Thanks to my dear friend Denise, who is a passionate cheese maker, I received this recipe and tried it a couple of times. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. The only crucial part is the temperature.
For that reason I purchased for a couple of Euros a measuring device that works in Fahrenheit AND Celsius which was very helpful.
30 Minute Mozzarella
- 1 gal cow’s milk – cream top (non-homogenized preferred, but any high quality store bought milk will work except ultra-pasteurized. You may have to experiment with different milks to find one that works best.)
- 1 ½ tsp citric acid powder (usually found in canning section at grocery store or in health food store)
- ¼ tsp liquid rennet (or ¼ rennet tablet)
- 1 ¼ cups distilled water or boiled water (cooled to room temp)
- 1 gallon stainless steel (double (or tripe) clad bottom pot with lid)
- Mix 1 ½ txp citric acid powder into 1 cup cool, distilled water
- Pour 1 gallon milk into pot and stir while adding citric acid solution
- Prepare rennet solution – add ¼ tsp or ¼ tablet rennet to ¼ C distilled water
- Heat milk to 90° F – stir to prevent scorching
- Remove pot from heat. Place it somewhere it won’t be disturbed.
IMPORTANT!
- a. Quickly pour rennet solution over top of milk, preferably through a slotted spoon to distribute over top of milk
- b. With slotted spoon gently and quickly do ONE up and down motion in center of pot to help pull the rennet down into the milk (this is crucial – if you stir it in, you may not end up with cheese)
- Put the lid on the pot, set timer for 5 min. Do not move the pan or disturb in any way.
- When timer goes off, look for small amount of separation between curd and edge of pot, and collection of whey (yellow-ish liquid) around the edges of the pot. If there isn’t any, put the lid back on, set timer for another 5 min.
- Check again for curd formation / whey appearing around top and edges. If it still doesn’t look ready, set timer for another 5 minutes. Be patient! Most milk takes 15 to 20 minutes to set curd. Continue checking in 5 min intervals until you have a soft curd with whey showing on top and edges.
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Cut curd GENTLY in very large squares – about 2” – cut both vertical and horizontal.
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Put pot gently back on stove and start heating – target temp 105° F – while VERY SLOWLY and VERY GENTLY using the slotted spoon to pull the curds toward you, and try to pull / push the curds together to form a single mass. Stir continuously. Work from side to side, and be sure to gently pull up from the bottom as well. (This is super important – if you stir normally, you’ll end up with mush. There’s no such thing as too slow for stirring.)
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When you reach 105° remove the pot from the heat.
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Continue to stir the curds together SLOWLY for 2 – 5 min.
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Ladle all the curds into a bowl. Heat the whey to about 135° (at least, may need to go higher). Get a handful of curd and hold it in the warm whey until it begins to soften, then lift it up and begin to stretch and pull it, overlapping the ends, until the consistency is smooth and shiny. You will need to reheat and pour off whey – this can be done many times without harming the cheese.
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Lower the cheese mass back into the whey whenever it becomes difficult to stretch. Add salt to taste, careful not to get salt in the whey, as that will affect the saltiness of later batches.
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Shape, wrap in plastic and put in ice water bath to help hold shape.
