Mozzarella

Making Mozzarella
Look up how to make Mozzarella and like any other cheese, you will find a million different slight and major variations. There are options that take 15 minutes and others that take 15 hours. When I made it for the second time, I found myself flipping between options and ended up with a mixture of many approaches. My brain was in a distracted mood and this made it an entertaining adventure...however, I have no clear idea of what I did and what I might change next time, so generally I would advise going with one recipe and then making ever so slight changes to it over subsequent batches until it is just the way you like it!

Here is what I did...
Pasteurize 1 gallon of milk, cool to 80.
Add 1 and a half teaspoon citric acid and stir (in the future I would add citric acid to water before mixing it in.)
Heat to 91.
Add 1/4 tsp thermophilic starter. (Not every recipe includes tculture or the wait time.)
Stir well, cover  and let sit for 30-60 minutes.
Add 1/4 tsp rennet mixed with 1/4 cup water and stir.
(Some heat the mixture to 105 degrees and hold for 5 minutes until the curd and whey separate, others do like I did below.)
Let set until you get a clean break (15 minutes)
Cut curd into 1/2 inch cubes and let set for 10 minutes
Hang curds in cheesecloth to drain for an hour
(Save whey for ricotta. To make a little ricotta -enough for a pizza- Bring pot of whey to near boil. Then pour through cheesecloth to get curds. Let drain for a couple of hours, add salt and refrigerate.)
Make curd into 3-4 balls to dip individually in very hot near boiling salted water or whey.

Dip in hot water on slotted spoon for a few seconds. If it slides out holes of spoon it is too hot, but it should want to. This part is really fun. My kids like to come into the kitchen and get in on the action. It is funny how different in texture the cheese comes out with three different people stretching the curd. Cheesemaking has a lot to do with having a gentle touch.

Try to stretch cheese gently. Let it pull down with its own weight.
Dip again in hot water.
Stretch again.
Dip again if needed.
Fold and stretch and knead Mozzarella into a ball.
Dip ball in icy water to set shape.

Salt ball and store in fridge. Or... just eat them with some sliced tomatoes and basil. The only problem with Mozzarella is that 1 gallon of milk does not make nearly enough cheese for something so yummy. Next time I'm starting with 2-3 gallons of milk.