BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella?

[Squirrelman]

 I just bought a 16 oz pack of BelGioioso Fresh mozzarella so I can try fresh mozzarella on a pizza. I have had fresh mozzarella on a pizza before but didn't know to dry it out first to prevent soggy pizzas, so I am trying it again. I read in this article about drying the cheese out: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4551.0.html
 And was planning on trying that, however since this cheese is so expensive (7-8 $) I wanted to ask as many questions as possible. First off if I am going to be making the pizza within 2-3 days (maybe less, If possible I could even make it today) would you suggest using the method in the article or another method for drying it. And second since It is losing moisture it is also losing mass, so if I want 6-8 of cheese how much cheese should i dry? I don't want to dry it all because anything extra I can cut up with tomatoes or something instead of throwing out, so I'd rather just dry enough out for this pizza, I have no clue how much liquid I am going to be removing so my only guess is maybe do 8-10 ounces of cheese for 6-8 ounces of dried cheese?

[sourdough girl]

Squirrelman,
Personally, I would not cook the cheese before you put it on the pizza... I would just use a smaller amount.  Fresh mozz is meant to be used sparingly, not piled on like some do with brick type mozz.  I just made a 9" pizza (see pic below) with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozz (Precious in the cryo package) and fresh basil with a little kosher salt and olive oil.  This was baked at ~750^o F... the cheese melted beautifully and didn't water out.  I have also used the BelGioioso packed in water and it melted the same way.  Since you have purchased a high quality cheese, why mess with perfection?  I can assure you, the professionals don't cook their fresh mozz before putting it on their pizzas.. that milky creaminess that you are trying to get rid of is exactly what they are after! 

EDIT:  meant to say also that on that 9" pizza, I used ~4oz of cheese, sliced thinly with a cheese wire.

Just sayin'....

~sd

[Squirrelman]

 hmm should I at least put it in a cheesecloth overnight? I read that helps too, because as I said the last time I used fresh mozzarella on a pizza it came out soggy, and I used very little because I didn't have as much as I thought last time. as for cooking yeah I am skeptical on it too, don't want to risk messing up 8 $ worth of cheese, or lower it's quality.

[sourdough girl]

Personally, (and I see there are a couple of experts reading this thread right now... I'm hoping they will weigh in...) I would, at most, dry slices between paper towels if it is exceptionally wet... and only for an hour at most.  I want that creaminess that you can't get from brick cheese.  It's not like you're trying to make cream cheese from yogurt... if you take my meaning.  Good fresh mozzarellas are perfection and normally need no "drying" at least IMHO.

~sd