Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Recipes

Steps:

• Crush the rennet into the water and stir to dissolve.
• Pour milk into a non-reactive pot (no aluminum or cast iron).
• Place over medium heat. Sprinkle the citric acid over the milk and stir a few times. Heat milk to 88°F; milk will begin to curdle.
• At 88°F, add the rennet solution and continue stirring slowly every few minutes until the milk reaches 105°F Turn off the heat. Large curds will appear and begin to separate from the whey (the clear, greenish liquid).
• With a slotted spoon or mesh strainer, scoop the curd into a large glass bowl. (If it's still too liquid, let it set for a few more minutes). Press the curds gently with your hand and pour off as much whey as possible.
• Microwave curds on high for 1 minute, then drain off all the excess whey.
• With a spoon, press curds into a ball until cool.
• Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each, and continue to drain the whey and work cheese into a ball.
• In the meantime, place the whey over medium heat and let it heat to about 175°F.
• When cheese is cool enough to touch, knead it like bread dough until smooth. When you can stretch it like taffy, it is done. You can sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons salt into the cheese while kneading and stretching it. The cheese will become stretchy, smooth and shiny. If it is difficult to stretch and breaks easily, dip it into the hot whey for a few seconds to make it warm and pliable. Then pick it up again and stretch it into a long rope. Fold over and stretch again. Dip in hot whey as needed to make the cheese pliable.
• When the cheese is smooth and shiny (this takes just a few minutes), it is ready to eat. Shape it into a log or golf-size balls, then store in a solution of 2 teaspoons salt to 1 cup water.

Steps:

• In a large stock pot, add the water. Add enough salt to the water until it tastes like saltwater. Bring the temperature of the water up to about 120 to 130 degrees, until the touch of the water is like hot bath water. Place a colander in the water. Crumble the cheese curd into the water. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture until the curd starts to pull. Using your hands or a spoon, pull the cheese until it begins to hold shape. It's like pulling taffy. Do not over pull the cheese because the end product will be rubbery. It is like you are pulling taffy. If the cheese hardens to soon, dip the cheese back in the water and repeat the pulling process. After the desired weight is achieved dip the cheese in an ice bath. The cheese can either be stored in salted water or rolled in plastic wrap. If you want to flavor the cheese, add the flavorings during the pulling process. Rub your hands with the herbs and garlic and work them into the cheese.

Steps:

• In a large pot, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil.
• In the second pot bring 1 gallon of water to warm to almost a boil.
• Place 2 tablespoons salt and as much ice in the third gallon of very cold water in a large bowl.
• Break up the mozzarella curd into small pieces. Coat the curd with 2 tablespoons of salt, and set aside.
• This is where it gets a little tricky. Carefully pour the boiling water over the salted curd. As the curds begin to melt, carefully stir with a wooden spoon when it becomes one transfer it to the pot with the warm water. I wear gloves because the water is hot and needs to be that way to stretch the mozzarella in hot water. The curd will have settled into the bottom of the bowl, and at this point you have to work quickly or risk over-cooking the curd. Using the wooden spoon stir and stretch the mozzarella. By stretching the cheese you insure that all the curds have completely melted. The curds will become incredibly soft and have buttery shine, and also, it smells wonderful. At this point I place the curd in the second bowl of warm water so not to have the cheese get to tough. Form the mozzarella into tomato size balls or larger, your prefrence and then drop the mozzarella into the salted ice water to stop the cooking process. Work quickly, as the mozzarella will start to become rubbery the longer it sits in the hot water.
• Wrap each mozzarella ball tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week. If it doesn`t get eaten before that.
• Serve the cheese with garden feresh tomatoes & fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper.