Tried yesterday to make mozzarella (the quick kind)-first time -yikes! I ruined 2 batches -the first batch I understood because the phone rang and my temps goat away -you know the rest of the story. So I was determined to do it -cleaned up and started over. Controlled my temp pretty well but still had failure -I was using the recipe in "Goats Produce" , similiar to the one on cheesemaking.com site also -I don't think my curd was firm enough when I cut it even though I let it sit for 30 min -my cuts kind of ran together and then when I began the heating up in the sink, I ended up with a big glob of elastic stuff -it actually looked sort of like mozarella, stretched and all before microwaving - but the whey was just wrong, still looked like milk. Am I just messing up the process somewhere, not getting a good curd or could it be old rennet? I can't remember if I bought this bottle last year or in 06. The rennet has been in the fridge - is it too old? I really want to do this but don't want to totally ruin another gal of milk until I troubleshoot. I did go ahead and finish the 2nd batch even though it didn't look right - checked in the fridge later and it was a yellow green ball -about a cup -yuck. The first batch, my son and I played catch with in the driveway -I know, crazy -but he thought it felt 'cool'. Thank you cheese queens for your help!!!! Ginger
There will be a lot of milkiness to the whey -- just keep working it. Here's how I have tweaked the recipe to work best for me: 1 tsp citric acid for every gallon milk dissolved in cold water, added to pot. Add cold milk, heat to 88, turn off heat and add rennet (1/4 tsp per gallon - 1/2 of that if you use the double strength veggie rennet, which I do.) Let sit 10 minutes. Cut curds into 1/2" cubes and let sit another 10 min. Ladle curds in to colander, tilt every so often to help whey drain. -- They will not look like cubes. If you are doing it right, it will mass into one, big mat - and it will be elastic looking when you tilt the colander, lifting away from the edges. Then start your nuking and stretching. Hope that helps.
I make the quick Mozz every Tuesday night for homemade Pizza night and it is always perfect! I use the recipe on Leeners.com...they even have a online video you can watch...the only thing you will have to do is try different store brands of whole milk if you are not using goat. As some of the store bought milks are just over pasteurized. Paula
