The first time I made mozzarella something obviously went wrong, so let’s try again! First I had to find out what I did wrong because I believe that I followed the recipe pretty good.
Since the first steps in the making of this cheese are not very special I already came to the conclusion that the problem was in the stretching part. When I was making the first cheese I realized that the water that I used was not hot enough and I had to heat it up. All this time the curds were in the (not too) hot water which turned very white.
So I looked for some tips on the web. I found this video which was very helpful. (Apart from the fact that it is from Fahrenheit country) It taught me that the water should be really hot and that you should place the curds in it for only a short time. It also shows very well how to knead and form the cheeses. This part is described very poorly in the books that I have.
The lady in the video has made some changes compared to the recipe that I used. Therefore I would like to rewrite that recipe with her method.
Ingredients
- Citric acid 1 ½ tsp
- Milk 6L
- Calcium chloride 1,25 mL
- Rennet 1,25 mL
- Salt +/- 10 gm
- Bowl of ice water
Procedure
- Clean equipment.
- Dissolve Citric acid in a little water
- Mix Citric acid in the milk
- Mix calcium chloride with a little water and add to milk.
- Warm milk slowly to 31 C. At this time you can already see some solids forming
- Mix rennet with a little water and add to milk
- After 15 minutes, check for a clean break. If no clean break, wait for 5 minutes more.
- Cut curds in 3 cm cubes.
- Heat the curds slowly to 41 C. This should take 20 minutes.
- Remove (Do not throw away) the whey from the curds and let it drain in cheese cloth for 15 minutes
- In the mean time heat part of the whey up to about 80 C and keep it at that temperature.
- Break the curds in big pieces and mix in the salt.
- Place enough curds for 1 cheese in a big spoon and dip it in the hot whey for about 30 seconds to a minute.
- Wear heat resistant gloves and knead the cheese as if it was dough, folding it a few times.
- When the cheese becomes too cold, place it in the hot whey again for 20 seconds or so.
- When the cheese is smooth and shiny you make it into a ball.
- Place the cheese in a bowl of ice water for 15 minutes.
- Continue with the next spoon of curds to make the next cheese.
- Eat immediately or wrap and refrigerate.
Since I use raw milk I did not add the Calcium Chloride but with the above recipe I managed to make good mozzarella cheese. Learning all the time!
Here is the difference between a short dip and a long bath! The yellow ball from last time tasted nice but it was definitely NOT mozzarella!
Need I say more?
Buon appetito!
Hans
