Last Saturday I set about making mozzarella again. It makes me really mad when I can’t get something to work (or I misplace something and can’t locate it.) I will spend all my energy figuring it out. I knew the last time I made mozzarella that I let the milk get too hot which makes the cheese tough and chewy. This time I figured out how to better control the temperature. And you can too by following my simple instructions.
You will need a few things to make cheese but most of these items are for pressed cheeses (goat’s milk tomme, cheddar, monterey jack, etc.) I have links to several cheesemaking supply places on the right side. One thing I love about www.dairyconnection.com is they have a $20 cheese mold with follower that you can use to make any kind of hard cheese. This puts a new hobby right smack into your budget. They also have all the cultures you will need.
If you are going to order from them you may want to get a few items so that you save future shipping once you realize how fun cheesemaking is. Like chevre molds, cheesecloth and butter muslin, both thermophilic and mesophilic starters (I also have some flora danica that I use for chevre), citric acid which you can also buy at the grocers, cheese salt to save you from having to crush up kosher salt, and vegetable or animal rennet. That really is just about all you need to make all non-molded hard and soft cheeses with the exception of a good digital read thermometer that you probably already have or can purchase at Target. And a good, large stock pot. And a colander. And a whisk. And two wooden spoons. I bet you have those though.
To make mozzarella and ricotta from the spent whey you need:
1/8 teasoon direct set thermophilic culture
1 gallon whole milk (raw if you have it but never ultrapasteurized)
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool water
1 teaspoon citric acid for the ricotta
Heat the milk to 90 degrees over low to medium heat then add the starter culture, cover it and let it set for 90 minutes while you do other things. This first heating step can be done over direct heat (with the cheesemaking pot on the burner) but the rest of this will be done using a modified double boiler, or you can put your stock pot into your sink full of warm water and keep adding hot water to get the sink water back up to temp as needed.
Note: Don’t begin cheesemaking at 7 p.m. Many’s the night I’ve stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning to finish the cheese!
Add your diluted rennet and stir it very gently, using an up and down motion. This is basically like playing little bunny foofoo with the spoon. You don’t want to over mix it. Then cover the pot.
Your milk with rennet needs to sit just around 90 degrees for about 30 minutes. Check the milk frequently and if the temperature drops, warm up the water in the outer pan until you get it back up to the right temperature. Keep track of the temperature in the outer pan. If it gets more then about 20 degrees hotter then what you want the milk to be at you’ll need to add some ice cubes or your milk will get too hot. Too hot will make your cheese tough and dry. Luckily as far as mozzarella is concerned it will still melt just fine on pizza if you mess up but it’s nice to get the basics down so you can move on to aged cheeses like cheddar.
After 30 minutes (or sometimes sooner) you can insert a clean finger or butter knife into the milk to check for a “clean break”. That basically means the milk has congealed like soft jello and will part when you draw a line in it with your finger or knife. It’s a little hard to see in this picture but it was the best I could do with one hand in the cheese.
Once you have a clean break you need to cut your curds. You can do this with a whisk by inserting it straight up and down so it touches the bottom of the pot then drawing lines vertically and horizontally to get 1/2″ cubes.
Now raise the temperature to about 102 slowly. This will take 20 to 30 minutes and you will do this by getting the water in the outer pot up to no more then 120 degrees farenheit. This is one of the critical steps to good texture. Dont’ let the curds get above 102! Once they get close, turn off the heat – if you have an electric stove move the pots to a cool burner – and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile line a colander with cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl in the sink.
After 10 minutes drain out the whey by pouring everything into the colander. Save the whey for making ricotta. You can do this for about 3 hours and after that I believe it won’t work any longer (from what I’ve read). If you won’t be making ricotta you can save this whey to add to smoothies, soups, or baking since it is still loaded with proteins and minerals. No more buying whey powder at the health food store! Remember that it has been cooked so it doesn’t have the power to lacto-ferment anything, or break down the phytic acid in grains, seeds, nuts or beans but it’s still healthful. If you happen to have chickens or other livestock this is super nutritious and you can soak their feed in it.
Put your curds back into your cheese pot and put that back into the double boiler. You need to keep the curds between 98 and 102 degrees farenheit. If they go over 102 they will be tough. The curds then need to stay at that temperature for about an hour. They will keep weeping whey which you can continue to drain off.
While your mozzarella is “cooking” pour your whey into another stock pot and heat it to 180 degrees farenheit over direct heat. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of citric acid. Stir the milk until it separates.
Line your colander once again with butter muslin or a tightly woven non-fuzzy tea towel and drain once again.
After about 15 minutes you can tie the tea towel or muslin onto the handle of your sink to continue draining for a few hours.
Once that is done scrape the inside of the towel or muslin into a container. Your ricotta will last about 2 weeks in the fridge or you can freeze it. Refrigerate or freeze your whey for other uses. This ricotta is amazingly creamy – not at all like the grainy ricotta you get from the store. However, it will only yield about a cups worth. It’s great on pizza as well.
The trick to the mozzarella that I have not yet perfected (because I don’t have a fancy pH reader and I can’t get the pH strips to work well) is getting the pH around 5.0. So I look for firm mozzarella curds after about an hour and just go for it.
Make a brine solution in a bowl with about a quart of cold water and 1/4 cup of kosher or cheese salt. Set it aside.
This is the fun part. Heat some water to 180 degrees. Take a small amount of curds, about a tennis ball’s worth for pizza or you can use tablespoonsful to make little balls. Shred the curds best you can so they heat up evenly in the water. Put them in a mixing bowl. Add the heated water. Using your wooden spoons, press the curds together to form a nice ball of cheese again. You frequently hear of people stretching the mozzarella but the reason for this is to disburse the heat. By shredding the curds up you skip that step.
Put your cheese ball into the brine solution for about 5 minutes or longer if you want it really salty. Repeat until you’ve used up all the curds. Store your mozzarella in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Think tomatoes and basil and red wine and summer…
If this sounds like a lot of trouble to you go to the UW Farmers market and buy the mozzarella from Julie or her sons at River Valley Cheese. It’s only $5 per big lovely blob – no dishes to wash or futzing involved.
