you everything about how it tastes: mild, milky and clean.

It’s the cheese at the heart of Neapolitan pizza, and it’s our standard cheese for good reason. In a wood-fired oven at around 450°C, it melts into soft, creamy pools in the 60 to 90 seconds a pizza takes to cook. It doesn’t turn rubbery, it doesn’t go greasy, and it lets the San Marzano tomato underneath do its thing.

We even stuff our pillowy dough balls with it, finished with garlic oil and sea salt. If you want to see where it fits in the bigger picture, our guide to what makes a pizza Neapolitan covers the lot.

What’s the difference between fior di latte and mozzarella?

Mozzarella is really a family of cheeses rather than one cheese. They’re all made the same way, by stretching and shaping fresh curd, and fior di latte is the cow’s milk member of the family.

The bigger difference is between fresh mozzarella and the firm, low-moisture blocks sold for grating. Those blocks are drier and saltier, and they melt into the stretchy, oily blanket you’ll know from cheap takeaway pizza. Fresh fior di latte gives you a softer, creamier melt that’s much more Naples than New York.

What is buffalo mozzarella?

Buffalo mozzarella is made from the milk of water buffalo, mostly in Campania, the region around Naples. Compared with fior di latte, it’s richer, tangier and noticeably creamier.

It’s also a lot wetter. That’s lovely when you tear into a fresh ball, but in a very hot oven it can release extra liquid onto the pizza, so it’s best used with a light hand. On our menu, you can swap the fior di latte on your Margherita for buffalo mozzarella, or add it to any pizza as a supplement when you fancy something a bit more indulgent. You’ll also find it on our Caprese salad and sharing board too.

What is burrata?

Burrata is a ball of fresh mozzarella with a soft, creamy centre of stracciatella. The name comes from “burro”, the Italian for butter, and it originally comes from Puglia, in the heel of Italy.

Cut it open and the middle spills out in a rich, oozy mess (in the best possible way!).

Because the filling is so delicate, burrata doesn’t really belong in a 450°C oven. Bake it and the creamy centre simply melts away. That’s why burrata is usually added to a pizza after it comes out of the oven, torn over the top so it stays cool and creamy against the hot base.

In our restaurants, you can add a whole burrata as a supplement, and there’s smoked burrata on our sharing board.

What is stracciatella?

Stracciatella is the creamy filling inside burrata: little shreds of fresh mozzarella soaked in cream. The name means “little rags”, which is a fair description of what it looks like. And no, it’s nothing to do with the ice cream.

Like burrata, stracciatella is best spooned onto a pizza after baking. It’s brilliant with anything spicy, cooling things down beautifully against something punchy like nduja.

What is smoked provola?

Provola is a stretched-curd cheese from southern Italy, made in a similar way to mozzarella but drier and firmer. Smoked provola has been gently smoked, giving it a golden rind and a deep, smoky flavour.

Being drier, it melts beautifully in a hot oven without making the pizza wet, and the smokiness pairs naturally with a wood-fired bake. It’s the star of our Provola e Pepe (No. 1 on the menu), with San Marzano tomatoes, black pepper, basil and olive oil. You’ll also find it tucked inside our panzerotti, fried potato croquettes served with truffle mayo.

What are Grana Padano and pecorino?

These are the hard, aged cheeses of the pizza world, and they’re used for flavour rather than melt.

Grana Padano is a hard cow’s milk cheese from northern Italy, aged for months until it’s nutty, savoury and slightly crumbly. A little goes a long way. It’s why we add it to our at-home Margherita, alongside San Marzano tomatoes and fior di latte. It brings a salty, savoury depth that lifts the whole pizza.

Pecorino is a hard cheese made from sheep’s milk. Its name comes from “pecora”, Italian for sheep. It’s sharper and saltier than Grana Padano, with a tangy bite, and usually grated over food in small amounts.

How do the Italian pizza cheeses compare?

Here’s the whole family side by side.

What is the best cheese for pizza?

For Neapolitan pizza, it’s fior di latte, hands down. It melts quickly at high heat, it stays creamy rather than oily, and its mild flavour lets the tomato and dough shine. That’s why it’s our standard.

The others all have their place, though. Buffalo mozzarella and smoked provola bring richness and smoke, burrata and stracciatella add a cool, creamy finish after baking, and a grating of Grana Padano adds savoury depth.

Prefer to skip the dairy? Our restaurants offer vegan mozzarella as a supplement, though the kitchen cannot guarantee no cross-contamination. And our WFS Finish At Home range includes a Vegan Margherita.

Where can you try them?

The easiest way to see how these cheeses work is on the plate. Pop into any of our four Cheshire restaurants and you’ll find fior di latte, buffalo mozzarella, smoked provola and burrata on the menu.

Or, if you’d rather have a night in, our at-home Margherita brings fior di latte and Grana Padano together on a base of San Marzano tomatoes. It’s wood-fired by us, finished by you, with no minimum order.

See the full menu.