Making Mozzarella

We've been milking for over a year now (I say "we" isn't that funny!?!) and the only cheese I've made so far is 'farm cheese' because it is so fast and easy.  I have read the recipe for Mozzarella about a zillion times, and each time decided that it sounded too hard...

Well, the time has finally come!  I am going to do it! 

Homemade Mozzarella

Gather your ingredients and supplies:

Gallon on milk (ours is raw whole milk, but you could use store milk too)

Measuring spoons.

1/4 Teaspoon of Citric Acid dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

10 drops of liquid rennet in 1/4 cup warm water

Salt

Thermometer

Wooden Spoon, Slotted spoon

Gloves

Warm the milk up to about 88*-94*

Then add the citric acid, keep stirring.

It will start to separate.

Now add the rennet.

I keep stirring until the curds start to come together.

Then using a slotted spoon pull the curds out of the whey into another bowl.  

You could drain it through cheese cloth if you want.

I like to add a bit of salt to the curds.

Then you put the curds into the microwave for 30-60 seconds.  

This is the part I have always balked at, my grandma didn't have a microwave, but then I got over myself...

It'll look a bit like this.  

Then you have to knead it to get the whey out of the cheese.

At this point the smart thing to do is have gloves as the middle of the cheese is about 140*.  (And HOT!) and you need to knead it like bread. 

Knead and stretch.  If you can get it to stretch to about 12 inches you are done, but if not, put it in the microwave for another 30-60 seconds and do it again.  Keep draining off the water (milk).

Once it stretches, knead it into a ball and put it into icy cold salted water

Change the water once, then put it in the fridge to finish chilling.

Ta-Da!  See it's not as hard as I thought...

...and now getting brave enough to do Cheddar. (Now that will be a challenge!)

Oh, and then do all the dishes.  

A BIG thank you to my new resident photographer, Man, for helping me out!  It is so much easier to do tutorials when you have a "staff photographer!"