Mozz Curd Question

I'm on my 6th time making mozzarella now and been getting basically the same result each time: I get good curds, when I add 175 degree water to them and let them sit, they never get elasticky? The product I'm getting is cheese, and it's not bad, but it's no mozzarella.

The first few times I used a regular store bought milk, this last time I used the Whole Foods 365 Organic at the recommendation of one of the other threads - but got the same result

Here's the basic recipe I'm following:

1 gal milk, brought up to 88-92, adding 1 1/4 tsp lemon juice as citric acid, 1 hr rest. Adding 1/4 tsp calcium chloride (diluted in 1/4c water). Adding 1/4 tsp rennet, sit for 20 min. Cutting curd (clean break) into 1" cubes, stirring every 10 min for 30 min, then allowing curds to rest for 30 min (holding at 88-92 the whole time). Transfer curds to cheese cloth, tie up and let dry a few hours at room temp; reserve whey. Remove curds from cloth, cut into 1" cubes. Heat up a whey/water mixture (1 gallon) to 175, add 1/2c salt. Add hot whey to curds, let sit a few minutes before working them.

I feel like every recipe I've read says this should work! Is it the milk I'm using or something else?

And help is appreciated!

Shouldn't be the milk as long as it is not ultra pasteurized. I use regular store bought whole milk, but I do the microwave method. Works every time for me. You want to get the internal temp of the curds to 130 degrees, then you start getting the stretch.

i got the same problem it curdles but it doesn't gel and stretch .
it looks like as my att photos .
can somebody help me with that

africanmeat said:

i got the same problem it curdles but it doesn't gel and stretch .
it looks like as my att photos .
can somebody help me with that

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Yeah - Mine was basically doing the same thing. The best result was when I pressed the curds into a ball, but then I still didn't get a good stretch. I haven't had a chance to try it again since my last post on account of being out of town for the summer, but my plan is to try it again, only instead of just using 180 degree water to heat up the curds, I'm going to nuke them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds, then try adding the water.

Here is what worked for me:

After getting curds, transfer to bowl.

Instead of adding hot water, I nuked for 30 seconds at a time. You want the curds to be hot to the touch. A lot of whey comes off the curds in the beginning so you're really just mushing them around for a while. When the curds begin to cool, heat them in the microwave for another 30 seconds. Evenually you get a ball of curd forming in the bowl. Keep kneading it and kneading it. It needs to be kept hot to where you are barely able to keep your hands on it from the heat. Eventually it will elasticize and become plyable. It might seem like to have a crumbly mess for a while, but with heat and kneading, it will become like play-do consistency.

The only problem with my method is that you work most of the whey out in the process of kneading and end up with something like the texture of packaged mozz, not the extra soft type.

Use the microwave, it is much easier and I get consistent results with it. I have used the hot water bath method a few times and was never happy with the end result. It is just too hard to get the curd heated enough to allow a good stretch.

Also, adding calcium chloride helps the milk separate but also has a negative impact on the stretchability of the cheese. Try scaling back on the calcium chloride or leaving it out all together. If you use the right kind of milk you shouldn't need the calcium chloride anyways.

Here's the definitive answer to this problem:

The curds either aren't acidified enough or have over-acidified for the stretching process. The the curds to mat and stretch in 170F water, they need to be between 5.3 and 5.1 PH levels.

That's why its kind of important to have a PH meter when making mozz, but still not necesary. If they dont stretch, wait an hour or so and try again. If not, then, wrap them in ceran wrap and place in fridge until the next day (the lower temperature in the fridge will slow down the acidification process). Try again the following morning and hope the PH levels are right for stretching.

Heavywalker said:

Use the microwave, it is much easier and I get consistent results with it. I have used the hot water bath method a few times and was never happy with the end result. It is just too hard to get the curd heated enough to allow a good stretch.

Also, adding calcium chloride helps the milk separate but also has a negative impact on the stretchability of the cheese. Try scaling back on the calcium chloride or leaving it out all together. If you use the right kind of milk you shouldn't need the calcium chloride anyways.

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