Making Mozzarella Cheese

We're back making cheese again.  After having made Neufchatel, ricotta, and basic cheese, we're going to try our hand at making mozzarella.  We're using an excellent on-line course "Cheese Making for Beginners" that you can view here: Dr. Fanhhauser's Cheese Course if you are interested.  The mozzarella that we're going to make is Fresh Mozzarella.  I apologize ahead of time for all the pictures, but there are a lot of steps.

The first thing we do is sterilize our pot that we're going to use by boiling some water in it.

A watched pot never boils

Warm slowly one gallon of raw milk to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Keep an eye on the temperature

Stir in a 1/4 cup of buttermilk and let it sit for 15 minutes to "activate".  

Adding fresh buttermilk

Add 8 drops of rennet into 1/4 cup water and then stir the rennet/water mixture into your inoculated milk.  Remember rennet causes the curds and whey to separate.


Adding animal rennet

Place undisturbed in a warm spot for 2-3 hours until the "break" takes place.  This is when the curds and whey separate.  Once the break has taken place, you'll know it.  The curds will be solidified, sort of the consistency of jello.  Now you'll cut the curds.  Use a knife to cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Cutting the curds

Now you stir up the curds.  It's best to do this with your hands.  After cutting and stirring, let it sit for 15 minutes.  Pour off the whey.  You can save this for making ricotta.  Ricotta is great in lasagna.  You'll get about a quart of whey off of your gallon of milk.

Pouring off the whey

 You will now want to warm the curds to 97 degrees Fahrenheit with a constant hand stirring.  Then put the cover back on the pot and let sit overnight in a warm place.  We use a warming drawer on the proof setting which is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. 


Let sit in a warm spot

First thing in the morning, heat some water to 185 degrees Fahrenheit and drop a piece of curd into the water.  You are wanting to see if it 'spins' or stretches like taffy when you pull on it.  If it breaks when you pull it, let the curds continue to sit for a few hours and try again.

A curd in 185 degree water

Hey, check it out.  Stretchy!  This is perfect.  The curd 'spins."

Perfect spin

Once it spins, heat a 1/2 gallon of water to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.


Warming some more water!

While you are waiting, pour the remaining whey off of the curds.  Save a pint of whey for a step we'll go over in a minute.  Also save the rest for making ricotta.


Pouring more whey off

Break the curds up into small pieces with your hands once you've drained the whey off.


Breaking up the curds

Now pour the 185 degree water over the curd mass.


Pouring hot water over the curds

Stir this with a wooden spoon.

You want the curd to come together in a gummy mass.  Fold together with a couple of wooden spoons.


Gummy mass of soon to be mozzarella

Break off lemon sized pieces of the hot, gummy cheese substance and fold over onto itself to form smooth balls.  

Breaking and folding

Place back in the 185 degree F water to soften and then repeat folding to achieve smoothness.


Just about right

Drop the smoothed balls into ice water to firm them up.  It should yield 4 five ounce balls from your gallon of milk.

Dropping the mozzarella balls into ice water

Tricia got all fancy and braided one of the balls.  This really shows the consistency of the homemade mozzarella.

Braided mozzarella.  WOW!!

Now, we're almost done.  The next step is to prepare brine.  In a gallon jar, dissolve 1/4 cup salt,


Adding 1/4 cup salt

 Add 1 pint of whey that you saved from several steps above: 

Adding whey

Finally, add 1 pint of cool water:


Adding water

Drop the cooled mozzarella balls into the brine, cover and put in the refrigerator for 12 - 24 hours.


Adding mozzarella balls to the brine

After 12-24 hours has passed, remove from the brine and store refrigerated in a Ziploc bag or plastic container and use within a week:

Store until eaten (Fresher is better!)

Aside from eating just plain mozzarella, we'll show you tomorrow what we did with it.