Homemade Mozzarella

It seems crazy, I know. Must be a lot of work, right? Nope. Must be really hard? Nope. Must be more expensive? Nope. It’s rather fascinating that only a few things plus some heat can get you creamy fresh mozzarella. Honestly, the whole time I was making this I just kept thinking, “this isn’t gonna work. This isn’t gonna work.” But then, it worked. I had cheese. I made cheese from a gallon of milk. I didn’t die and I made cheese. It’s pretty exciting, if you get excited about that kind of thing. There are only two things you need to get that you likely don’t already have: citric acid and rennet. They’re not scary things, just some powder and a liquid. Plus when you count the cost of how many times you can use each of them... it’s definitely cheaper to make fresh mozzarella than to buy it. At Kroger the cheapest price I could find was $4.79 for a pound of mozzarella. This recipe makes 1lb 4oz and comes out to only $.34 ($.14 for citric acid and $.20 for rennet) more than the price of a gallon of milk, which I got for $1.88. You can use a 2oz bottle of rennet for 48 batches of mozzarella. You can use a 7.5oz container of citric acid for 25 batches. Maybe you still don’t think it’s worth buying two extra things. That’s fine. But know that if you ever change your mind, it’ll be really simple and the recipe is right here. Let’s make mozzarella together.

Get out your stuff. Large pot, gallon of whole milk, citric acid, rennet, salt and water.

See, not scary. Just two little containers.

Start by diluting 1/4t rennet into 1/4c of water. Set aside for after the milk is heated.

Next dissolve 1 1/2t citric acid into 1c of water.

Pour your citric acid water into your pot.

Pour your milk on top of your citric acid water. It’ll mix well this way.

Heat your milk to 90° on medium heat.

Once you hit 90°, take your pot off of the heat. Add your rennet water to the pot and disperse it by pushing down a few times on the milk with a non-metal spatula.

Cover the pot and let it sit for 15 minutes or until you see the whey begin to separate from the curds.

Take a long sharp knife and cut your curds into cubes, making sure to reach all the way to the bottom. You should have clear separation from the whey. Also, I anticipated the curds to be way firmer than they were, so don’t think you ruined it if they are really delicate- mine were too.

Put your pot back on medium heat and bring it up to 105-110°, slowly stirring. Once you reach 105° take it off the heat and stir for 2-5 minutes.

Grab a microwave safe bowl, clean gloves and something slotted to scoop.

Scoop your curds into your bowl.

Microwave for 1 minute.

Sprinkle in the salt and knead the cheese. The gloves are because it’s hot. Drain off whey as you go. As it cools, reheat it for 30 second. Knead it like bread. When it’s really streatchy it’s done.

Shape it how you want: a log, a ball, lots of little balls. Eat it fresh or pour cool water over it to cook it down, then store in the fridge (without water) air tight.

Yum. Now go make lasagna.

Mozzarella recipe

(Makes 1lb)

Ingredients:
1 gallon whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon citric acid + 1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon rennet + 1/4 cup water
​1 teaspoon salt

Process:

-Mix your Citric acid with corresponding water
-Mix your rennet with corresponding water, set aside for later.
-Pour your citric acid water into a large pot.
-Pour your milk over the citric acid water.
-Over medium heat, bring the milk to 90°.
-Remove from heat, pour in rennet water, stir by pushing down for 30 seconds.
-Put your kid on and let it sit for 5 minutes or until you see the whey separate from the curd.
-With a sharp long knife, cut your whey into cubes being sure to reach all the way to the bottom.
-Over medium heat, bring your milk/curds and whey up to 105°, stirring slowly.
-Take pot off the heat and stir for 2-5 minutes.
-Scoop curds into a microwave safe bowl using a slotted spoon.
-Microwave curds for 1 minute.
-Add salt and knead cheese until really stretchy. Use gloves.
-Shape Mozzarella as desired. Cool in cold water, store (without water) airtight the refrigerator.

Have something you want to make together? Let me know in the comments.