Making Mozzarella Baby!
This is my third time making mozzarella and here are some directions. Some of these pictures were taken at my mom’s house and some at my house since I didn’t get all the pictures taken the first time. Also there is a step that needs perfecting. After reviewing more instructions about making mozzarella, I noticed that the pros let the cubes hold it’s shape. I’ve noted it in the directions so that you won’t make the same mistake I’ve been making.
If there are any cheese experts out there, feel free to post your comments and offer help. I’d love to have a cheese making mentor!
Here’s the overall process:
1. Add 1 & 1/2 tsp. Citric Acid diluted in 1cup cool water to 1 gallon of cold milk.
2. Heat slowly to 90F
3. Meanwhile, dissolve 1/4tsp of rennet diluted in 1/4cup. cool water for 30sec.
4. Remove pot from burner slowly stir 1/4 tab or Cover and leave for 5 minutes.
5. Check the curd, it will look like custard and the whey will be clear. If too soft let set a few more minutes. Please see updated comments below! 🙂
6. Now cut the curd into 1 inch squares with a knife that reaches the bottom of the pot.
7.Place pot back on stove and heat to 105F while stirring slowly. Here I think I did something wrong. I stirred a bit too much. Next time I will try to keep the cubes together and not mushed up.
8.Take off the burner and continue sirring slowly for 2-5 minutes. Transfer the curd to a colander or bowl using a slotted spoon. (Once again, the curd should be more cube like.)
9. Using a heat proof bowl microwave on High for 1 min. pour off the whey.
10. Knead and reheat for 30sec, repeat if needed until the curd is 135F, almost too hot to handle
11. Stretch the cheese by pulling like taffy until it is smooth and shiny.
12. Form your cheese into a log or ball. Submerge in water to cool it down and allow the cheese to hold it’s shape.
6 Comments
Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.
I would like to do this myself. For one, I have been eating ricotta with tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper and EVOO on Cascade Bakery bread for weeks now and am thinking that the store-bought ricotta could be fresher-tasting… how long does this process take?
It doesn’t take too long Emily. About 15 minutes to cook and then half and hour to 2 hours to drain. Here’s an easy recipe that uses lemon rather than citric acid and looks simple. http://eggsonsunday.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/fresh-homemade-ricotta-step-by-step-so-simple/
Your salad sounds delicious! Do you grow your own tomatoes?
Looks to me like you didn’t quite get your clean break before cutting the curd, which is why it crumbled. If you get a clean break, then cut the curd and usually WAIT maybe 10 minutes before you start stirring, then stir gently, it should work. The heat plus the whey touching the outsides of each little cube will make the curd expell water, which will make it more hardy. I think of it kind of like (and this is far from a perfect analogy) if you had two pots: 1 full of jello and one full of gummy bears and water. They’re both basically sugar and gelatin, but if you stirred the jello it would be forever changed into mush, while if you stirred the gummy bears, they’d just kind of swirl around. In with curd development, you’re kind of trying to facilitate the transition between the two forms.
I’m so very glad you posted your comment. I started making mozzarella from following the quick little recipe book with few pictures. But when I went to http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/21.html the pictures were so much detailed.
I really like your analogy and appreciate you sharing it. Have you been making cheese long?
Not long – I’ve had a supply of raw goat milk for about four months now and have has so many failures! I have actually never successfully made mozzarella despite trying about 10 times, so you’re ahead of me there. I’m using a different style of mozzarella recipe – the acid is developed with a culture over a longer period of time rather than with citric acid. I keep using different recipes and techniques and failing in new and exciting ways! I’m learning though, however slowly.
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