Making Mozzarella

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   Well thanks to a couple members that re-sparked my interest in cheese-making, I was finally successful in making my first Mozzarella. You can see their posts and cheeses HERE(Mozzarella)  and HERE(Queso Fresco). 

I heavily researched my project this time, and discovered several possible reasons my mozz never worked before, one of the most vital I think was not using citric acid previously. That's a key. Regardless, that was many years ago and now it was time to try again.

Got a couple gallons of raw, "freshly squeezed" milk from my sister-in-law's Jersey cow. The recipe called for 2 1/2 gallons, so I found a half gallon of un-homogenized milk at the local health store. Homogenized milk will not work for mozzarella. As you can see by the pic below, a Jersey cow's milk is RICH! Take a look at the container on the left, and you can see the top third is all cream. I made the mistake of shaking the other container when I took it out of the fridge, so that one's cream is all incorporated. No worries, I skimmed the cream off the first one for coffee, etc, and used all the cream from the second gallon in the cheese. It is going to be a full-fat mozz!

Put the milk into a stainless pot, added 3 teaspoons citric acid to 1/2 cup cool water, dissolved that and poured it into the milk. I turned on the burner to MED and stirred gently for a couple minutes as the milk warmed to 88 degrees Fahrenheit.  As the temp rose, I mixed 1 teaspoon of rennet into 1/4 cup cool water, then added that to the milk. Then, I stopped stirring and just monitored the temp. Once it hit 88 F I shut off the burner. Almost immediately, the milk "broke" and the curd was setting. You can see the holes from my temp probe. At this point, I let it sit undisturbed for 15 minutes for the full "break" or set.

After 15 minutes, I cut the curds into sections with a long knife-

Then, into a sinkful of hot water. The hot water comes out of the kitchen sink at 120 F. So, I half filled the sink, and set the pot into it. I needed to bring the curds and whey up to 98 F at this point. I was concerened about it being too hot, but I figured I could pull the pot out of the water if need be. As soon as I put it in, I continued to stir, and break up the big curds into smaller ones with my spatula. I constantly monitored the temp during these 15 minutes of constant stirring and cutting...

If it got too hot, I could overcook the curds and ruin them. But, the hot water going into a cold stainless steel sink, and then a cooler pot into that, leveled things off nicely. Everything came into temperature balance at 101 F which was fine~ the curds, the whey and the sink water! Now, after the above 15 minutes of curd-cutting came 20 minutes of gentle continuous stirring. This is the cooking stage where you cook the curds into the cheese it will become. Gentle constant stirring changed the lumpy squarish curds into smooth globular shapes that were smooth and shiny.

After the 20 minutes were up, into the colander and cheesecloth they went to drain for 15 minutes.

After that, they were twisted tightly into a ball with the cheesecloth and left to further drain for about 45 minutes. Here's what the ball looked like afterwards-

Now for the hard part. The recipe called for slicing the mozz into strips and microwaving them until hot so they could be kneaded. We don't have a microwave (nor do we want one). But, I figured real Italians didn't have microwaves either, so I sliced the cheese, put it on an oven-proof platter and into a 350 F oven until it started melting and got slightly gooey.

I pulled the platter out and began to knead the cheese, pulling it into the long strands like taffy, stretching the proteins and molecular chains into strands that would turn this into mozzarella. In retrospect, I should have let the cheese get hotter and more melty, 'cause it cooled off quite fast, but I got it kneaded well into at least a dozen iterations of folding.

After all was said and done and I could knead no more, I formed it into a ball. This pic shows off all the beautiful strands of long cheese that makes it a mozzarella!

Into a bowl of ice water it went to brine and cool off for 45 minutes. Dissolved a bit less than 1/4 cup table salt in the water, then added ice, and finally the mozz.

Mozzarella is a cheese that should be eaten fresh. Usually between 7 and 21 days old is what is common. I've tried older mozzarellas and like the drier density they carry, which to me improves the taste. I put this one in a bowl, wrapped it in plastic and into the fridge it will go to age for 30 days. I've marked the calendar for JAN 25th and will give it a taste then and report back on this thread how it turned out!

Thanks for checking out my cheese! 