Mozzarella is a traditional fresh cheese known for its mild flavor, springy texture and amazing stretching and melting ability. Here’s how you can create this popular cheese from home.

Yield

Approximately 900g traditional mozzarella cheese

Aging

none

Ingredients

7.5 L of cow or goat’s milk (not ultra-pasteurized)

1/ 8 teaspoon Bioprox TPF thermophilic culture

 ½ teaspoon liquid animal rennet (mixed with ½ cup non chlorinated water)

 Salt

Equipment

large stainless steel pot

thermometer

curd knife and curd cutter

slotted ladle or spoon

colander

large bowl

Instructions

Reminder: Sanitize all your equipment before you start making cheese.

1. Heat the milk to 32⁰ C over medium heat. Continually stir.

2. When the 32⁰ C target temperature is reached, sprinkle the thermophilic culture on the surface of the milk. Allow the culture to rehydrate for 2 minutes.

3. Thoroughly incorporate the culture to the milk by stirring gently in an up and down motion for 1 minute.

4. Cover the pot and let the milk ripen for 45 minutes. Maintain the 32⁰ C target temperature.

5. Stir the milk well. Add the rennet and continue to stir.

6. Let the milk set for 60 to 90 minutes. The whey should separate from the curds by this time and you will see mostly clear whey on top of the curd.

7. Gently cut the curds into ½-inch cubes.

8. Let the curds rest for 20 minutes to heal.

9. After 20 minutes, gradually increase the temperature to 37⁰ C over the next 30 minutes. To do this, increase the temperature by 1⁰ C every 6 minutes. Continue to stir. You will notice the curd shrink during this phase.

10. Once you reach the 37⁰ C target temperature, remove the pot from the heat and let the curds set for 20 minutes.

11. While letting the curds set, warm a gallon of water to 48⁰ C.

12. Line a colander with cheesecloth or butter muslin. Put the curds in the colander to drain.

13. Put the curds back into the pot.

14. Fill your sink with warm water (48⁰ C) and put the pot containing the curds in the water-filled sink. Let the curds set at this temperature for 2 to 3 hours. At the end of this process, you should have a firm cake of curd.

15. Slice the curd into 4 equal pieces.

16. Set aside 3 pieces of the sliced curd.

17. Put on your gloves. Take one of the pieces and pour warm some water over your first piece of mozzarella. You’ll notice that it will gradually begin to lose its shape and meld into a soft mass.

18. Using your hand or a wooden spoon, lift this curd mass and allow it to stretch from its own weight. If you notice that the curd mass begins to cool and becomes less stretchy, you can add more warm water. Give the cheese a few long pulls, folding it back to itself until the cheese becomes nice and stretchy. You may opt to add salt during the stretching process. Then form the cheese into a ball.

19. Do the same process for the three other pieces.

20. You may also opt to brine your mozzarella. Soak it in a brine solution for 2 hours. Take it out, pat dry and store in the fridge.

There are lots of ways you can use your mozzarella cheese. You can shred it and use it in pizza and pastas. You can also use It as an ingredient to vegetable and meat dishes, use as an ingredient in making salad dips or just eat it with fruits.