Homemade Mozzarella Food

30 MINUTE FRESH MOZZARELLA CHEESE HOMEMADE

Steps:

• Crush the rennet into the water and stir to dissolve.
• Pour milk into a non-reactive pot (no aluminum or cast iron).
• Place over medium heat. Sprinkle the citric acid over the milk and stir a few times. Heat milk to 88°F; milk will begin to curdle.
• At 88°F, add the rennet solution and continue stirring slowly every few minutes until the milk reaches 105°F Turn off the heat. Large curds will appear and begin to separate from the whey (the clear, greenish liquid).
• With a slotted spoon or mesh strainer, scoop the curd into a large glass bowl. (If it's still too liquid, let it set for a few more minutes). Press the curds gently with your hand and pour off as much whey as possible.
• Microwave curds on high for 1 minute, then drain off all the excess whey.
• With a spoon, press curds into a ball until cool.
• Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each, and continue to drain the whey and work cheese into a ball.
• In the meantime, place the whey over medium heat and let it heat to about 175°F.
• When cheese is cool enough to touch, knead it like bread dough until smooth. When you can stretch it like taffy, it is done. You can sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons salt into the cheese while kneading and stretching it. The cheese will become stretchy, smooth and shiny. If it is difficult to stretch and breaks easily, dip it into the hot whey for a few seconds to make it warm and pliable. Then pick it up again and stretch it into a long rope. Fold over and stretch again. Dip in hot whey as needed to make the cheese pliable.
• When the cheese is smooth and shiny (this takes just a few minutes), it is ready to eat. Shape it into a log or golf-size balls, then store in a solution of 2 teaspoons salt to 1 cup water.

HOMEMADE MOZZARELLA CHEESE

Steps:

• Combine 1/4 cup water and rennet in a small bowl; mix well.
• Combine remaining 1/2 cup water and citric acid in another small bowl; mix until dissolved.
• Pour milk into a large pot set over medium heat. Stir in water-citric acid mixture. Heat milk, stirring occasionally, until it registers 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes.
• Remove milk from heat and stir in rennet mixture in a figure-8 motion for 30 seconds. Stir counterclockwise for 30 seconds to still the milk. Let stand, covered, until milk sets into curd, 5 to 10 minutes. Press edge of the curd gently with a palette knife or the back of a spoon to check for firmness.
• Slice vertically into the pot to cut curd into 3/4-inch cubes with a palette knife. Stir curds gently, but leave cubes mostly intact.
• Return pot to the heat; cook over medium heat, stirring curds gently, until temperature reaches 109 degrees F (43 degrees C), about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Ladle curds into a colander set over a large bowl using a slotted spoon. Press curds gently to extract liquid whey. Pour drained whey back into the pot.
• Heat whey to 185 degrees F (85 degrees C), about 5 minutes. Wearing gloves, tear off a piece of curd and place on a slotted spoon. Dip curd into hot whey for 5 to 10 seconds. Stretch, fold, and knead the curd. Repeat until mozzarella is smooth and elastic. Knead in salt and form curd into a ball. Repeat dipping and kneading process with remaining curd.
• Allow mozzarella to cool. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator.

HOMEMADE MOZZARELLA

Steps:

