Anyone Ever Made Homemade Mozzarella

[A-Neibs]

I just recently decided that I wanted to make Fresh, homemade Mozzarella. I found a recipe off of gourmet.com and I found a really well made video of it on youtube that goes right along with the recipe on gourmet.com. I tried to follow it. I put the curds in some cheesecloth and hung it from my microwave for 3 hours. That's supposed to drain out all the whey. However when I took it out of the cheesecloth, it felt very soggy. It didn't look anything like it did in the video. From there, I couldn't get it to turn into mozzarella. Anybody know why it might turn out soggy? Thanks.

[Jackie Tran]

It's not a big deal that the curd was soggy as long as you get a "clean break" when you first cut the coagulated/congealed milk.  When you cook it up again and start to work the curd, it will release more whey and the curd will become condensed.  The reason it doesn't become mozzarella or stretch like mozz is because the curd isn't acidic enough.  You either have to use more citric acid upfront or allow the yogurt/buttermilk in the curd to sit longer to acidify the curd.

To successfully make home made mozz you need to satisfy 2 conditions.  1) that the milk coagulates and too that it becomes acidic enough (pH of 5 or so).  Here is a site that has some really great instructions and explanations posted recently by member PizzaBlogger.

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Mozzarella/MOZZARELLA_jn0.HTM

To save you time and money, either make (stretch) your mozz from prebought curd, or get your hands on raw milk.  The pasteurize milk has not given me great results.  I would love to hear more from anyone who has been able to make a good/great mozz using store bought pasteurized milk.


Good luck
Chau

[A-Neibs]

One video I saw told me to add calcium chloride to the store bought milk because that will restore the milk back to the way it was before it was pastuerized, but that was the only recipe I've seen that mentions that. All the other ones just leave that out. In the best video I found, the lady used Organic Pasteurized Mlik, but she made sure to mention not buying Ulrta-Pasteurized milk. Her cheese looked really good, so I assume you can achieve good results with pasteurized milk.

[A-Neibs]

Also, when I took the soggy curds out of the cheesecloth, I dipped them into the 170 degree weather, but it just wasn't gonna form and stretch like it was supposed to.

[jeffereynelson]

You can try putting it in the microwave for around 20 seconds. This should separate some of the whey, just strain it out and see if you are now in business. If not put it it back in the microwave again and try again.

[Jackie Tran]

Also, when I took the soggy curds out of the cheesecloth, I dipped them into the 170 degree weather, but it just wasn't gonna form and stretch like it was supposed to.

Aniebs, instead of putting all of the curd into the hot water at once, it's better to cut off just a small piece and dip that in hot water.  If that small piece won't melt and stretch, the rest of the batch won't either.....at least not yet.   Don't cook the whole batch and waste it. 

If it won't stretch, that means that the curd isn't acidic enough yet.   If you used a culture then you have to continue leting it sit at room temps (or warmer) to allow it more time to become more acidic.  If you used citric acid, then you have to increase the amount used next time. 

I have made cheese with and without the CaCl2 using pasteurized milk.  Though it makes an edible cheese, it is not that great IMO.  You can make a much better cheese from packaged curd.  Polly-O is the way to go.  Trust me.  I have also heard that raw milk makes a great cheese so if you can source that, then that's what I would try. 

Chau

[A-Neibs]

Thanks for the responses. I found a place around here that sells raw milk, so I'm gonna try that next. I want to be able to say that I've made it from scratch at least once. After that, I'll go to cheese curds. Where do you buy your polly-o cheese curds?