I purchased a thirty minute mozzarella kit, but had difficulties with making it. Before I progress further with a hobby that I have spent lots of time considering entering, I want to see any advice on what I may have did wrong.
Basically, I followed the instructions included in the kit. The curds formed, but didn't look as impressively solid as some pictures I saw. Still, a significant amount of curds formed and I progressed through the instructions pretty easily.
The problem I had was in forming the mozzarella into a stretchy material that could be turned into mozzarella. What I had was a loose and gooey substance that was not quite stretchy enough to make cheese. The best comparison I have is pizza dough that is too wet and doughy to work with. It stuck to my hands and couldn't be formed all that easily.
Eventually, I wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in ice water. The texture is closer to cream cheese then mozzarella, though it is kind of a hybrid. The flavor is not bad (too salty, but that is easy to fix), but not quite mozzarella.
Would like to see where I went wrong. Here are some missteps I may have made.
1) I used pasterized whole milk (not ultra pasterized) and added a pint of heavy cream. I did so because I read the heavy cream retains some of the bacteria that may be removed from the milk. Could this have led to problems?
2) I don't have a microwave and used a double boiler technique to heat the cheese up to form it once the curds formed. It was fairly hot (to the touch it was hard to work with), so I don't think this caused many problems.
Any other similar experiences to mine and any recommendations?
Thanks.
Basically, I followed the instructions included in the kit. The curds formed, but didn't look as impressively solid as some pictures I saw. Still, a significant amount of curds formed and I progressed through the instructions pretty easily.
The problem I had was in forming the mozzarella into a stretchy material that could be turned into mozzarella. What I had was a loose and gooey substance that was not quite stretchy enough to make cheese. The best comparison I have is pizza dough that is too wet and doughy to work with. It stuck to my hands and couldn't be formed all that easily.
Eventually, I wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in ice water. The texture is closer to cream cheese then mozzarella, though it is kind of a hybrid. The flavor is not bad (too salty, but that is easy to fix), but not quite mozzarella.
Would like to see where I went wrong. Here are some missteps I may have made.
1) I used pasterized whole milk (not ultra pasterized) and added a pint of heavy cream. I did so because I read the heavy cream retains some of the bacteria that may be removed from the milk. Could this have led to problems?
2) I don't have a microwave and used a double boiler technique to heat the cheese up to form it once the curds formed. It was fairly hot (to the touch it was hard to work with), so I don't think this caused many problems.
Any other similar experiences to mine and any recommendations?
Thanks.
