Monday, July 7, 2014

30-Minute Mozzarella

Last year I tried making mozzarella, because I'd read that it's so easy you can do it in 30 minutes.  Well, I tried, but for some reason I failed.  I'm not sure what happened, but my final product was definitely not mozzarella!  I was too intimidated to try again, until recently.  I started reading again about how easy it was, and I wanted to try it again.  I also have lots more goat milk than I know what to do with, so I needed a new use!  I found this blog post and gave it a shot yesterday.  I got out my ingredients and went to work.

I won't post the recipe again, since there are lots of different blog posts on the New England Cheesemaking Supply blog, but I'll just skim over the main steps.

I added the required amount of citric acid to 1 gallon of milk, then heated to 90 degrees.















Then I added the rennet that had been dissolved in water, and let it sit for 5 minutes.  After the 5 minutes is up, I checked to make sure the milk had set up.  Sure enough, it pulled away from the pot when I pressed it. Yay!















Then I cut the curd. I used a cake icing spatula, which worked perfectly.















After the curd was cut, I heated it all back up to 105 degrees, while gently stirring.















Then, the whey gets drained, and the curd goes into a microwave safe bowl.  You can see the bumps on the cheese from my colander.















The cheese gets microwaved for 1 minute, then after the whey is drained off (as often as needed), it gets kneaded like bread. I didn't get pictures of this part because I had my hands in cheese.  This is where the process went wrong the last time, but for whatever reason it went perfectly this time.  I kneaded until the cheese was shiny, then I stretched it, and then formed it into small balls. Then the balls chilled in icewater for about 15 minutes.















Then I ate it!  I sliced up some tomato (not my garden tomatoes yet, darn it), with some basil and mozzarella. Then I drizzled it all with olive oil and sprinkled a little salt and pepper over it.  It was delicious!  I'm so excited it actually worked for me, and I know I'll be making this much more often!!  I bought the rennet tablets from NE Cheesemaking Supply. I think I got 10 tablets, and each tablet will set FOUR gallons of milk, so I've got LOTS of cheese making to do!














I highly suggest you try it.  If you can stir, you can make this!  And I love NE Cheesemaking Supply...Ricki Carroll's book is also a must-have!

4 comments:

Becky said...

That's awesome!!! It looks great! I'm glad it worked out for you this time. It looks delicious! :)

Sarah said...

So you made it with goats milk? I have goats I will be breeding for the first time this fall and I can't wait to make cheese! Did it taste like regular mozzarella?

katiegirl said...

Yes Sarah, it tasted like regular mozzarella. :-)

Deb Johnson, Quiltbeeme said...

How very cool!!! So you don't need water buffaloes to make it?? he he The presentation is gorgeous hon! Love, Momma

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...