Mozzarella: So Much Trouble...But So Much Fun!

All throughout my years in the culinary world I've heard so many people talk about making fresh mozzarella cheese "in-house" and how easy it was to accomplish. Yet I had never snagged a opportunity to get involved with this process. When ever I spoke with people about how they went about making it I always received a similar answer like, "Just take the curds and pour hot water over them and then stretch it until it's long and stringy and there you have it, mozzarella." That didn't explain much. I had many more questions like: Where do you get the curds? Don't you have to make them yourself? What kind of curds? How hot is the water? Plus, a whole slew of other queries rolling around in my mind.

Now just about a couple of days ago I thought I'd start my research and put this mozzarella thing to bed, finally. I looked online (where else am I gonna look, the library?) for all the information I could find. My first few hits were, just as all those I questioned in the past said, about just getting the curds and stretching them. This did not sit well with me. I wanted to MAKE the curds as well. It seemed like cheating to not make the curds yourself. It's like buying a flavored syrup and adding club soda and saying you made a soft drink. You didn't MAKE anything. you just put two pre-made thing together. The way I like to work is from the true step one. If I had a cow that would be the REAL step one in this process but I don't. Not yet, anyways. I know I have the brains and can figure out most things food related and this seemed pretty easy, especially going by all the information out there on the Internet. I was a bit concerned about wasting a bunch of milk in the process but I wasn't gonna make mozzarella from some schwag milk from the A&P. I was gonna get the raw milk from my local dairy and that cost about $7.00 per gallon. But, for the sake of learning, I feel it's worth it. When I first looked into it I wanted to do it with what I had in the house already, but that was quickly dispelled because I didn't have rennet lying around. That I had to get at the home brew store and it was pretty cheap. (I think $7.00 for 8 tablets) The only other things I needed was some citric acid, (got that with a lemon right?....Nope! That didn't work...more on that later) salt, and the equipment. Which is a stainless steel pot, thermometer, a colander and a bowl or two. That's it!

Now I found a recipe on line using a gallon of milk. That was perfect! So I followed the recipe and got all of my ingredients together, except the citric acid. I juiced a lemon and used that instead. I followed the recipe all the way, keeping the temperatures accurately, and it looked beautiful. Everything happened just like the recipe said it would. When I drained off the curds I noticed a lot of whey coming out. But, I hadn't made this before so I thought it was normal. I followed the procedure with the warm water and tried to stretch the curds. They just kept pushing out more whey and got tighter and tighter. There was just no way they were gonna stretch. It kept breaking up and pushing out more liquid. Also, when I ate them they were "squeaky" when chewed. So I figured this project was over. The very next day I made another batch, with the same $7.00 per gallon milk, and used cider vinegar instead of the lemon juice. The same result happened again. Now I felt like a huge failure. Like I didn't do enough homework and I was paying for it. That turned out o be true. I looked on line some more and searched the significance of the citric acid in the making of the curds. This is one of the most important steps to mozzarella making. I read that the citric acid helps the stretching of the curds. I haven't figured out exactly what it does but I will post it as soon as I find out. So when I tried to replace the pure citric acid with lemon juice or vinegar I didn't lower the pH of the curds enough. So for my third attempt I decided to try and find some citric acid. Believe it or not I tried a local pharmacy and they had it. It's kind of expensive when you're buying it for the first time but a little goes a long way. Now I had absolutely everything I needed for the recipe. I followed the directions and added the 1 1/2 tsp of citric acid this time. After the I got the the part of draining off the curds they looked a little different. They looked whiter softer and felt more supple to the touch. I felt like I was in a much better place than before. I then went on to pour the hot water over the curds and they were got soft and stretchy. I was so happy!! Pulling them was a no-brainer. Just have fun and stretch them out. As I was pulling I noticed the more I pulled the more the liquid would come out of the curds. Note to self... go easy on 'em. Don't pull and pull too much. Just get the curds to all go in the same direction and stop. I then used scissors to snip off the size pieces in wanted and shaped them. Shaping is a difficult thing to describe so I would recommend finding a video on YouTube and checking it out for yourself. My end result was a nice ball of mozzarella that was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. It turned out a little too firm for my liking. I want the mozzarella to be very tender when I cut it. Mine was a texture between fresh mozzarella and the kind you would grate for your pizza. I'm still gonna use it where ever I can because, damn, I made mozzarella! The other great thing about this project is the learning. You can't imagine all the things you learn and, then ponder, from after you go through it all. Lots of fun.

Here is the recipe I wrote after I made my first successful (as I see it) batch.


Ingredients:
1 gallon raw milk
1 1/2 tsp citric acid
1/4 tablet of vegetable rennet
1/4 cup water (non-chlorinated, distilled or just well water at room temperature)
sea salt

Equipment
6-8 qt stainless steel pot
Thermometer
colander or large strainer
cheese cloth (optional)
2 or 3 mixing bowls

Procedure:

1. Slowly heat milk to 60 to 70F. Sprinkle in the citric acid and distribute it evenly (Keep stirring until you don't feel any more crystals on the bottom of the pan).
2. Mix the rennet with the water, well and set aside.
3. Bring the milk up to 88F and add the rennet. Pull the pot off the stove and allow the curds to set. (Should take around 5 minutes or so.)
4. Bring a pot of about 6 cups of water to a simmer and then hold it at about 170F. Add the sea salt to taste.
5. When the curd is fully set, cut the curds into 1/2" cubes and then again at the diagonal. Let the curds sit for about 10 minutes. This will help release some of the whey from the curds.
6. Lift the curds off with a slotted spoon and place into the colander or strainer (this is where the optional cheese cloth is used to line the colander). Save about 4 cups of whey for storage. Allow the curds to drain until the curds start coming together into one large mass. (You can gently move them around if pockets of whey are still left on top)
7. Gently put the curds in a large steel or glass bowl. Continue to pour off any whey if it appears. Pour enough of the hot, salted water over the curds to cover them by an inch or so.
8. Allow the curds to soften significantly! When the curds are very soft and pliable, remove them and begin the pulling process.
9. (I feel, the less you stretch the curds the softer the mozzarella will be. What I've noticed is that as you're pulling your curds more and more liquid or whey is being pushed out of them. This turns into a drier, firmer cheese.)
10. When your curds are stringy and flow in the same direction you can begin to make the size balls you want. (I used scissors to snip off the sizes I wanted.)
11. Shape your cheese into balls by pulling the outside and tucking underneath and pushing back into the center again. You're looking for a smooth surface with a lice round shape.