Making Mozzarella Cheese

It is said that making Mozzarella cheese from scratch at home is easy, I think that might be debatable, but it is definitely fun to do with friends! A few years back, perhaps more than I’d like to admit, my friend Laurie gave me an Artisan Cheese Kit by Mad Millie, a few years after that another friend, Beth Roland, gave me a DIY Cheese Kit for Mascarpone and Burrata cheese! I have some wonderful and creative friends! 

It took a while for me to break open the gift, not because I wasn’t interested but rather there never seemed to be a weekend free, but finally we found a weekend and together with Laurie and David we made our first batch of Mozzarella cheese! The following includes the ingredients, equipment, and steps you will need to complete to make your own fresh mozzarella cheese:

Ingredients

1 gallon of Milk (not ultra-pasteurized)

1.5 tsp Citric Acid

¼ Rennet Tablet or ¼ tsp Single Strength Rennet

1 tsp Cheese salt (adjust to taste)

Equipment

Good Thermometer

Knife to Cut Curd

Spoon or Ladle to Stir Curd

Large Colander

Large Bowl 

Step one

Make sure your kitchen work surface is clean and move any food, sponges, and dirty dish towels away and wipe down your sink and stove with soap and water. Follow all that up with a good antibacterial clearer to make doubly sure your surfaces are clean.

Step two

Prepare the Rennet by crushing ¼ tablet and dissolving it in ¼ cup of cool non-chlorinated water or add ¼ tsp single strength liquid rennet to the water. Set your rennet mixture aside for later use.

Step three

Mix Citric Acid with milk. Add 1 ½ tsp. of citric acid to 1 cup cool water and pour this into your pot. Now pour your cool milk into your pot quickly, to mix well with the citric acid. This will bring the milk to the proper acidity which will help it stretch better.

Step four

Now it’s time to heat the milk. Using the thermometer to gage your temperature, heat the milk up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. You may notice your milk beginning to curdle slightly due to the acidity and temperature. (Side note: if you have difficulty with your milk forming a proper curd, you may need to increase the temperature to 95 degrees Fahrenheit or even 100 degrees.

Step five

At 90 degrees, remove the pot from the burner and slowly add your rennet mixture to the milk. Stir in a top to bottom motion for approximately 30 seconds then stop. Next, cover the pot and leave it undisturbed for five minutes. After five minutes check the curd to see if it looks like custard (that’s your goal at this point). It should have a clear separation between the curd and whey. If the curd is too soft or the why is too milky, let it set longer, up to 30 more minutes if need be. 

Step six

Now it’s time to cut and cook the curd. For this step you need to cut the curd into a one inch checkerboard pattern. Place the pot back on the stove and heat it to 105 degrees Fahrenheit while slowly stirring the curds with your ladle. Side Note: if you are planning on stretching the curd in a hot water bath (that’s what we did) rather than using a microwave you will need to heat to 110 degrees Fahrenheit in this step. Take the pot off the burner and continue stirring for 2-5 minutes (additional time will make a firmer cheese).

Step seven

With a slotted spoon, scoop the curd into a colander (or a fancy strainer thing you get with your cheese kit using cheese cloth – the colander sounds easier… just saying). A microwave safe bowl will also suffice. If the curd is too soft, let it sit for another minute or two. Once you’ve transferred them into the colander or strainer, press the curd gently with your hand, pouring off as much whey as you can in the process. Save the whey if you wish to store your mozzarella for a few days after making it.

Step eight

Here you have two options, the hot water bath, or the microwave. Prepare a bowl of salted ice water (approximately 9 oz salt to 2 quarts of water and another 150 degrees Fahrenheit of non-salted water. Boil water. Take a handful of mozzarella curds and place onto your draining spoon and lower it into the hot water for approximately 20 seconds or until the curds appear to slightly melt.  Now carefully stretch the piece of curd until it is smooth and flexible. You may want to wear rubber gloves at this stage because the curd will be very hot to the touch. If the curd does not stretch easily, place it back in the bowl of hot water for more heating. You may need to do these two or three times before doing a final stretch and molding it into a ball (or balls).

Or…. You can go the microwave way (I think the next time we make cheese I might try this strategy so I can compare the different techniques): From the colander, transfer the curd into a heat safe bowl. Next microwave the curd for one minute. If desired, add 1 tsp of salt to the curds for added flavor. At this point, you may notice more whey separating from the curd. Drain off all whey as you did before. Quickly work the cheese with a spoon or your hands until it is cool enough to touch (here too is where rubber gloves will come in handy). Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each and repeat the kneading from the last step to help drain off more whey and to ensure even heating of the curd. Continue to drain off the whey as you go. Remove curd from bowl and continue kneading until it is smooth and shiny. Return it to the microwave if needed (if it begins to cool before it is ready to stretch.) Add salt near the finish. At this point, if hot enough, the cheese would be soft and pliable enough to stretch and stretch and then stretch some more… the stretching part is actually the fun part, this is where playing with your food is totally acceptable! This stretching is what makes Mozzarella, Mozzarella! 

Step nine

Knead your cheese back into a ball (if you haven’t already) until it is smooth and shiny. The cheese is read as soon as it is cool enough to eat. To cool it quickly place it in the bowl of ice water and refrigerate. Once it is cool, plate it up and enjoy. This food adventure was lots of fun, took a long time and was challenging but mostly because we hadn’t done it before. If you like cheese I highly recommend giving this a go! I think my next cheese making adventure will be Burrata.

Bon Appetit!