Thanks all, I appreciate the nice words.
Ron, it's not you. I have tried every which way to make fresh mozz from store bought milk. I have tried numerous brands of milk including organic milk. Bottom line is old milk doesn't make good fresh cheese. Yes you can make a cheese that looks and melts like mozz, but it just won't be that good. I have heard from several members that the cheese made from raw milk is great. That I can believe. Cheese made from bought curd is much less time consuming to make and yields a much better product.
Bobino, thank you for all your help and tips when I was learning about how to make cheese.
Do you only use this cheese now for all pizza or do you buy different cheese for NY style type pies?
I have only made cheese from Belgioso curd and Polly O curd and I prefer the Polly O over the Belgioso. I can say that the cheese made from Belgioso curd is better than the store bought one if you don't cook all the butter fat out of it and don't overstretch it. Polly O made from curd is a great cheese. Melts nice, has a good mouth feel and flavor, and isn't rubbery even after the slice has cooled.
I do use this Polly-O for both my hybrid pies and some of my trial NP pies, but it is better for NY and hybrid pies. I typically like to mix the Polly-O with Stella or another shredded block mozz and blend of aged cheeses for flavor (Parm/Pecorino/Asiago).
For NP style, I like a ultra white looking cheese that is softer to replicate the look of bufala. The polly-o is more of a cream color and when thawed it is not quite as soft as other fresh mozz cheese. For NP, I recently tried the Calabro brand fior di latte and that gives a closer look to bufala. There are a host of other bleached white fresh mozz to choose from the local grocery stores, but all that I have tried produced inferior results.
I have posted this before, but if anyone is a fan of the high quality fresh mozz Di Palo sells, it is made from Polly-O curd. If I order their cheese I have to order at least 10 lbs to make it worthwhile, and with shipping the cost is about $12/lb. If I make my own cheese using the same curd (and the cheese taste the same to me
) it is less than $3/lb. Gotta love that.
The only caveat about this curd is that it comes in 2 (21 lb) blocks so you'll have to find a friend to split it or do what I do, make 10lbs at a time over several weeks and freeze the extra.
Norma - Making cheese from curd is a very easy and relaxing process. Anyone can do it. If you can boil water....and add a bit of salt, you can make cheese.
Mike - Chris Angel's magic is mind blowing. I can't even say that I am almost the Chris Angel of things related to pizza making. That would be too big of a compliment, but thank you.
The cool thing about making your own cheese and doing other things pizza related, is that we can in fact demystify the hype and magic that is so pervasive.
LesPaul - thank you for the vote.
Scott - Thank you for the tip. I don't smell anything funny. The brand of plastic wrap is Bakers & Chefs from Costco or Sams. If anyone is using this brand and smells something odd, let me know.
Chau