• in a non-aluminum, perfectly clean pot bring the milk to 55f. dissolve the citric acid in 1/2 cup water. if using buttermilk then omit the water and you may want it a bit warmer and let it sit an hour with the buttermilk culture to help it ripen better, then again that might be why some people let the drained curds ripen overnight. i say experiment. if using citric acid you don't need to let it ripen, go straight to the next step.
• bring the milk to 87-90f and gently stir in the rennet, dissolved in the 1/4 cup water. cover the pot, remove from heat, and let sit undisturbed for 5-10 min or until it looks like custard and you can see a clear separation between the curds and whey. if you poke a clean finger into it, it should separate cleanly, hence being called a "clean break".
• with a long knife, cut the curd into 1/2 inch cubes by making a grid across your pot of custard and then running the knife diagonally to break up horizontally as much as possible without the curds dissolving. be gentle with your curds, they're not cheese yet!
• stirring gently, bring the curds and whey to between 97 and 105f (instructions vary, i figure around 100 is good enough).
• remove from heat and continue stirring gently (just enough to keep the curds from matting together) for 2-5 minute.
• some instructions say to drain the whey (save to make ricotta!) through several layers of cheesecloth lining a strainer and let ripen at room temp overnight to develop flavors and acids. others say to use a slotted spoon to lift the curds out of the whey and proceed directly to the stretching stage:.
• in the stretching stage we will slightly melt the curds and then stretch them to develop the texture. you can do this by microwaving the curds for 1 min, kneading with spoons and pressing out as much whey as you can, zap again for 30 seconds and kneed again, then 15 seconds until your curds are stretchy and resemble melty mozza. you're using spoons because it has to get to 145f to stretch, which is way too hot to touch. if you're more of a traditionalist or don't have a microwave you can heat water to just under boiling and lower some curds into the hot water (with your handy slotted spoon) for a few seconds to a min until it's getting a bit melty, then take out and knead (maybe with spoons or wearing thick rubber gloves) and repeat until it looks like mozza (smooth and shiny). either way work in manageable sections and form your cheese into balls of a size that please you.
• now make some cold brine and drop your cheese balls in it. this is just salt dissolved in water. the cold part helps solidify the cheese and makes the texture consistent throughout. the salt part adds flavor. the saltier your brine and the longer you soak it, the saltier it will be. i'm going to start with 1/2 cup of salt to 2 cups of water and taste after 15 min of soaking.
• this cheese is best eaten fresh but it can also be frozen. if you're keeping it in the fridge then leave it in water or brine to keep it from drying out. try with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden! add a little pepper and oil and vinegar perhaps? do you feel like a brave homesteader yet? don't forget to make ricotta with your whey! i'll post that recipe soon.

HOMEMADE MOZZARELLA

Steps:

• In a large pot, bring a gallon of water to a boil.
• In a large bowl, break up the mozzarella curd into small pieces. Coat the curd with 2 tablespoons of salt, and set aside.
• In another large bowl, salt the second gallon of water with the remaining salt and add as much ice as it can hold.
• This is where it gets a little tricky. Carefully pour the boiling water over the salted curd. As the curds begin to melt, carefully stir with a wooden spoon for 1 minute. Submerge both of your hands in the ice water for as long as you can stand it, because you're about to stretch the mozzarella in boiling hot water. The curd will have settled into the bottom of the bowl, and at this point you have to work quickly or risk over-cooking the curd.
• Dip your hands into the hot water and begin stretching the mozzarella. By stretching the cheese you insure that all the curds have completely melted. The curds will become incredibly soft and have buttery shine, and also, it smells wonderful. Form the mozzarella into tomato size balls, and then drop the mozzarella into the ice water to stop the cooking process. Work quickly, as the mozzarella will start to become rubbery the longer it sits in the hot water.
• Wrap each mozzarella ball tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
• Serve the cheese with the best tomatoes you can find, really fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper.

HOMEMADE MOZZARELLA CHEESE

Steps:

• Pour the milk into a large deep pan and set over a low heat until it reaches 38C on a thermometer. Remove from the heat, add the yogurt, mix well, then cover with a lid and leave for 25 mins.
• Add the rennet, stirring very gently, then cover again and leave for another 15-20 mins.
• Remove the lid and check if the curds have coagulated and separated from the whey. Use a large whisk or a knife to break up the curds very gently to create pieces around the size of a hazelnut.
• Heat a larger pan half-full with water over a gentle heat to 40C. Put the pan containing the curds into the larger pan to create a bain-marie and check the water temperature frequently to ensure it stays at around 40C. Top up the water from time to time if needed.
• After 2 hrs 30 mins, remove the curds from the pan using a slotted spoon and leave to drain in a colander for about 15 mins. Cut the curds into small pieces and put in a large heatproof bowl.
• Empty the pan of water, then refill and heat to 85C. Pour the hot water over the curds and mix with a wooden spoon for 30-40 seconds. Strain off almost all the water and again, add water at 85C to cover.
• Fold and stretch the curd in the water using the wooden spoon. Keep working until the curds start to become elastic. Now work the curds by folding and stretching by hand (the water will be hot so wear rubber gloves) until they become smooth and elastic.
• Take smaller pieces of the curd and shape into balls. Immediately put in a tub of cold water and chill in the fridge. Can be kept in water, covered, and chilled for up to a week.