I’ve spotted whole milk (full cream milk) before and wondered who would buy it given our fat conscious society – but today, I found every reason! Time to experiment and make my own delicious, soft cheese: mozzarella!
As a novice to cheese-making I thought I’d start with something relatively easy. Soft cheeses I heard are a good place to start: feta, haloumi, mozzarella, ricotta.
Unlike the Mainland Cheese ads you’ll recall from the goggle box, not all good things take time. Homemade mozzarella can be made in under an hour! That settled it. Stringy mozzarella was calling my name and I wasn’t resisting.
When making cheese you’ll need plenty of whole milk, so buy up large. This recipe took 3.7 litres and I tried several outlets before getting enough. Dairies generally may not carry the quantities you need but specialty stores and supermarkets will.
Puhoi Valley and Lewis Road Creamery are top contenders for city folk – look for their silvery tops. I used Puhoi Valley Non-Homogenised fresh, organic, full cream milk. It’s got nothing added, the way it used to be, leaving the cream to rise naturally to the top. In rural areas some farmers sell raw milk to customers from their farm gate. Delicious!
There are a few things that I suggest you have at hand before getting excited, other than full cream milk of course!
- ensure you have a cooking thermometer – it will remove the element of guess work when it comes to crucial heat points;
- you’ll need large oven-top saucepan and slotted spoon; and
- you’ll need rennet, the magic ingredient.
Rennet is an enzyme used for making the majority of cheeses. It speeds up the coagulation process to form a tighter and stronger curd, as in the case with stringy mozzarella. Rennet can come in powder, tablet and liquid form. I happened to have a tablet and just a quarter of this was enough to produce a lovely round of mozzarella worth a small fortune in the supermarket.
If using powder or tablet, dilute rennet with cooled, boiled water before adding to milk. Using warm or hot water may kick start the process before it should. Rennet must be kept cold (either stored in your fridge or even the freezer). Each sachet, tablet or liquid will have some indication on pack as to how much whole milk it can work with.
There are a few steps, take note:
Homemade Mozzarella
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup water (cooled, pre-boiled water)
- 1 1/2 tsp citric acid
- 1/4 rennet tablet (or 1/4 teaspoon of liquid rennet)
- 3.7 litres of whole, full cream milk
- 1 tsp salt
Method
- In a small bowl mix 1 cup of water with citric acid; stirring until dissolved. In another bowl dissolve rennet in 1/2 cup of water. Set both aside.
- In a large saucepan warm the whole milk and citric acid/water mixture. Using your thermometer, heat to 90ºF stirring gently. Once you’ve reached 90ºF add the rennet/water mixture to the milk and take saucepan off the heat. Stir for approximately 30 seconds (counting to 30 will do). Stop, cover the saucepan and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. After this time check to see if the curd has begun to set (should resemble soft tofu, or scrambled eggs). If not, cover again for another 5 minutes.
- While still in the yellow liquid whey, cut the curd with a sharp knife, ensuring the knife goes right through.
- Put back over heat until it reaches 105ºF, stirring slowly. Eventually curd will clump into more solid portions and separate from the whey. Remove from the heat and stir slowly for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the curd from the whey using a slotted spoon. Don’t throw away that whey just yet! Put the curd in a microwavable bowl and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Drain off any excess whey. The mix will now be creamier and more pliable than before, much like a dough. Using rubber gloves (as the curd will be hot) fold it over on itself a few times, as if you are kneading bread dough. Microwave for another 30 seconds or until the curd has reached 135ºF*. When you are satisfied it is the right temperature, sprinkle salt over the curd then use your thumbs to push it into the curd. Then literally ‘stretch’ and pull the curd until it tightens and becomes firmer to touch.
- Shape into a ball, sprinkle with more salt and put into an air-tight container. Cover with whey (the original whey from the saucepan) then keep in the fridge. Like this, the mozzarella will last for a week happily.
*Raising the temperature of the curd to 135ºF is important otherwise it won’t stretch properly.
I must say that the cheese making process was remarkable. I’ve never really took an interest in science since school so watching the curd clump and the whey separate was truly wondrous, especially knowing I would be enjoying it within a matter of hours.
This certainly won’t be my last cheese adventure. I will keep you posted!
