Germelli1
Well-Known Member
So I made my first batch of mozzarella last week! It was INCREDIBLY easy, so if you have an hour one day and have wanted to try this, DO IT! It didn't all go to plan but it tastes amazing!
I used my years of working a dairy farm to secure some creamline milk for it and WOW did it make some good cheese. The only thing that didn't go well was I over heated the curds and couldn't form them, so I just grated it all. Turned out great!
Best thing is I had all the ingredients available locally. I got the rennet from my LHBS/Natural foods grocery, and same with the citric acid (available in wine making stores).
My recipe was:
1 Gallon Creamline milk (or whole, you just want least pasteurized milk you can find)
2 tsp Citric Acid
.25 tsp rennet
Salt
Pour milk into non-aluminum pot (I used enamel coated).
Dissolve citric acid into a cup of water and stirred it into milk.
Slowly heat milk up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add rennet to a cup of water.
Thoroughly stir rennet in to expose as much of the milk as possible to it.
I let it sit with no heat and lid on for 10 minutes, then I took a knife and finely cud the curds to provide more surface area for the rennet to contact.
let sit another 15 minutes with lid on.
At this point I drained the whey back into the milk jugs to save for bread.
Stir, heat it to 120 stirring occasionally.
Let sit with LOW heat on for 5 minutes after it reaches 120.
Drain the whey again.
Scoop out curds into a bowl with a finely slotted spoon.
I heated water up to a little past sparging temps for beer (190ish). Dip the curds in the heated water aiming for 130 temp in the curds.
I salted to taste, but my Italian friend said his grandma uses heated sea water to dip the curds at the end to get the salt in there!
And that is it! I couldn't get mine to stretch or form, so I just let the curds sit in the fridge over night, then grated them. I wound up with a mostly full quart sized ziplock of cheese with 1 gallon of milk.
I use the whey in bread making, pizza dough, oat meal, etc. It is awesome!
I used my years of working a dairy farm to secure some creamline milk for it and WOW did it make some good cheese. The only thing that didn't go well was I over heated the curds and couldn't form them, so I just grated it all. Turned out great!
Best thing is I had all the ingredients available locally. I got the rennet from my LHBS/Natural foods grocery, and same with the citric acid (available in wine making stores).
My recipe was:
1 Gallon Creamline milk (or whole, you just want least pasteurized milk you can find)
2 tsp Citric Acid
.25 tsp rennet
Salt
Pour milk into non-aluminum pot (I used enamel coated).
Dissolve citric acid into a cup of water and stirred it into milk.
Slowly heat milk up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add rennet to a cup of water.
Thoroughly stir rennet in to expose as much of the milk as possible to it.
I let it sit with no heat and lid on for 10 minutes, then I took a knife and finely cud the curds to provide more surface area for the rennet to contact.
let sit another 15 minutes with lid on.
At this point I drained the whey back into the milk jugs to save for bread.
Stir, heat it to 120 stirring occasionally.
Let sit with LOW heat on for 5 minutes after it reaches 120.
Drain the whey again.
Scoop out curds into a bowl with a finely slotted spoon.
I heated water up to a little past sparging temps for beer (190ish). Dip the curds in the heated water aiming for 130 temp in the curds.
I salted to taste, but my Italian friend said his grandma uses heated sea water to dip the curds at the end to get the salt in there!
And that is it! I couldn't get mine to stretch or form, so I just let the curds sit in the fridge over night, then grated them. I wound up with a mostly full quart sized ziplock of cheese with 1 gallon of milk.
I use the whey in bread making, pizza dough, oat meal, etc. It is awesome!
