Now in which other hobby do you get to do something like this with your food?  I had a ball making this Mozzarella for friends to eat.  Just think of it as the joy of cheesemaking!

Nice little balls of Mozzarella.  Note the yellow colour.  I added 2 drops of Annatto colouring to enhance the visual effect.

The finished product, all made with Demeter Biodynamic Milk, which is as good as it gets unless of course you have a house cow or goat!

We used this batch on pizza that we served up to our Sustainable Living Group as thanks for helping to make our Clay Oven on Saturday.  It was very tasty!

30 Minute Mozzarella is so easy to make. So why did I wait so long to taste you, my delicious creation?

One cheese that I have been procrastinating about is Mozzarella.  Don’t ask me why; I just was!  The Mozzarella recipe listed in Ricky Carrol’s Home Cheesemaking book had quite a few precautions as did her instructions on her website, but I figured that now that I had a few kinds of cheese under my belt (an understatement I suppose?), I should be able to rescue any potential disaster.

Quick Mozzarella

Ingredients

• 4 litres of full cream milk, preferably unhomogenized.
• 1½ teaspoons of citric acid mixed with a ½ cup of non-chlorinated water,
• 1 teaspoon of non-iodised salt,
• ½ teaspoon of liquid rennet or ½ a rennet tablet mixed with a quarter of a cup of non-chlorinated water,
• 1/8th of a teaspoon of lipase mixed with a quarter of a cup of water (let this sit for 20 minutes before hand).
• ¼ teaspoon of Calcium Chloride in ¼ cup unchlorinated water if using homogenised milk.
  

Equipment

• 6-8 Litre Stock Pot
• Stainless Steel stirring spoon
• Dairy Thermometer
• Measuring Spoons
• Measuring Cups
• 4 litre Pyrex Bowl
• Large Bowl filled with cold water and ice
• Loose weave Cheese cloth
• Colander
• Kitchen rubber gloves

Method

1.  Clean and sanitise your equipment and utensils and leave to air dry.
2.  Heat the milk to 13°C then add the citric acid solution to which you add the calcium chloride. Add the lipase and stir well and continue to heat.  The milk will curdle a little on the surface due to the increased acidity.
3.  Heat to 33°C (90F), then add the rennet solution and stir gently for 1 minute. Keep heating the milk to 38-40°C and the curd may begin to come away from the edges of the pot or look like the consistency of scrambled eggs.  This happens in about 5-8 minutes.
4.  Pour off some whey, and gently pour the curds into a cheese cloth lined colander. The whey becomes clear and yellow.  Drain as much whey from the curds in the Pyrex bowl and then put it in the Microwave Oven (1000w) for 1 minute on High.  Put on your gloves as the curd begins to get hot during handling.
5.  Drain the whey again, then into the Microwave for another 30 seconds on High, drain and form into a single mass, and back into the Microwave for a final 30 seconds.
6.  Add the salt and start gently kneading quickly like bread dough until it is smooth and shiny and it can be stretched like melted cheese. Form the cheese into smaller balls and then put them in the big bowl of iced water for 5-10 minutes.  This helps the cheese to form the same consistency throughout as it cools rapidly.
7.  Take it out of the ice water and try a slice on a cracker with fresh tomato and freshly cracked pepper and salt. It is delicious!

When the salt is added and started kneading quickly like bread dough until it was smooth and shiny and it could be stretched like Taffy .  This is as simple as forming the cheese into five balls and then put them in a big bowl of cold water for 30 minutes.  This helped the cheese to have the same consistency throughout and cools it rapidly.

We then took it out of the water and have already eaten one ball sliced onto crackers, topped with tomato and freshly cracked pepper and salt.  Delicious!  Apparently, it can be stored covered in the fridge for a few days, but don’t think it will last that long.  I usually make it on Friday night, and we use it on homemade pizza on a Saturday night!

There is nothing quite like fresh Mozzarella!  Why did I wait so long to make it, I will never know.