Cheese/ Dairy

Mozzarella SUCCESS!

June 30, 2019

After two mozzarella fails almost 3 years ago, I took a class at Sur La Table in cheese-making including mozzarella and ricotta, and vowed to give it another try. Finally – a lot of time passed, and I found a pasta salad that called for mozzarella. That was enough inspiration to try again, this time using the recipes from Sur La Table’s class, as well as this video from You Can Cook, and the instructions for finishing it in the microwave from Kitchn. We used the microwave method in the class, but the written instructions were more about doing it in the hot whey on the stove.

Mozzarella curds just before microwaving

Print Recipe

Homemade Mozzarella

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Ingredients

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 c dechlorinated water (let it sit out, or boil it) <- this is not in the Sur La Table recipe
1/4 t rennet - I used vegetable/powdered
1 1/2 t citric acid
1 gallon whole milk, not ultra pasteurized
Cheese salt or kosher salt
UTENSILS AND EQUIPMENT:
Pot large enough for 1 gallon of milk and stirring
Spoon for stirring
Knife or spatula to cut the curds
Straining set up - I used a flat slotted spoon to lift the curds out of the whey
Microwave-safe bowl, large enough for the ~2 cups of cheese
Thermometer - I ended up using both the ones I have
Cutting board or other surface for stretching and folding the curds. This is messy.
Gloves because the cheese is pretty hot while folding/stretching.
Hot pads to move the pot off/on the burner

Instructions

Dissolve the rennet into 1/4 c of the water and set aside

Dissolve the citric acid into 1/2 c of the water and set aside

Pour the milk into the saucepan and add the citric acid solution

Heat the milk/citric acid over med/med hi temp, stirring gently the whole time, to 90F

Remove the pot from heat, add the rennet solution and stir for 30 seconds, in one direction

Cover the pot and wait 5-10 minutes

Remove the cover and cut the curds into 1" cubes, cutting all the way to the bottom of the pot, in a grid

Put the pot back on the burner and heat to 105F, stirring slowly so as not to break the curds up too much, all in one direction

Remove the pot from heat and continue to stir 5 minutes

Ladle the curds into a microwave-safe bowl (pour off the whey several times)

Microwave for 1 minute and pour off the whey (several more times)

Put on the gloves and fold the cheese curds over a couple of times - it will be pretty loose and very hot

Microwave in 30 second intervals until the curds' temperature is 135F - pour off the whey!

Pour off the whey again, then it's time to stretch and form into a ball! This is the fun part and the messiest too.

Sprinkle the salt over the cheese, then stretch and fold until it takes on a glossy appearance

The instructions said to put in an ice bath to cool (I didn't do that)

I formed into several misshapen balls

I put them in the fridge with 1 cup salted whey after tasting a few bites

I’m not sure where I went wrong with the first couple of trials of this back in 2016, but here’s a photo of the stretched mozzarella, a point I did not reach back then. It’s getting glossy!