Mozzarella Cheese

MissPrissy

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
40
Reaction score
0
Points
27
I am not a cheese making expert. I have experimented and have had success and failure with making cheese. The first time I tried this "30 Minute" style of mozzarella I screwed it up big time. Over heated the milk and created a giant yucky mess. Live and learn. Lost 1 gallon of milk.

If this recipe doesn't work for you all I can say is we can troubleshoot through the internet and take a look at your exact steps and try to figure what went wrong.

You will need

1 gallon of whole milk (make sure it is not ultra pasturized or you cannot make cheese from it due to the proteins being destroyed in the heating process)

1/4 tablet rennet dissoved in 1/4 cup cool water

1 1/2 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water.

rennet.jpg


Slowly heat milk to 55 degrees F. At this temp add the dissolved citric acid.

gallonmilk.jpg


As you stir you will see the milk begin to curdle.

citriccurd.jpg


Continue to heat slowly to 90 degrees F. At this temp add the dissolved rennet.

In a chopping up and down motion stir in the rennet. You will see it clump and begin to pull away.

There will be a lot of whey in the pan, as it clears the cheese curd is ready. If the whey is milky wait another few minutes and let the chemistry work and the whey will become clear -yellowish clear.

dippingcurd.jpg


With a slotted spoon remove the curd to a microwave safe bowl. Press out as much whey as you can. I never have had success with just my hands. I pour it into cheese cloth and press the liquid out the best I can.

drain.jpg


Put the dish of cheese curd intro the microwave for 1 minute. Take itout and knead the curd like bread. Pour off any liquid that comes out of the curd.

microwave.jpg


Return to the microwave for 35 seconds. Take it out and knead the curd. The cheese will get very hot, almost too hot to handle.

You may have to repeat this a few more times to get the curd up to 145 degrees so that it begins to melt together and become a little stretchy.

knead.jpg


Once the cheese comes together (like taffy) shiney and smooth form it into a ball. Use now or refrigerate in a little cool water or whey until you need it.

ballofcheese.jpg


When you separate the whey from the curd do not through out the whey. This is like liquid gold. You can make so many other things from it. I poured mine into a milk jug, added buttermilk culture and it will sit on my counter in the warm kitchen for about 12 hours. In the morning I will have cultured buttermilk. The same stuff they charge way too much for in the dairy case at your local grocer.

buttermilk.jpg


Think about buttermilk biscuits, pancakes, waffles all sorts of wonderful bread and cakes or even chess pie (buttermilk pie). Don't waste anything if you can help it.

Note here that my whey in the jug doesn't look clear. It is. The milky color of the jug obstructs the view of the whey.

If your attempt at cheese is a loss don't through it out. You can feed it to your chickens. I wouldn't suggest feeding to other larger animals (like goats or sheep, etc) it will give them the scours. Not nice.

Happy cheese making everyone!

*This mozzarella cheese recipe is from Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll.
 

Kenneth Flippen

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
55
Reaction score
0
Points
29
Location
Dobson, N.C.
well I tried this recipe but used Junket as that was all I had the junket recipes called for 1/2 tablet so thats what I used with this recipe of course it didn't seperate junket recipe said let it set 1-2 hrs if nothing then let set an additional 1-2 hrs so after 4 hrs still no clean break it said something about heating the curds and whey to 108 I figure it couldn't get any worse so I put it back on the double boiler at about 100 it seperated immediately then I went back to MissPrissy's recipe and it came out very stretchy and tastes pretty good

I looked around at some other recipes I found a website that gave the conversion for Rennet Junket and Liquid Rennet but can't find it now so I'll try the one tablet junket next time


heres the website with the junket conversion

http://www.sugarmountainhome.com/milkncheese/goatcheese.html
 

Kenneth Flippen

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
55
Reaction score
0
Points
29
Location
Dobson, N.C.
so I couldn't take it anymore I had to try it with the whole tablet of junket it worked it took about 10-15 min to seperate
 

elevan

Critter Addict ♥
Joined
Oct 6, 2010
Messages
13,870
Reaction score
739
Points
423
Location
Morrow Co ~ Ohio
The kneading and repeatedly reheating the curd in the water at the end of the process is the most important part to getting that true mozzerella "feel"
 

FarmGuru

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
83
Reaction score
0
Points
34
What if we place too much rennet ?
 

kstaven

Purple Cow/Moderator
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
2,011
Reaction score
39
Points
158
Location
BC, Washington border
You will get a clean break from the curd quicker but also run the risk of expelling too much whey to quickly and ending up with a curd too dry and crumbly to work.


As a further note on rennet. The amounts of VEGETABLE RENNET you use and Animal based RENNET are very different. So check recipes carefully.
 

Valley Ranch

Overrun with beasties
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
111
Reaction score
5
Points
78
Location
mountain valley by Lake Tahoe
I used vegetable rennet for the first time, used half a tab in a gallon. Came out, not good at all. curd came out small and soft. We pasteurized the milk, but we have done that before.

what's your thoughts?

Thanks
 

Catahoula

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Jan 5, 2012
Messages
933
Reaction score
15
Points
98
Location
Coal Creek Canyon, CO
I am helping my neighbor this evening and tomorrow morning with her goat milking chore and get to keep the milk too. :) I was wonder if I could freeze the milk till I can get all the ingredient to make mozzarella cheese?
 

lovinglife

Loving the herd life
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
463
Reaction score
24
Points
163
I need to get back into milk goats, this just looks too good to pass up. Anyone in Idaho want to sell me a good milk goat??
 
Top