Homemade Mozzarella
Making cheese at home is one of my favorite things. This recipe will show you how to make mozzarella at home, using mostly pantry staples. There are only a few ingredients that are a bit out of the ordinary, but once you are stocked up on cheese-making supplies, fresh mozzarella might become your new obsession.
Equipment
- 2 rubber gloves
- 1 large cheese cloth
Ingredients
- 3/4 teaspoon citric acid diluted in 3 tablespoons water (or 2 ounces of white vinegar)
- 4 drops vegetable rennet diluted in 3 tablespoons water
- 1 liter whole milk cannot be ultra-pasteurized, but other than that, grocery store milk should work!
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- First, dilute the citric acid in 3 tablespoons of water and set aside. Do the same with the vegetable rennet.
- Pour the milk into a large bowl or sauce pot. Gradually pour in the citric acid solution, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly. You do not want the milk to curdle, but just to get slightly blue around the edges.
- Continue to stir while you bring the milk mixture to 90°F. You can either do this on the stove on low heat if you are using the sauce pot, or you can do this by placing the bowl of milk in a bigger bowl and pouring hot water into the larger bowl to surround the bowl of milk.
- Once the milk has reached 90°F, remove it from the heat source and pour in the vegetable rennet mixture. Stir for 15 seconds, then let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.
- At the end of the 15 minutes, the milk should have curdled at the top. This means you can lightly press it with a finger and it feels bouncy. Use a knife to cut this solid layer into squares. Then gently swirl your hand in the milk to separate the squares up.
- Now place a cheese cloth over the top of a large bowl. Slowly pour in the milk mixture. The liquid is the whey, and the solid chunks are the curds. By pouring through the cheesecloth, you are separating the curds from the whey.
- Let the curds drain out for a few minutes. Give the cheesecloth a gentle squeeze to remove any excess liquid, and move the curds to a cutting board. You can discard the whey, or keep it to make ricotta later.
- Add the teaspoon of salt to the curds and knead it in gently with your hand. Then press the curds into a rough ball (image above for reference).
- Put on your rubber gloves, and add very hot (the hotter the better) water to a large bowl.
- Grab the curds in your hands, and dip it into the hot water. Begin to fold, stretch, and pull the curds. It will be crumbly at first, but the more you work it and dip it in the hot water, the smoother and more stretchable it will become. Continue to dip, stretch and fold.
- Do this process multiple times, but note that the less you do it, the more fatty and creamy the mozzarella will be. As soon as you reach your desired smoothness, you're close to being done!
- When the mozzarella is smooth, begin to shape it into a flat circle, and then press it into a ball.
- Serve immediately, or store in your fridge for later use!