Homemade MOZZARELLA Recipe

30 Minute Mozzarella Recipe

Make Time: 30 minutes

Pressing: none
Aging: none
Yield: 1 pound

Ingredients
1 Gallon Whole Milk (Not Ultra Pasteurized)
1 1/2 tsp Citric Acid
Lipase Powder

Equipment

Everything needs to be clean and sanitized.

6+ Quart Stainless Steel Pot
Good Quality Thermometer
Curd Knife
Slotted Spoon/Ladle
Colander
Measuring Spoons
2 qt. Microwave Safe Bowl

Buy Supplies
Everything you need except the milk
C13 Citric Acid - 4oz
R4 Rennet Tablets - Option 1
R7 Liquid Animal Rennet - Option 2
L3 Lipase Powder - Mild
S1 Cheese Salt - 8oz
E18 Thermometer 5"
E15 Slotted Spoon/Ladle
E8 Curd Knife

Tips and Tricks

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The Right Milk for Mozzarella
Our best advice to date is to buy a LOCAL milk one that has not had to have the extensive Long Haul
treatment. For more details on finding a milk that works for you click here
A problem is that milk is being shipped cross country after being processed by huge processing plants. In
order to do this the milk must be processed at higher temps and then held at cold temps for long periods
of time while going these long distances to markets. This is especially true for our so called "organic
milks" Many of the milks not labeled as UP are in fact heat and cold damaged and will not make a proper
cheese curd for this Mozzarella, if your cheese is not working use our dry milk powder and cream
directions in the kit.
No Ultra Pasteurized Milk
If you have any concerns on your milk quality or you cannot form a nice curd like you see in the
following recipe click here for more info on Ultra Pasteurized Milk.
This is an example of curds that are not forming properly because of Ultra Pasteurized milk. Don't worry,
they will still be really yummy, they just won’t turn into Mozzarella. As explained in the link above, drain
these curds in butter muslin and enjoy them as they are or add some salt or herbs. This will make a great
spread for crackers.

Making Mozzarella Without a Microwave

If you would like to try this recipe without a Microwave please  click here.

A Few More Tips

 A substitution of reconstituted dry milk powder and cream is a great option if you cannot find the
right type of milk.

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  Lipase can be added to the milk to provide a more robust Italian cheese flavor
 If you want a softer texture, do not let the curd set as firm and work less when draining and
kneading, this will make a moister cheese.

The Milk
 Make sure the milk you use is not ultra-pasteurized.
 Homogenized milk will work fine.
 Fresh farm milk will also work well but we encourage you to try with 1 gallon of store bought
whole milk first.
 Low fat milk will work but the cheese will be drier and less flavorful.

1. Prepare Your Work Area:

Do not prepare any other food while you are making cheese. Put all food products away.
Move all sponges, cloths and dirty towels away from your work surface, wipe your sink and stove with
soap and water. Finally use your antibacterial cleaner to wipe down all surfaces.

2. Prepare Rennet:
Crush 1/4 tablet of rennet and dissolve in 1/4 cup of cool un-chlorinated water or add 1/4 tsp single
strength liquid rennet to the water. Set your rennet mixture aside to use later.

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 3. Mix Citric Acid and Milk:
Add 1 1/2 tsp. of citric acid, diluted in 1 cup cool water, pour this into your pot.
Now, pour cold milk into your pot quickly to mix well with the citric acid. This will bring the milk to the
proper acidity to stretch well later.

4. Heat the Milk:

Heat the milk slowly to 90F. As you approach 90F, you may notice your milk beginning to curdle slightly
due to acidity and temp.

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Note: If you're having problems with milk forming a proper curd, you may need to increase this temp to
95F or even 100F.

5. Add Rennet
At 90F, remove the pot from the burner and slowly add your rennet (which you prepared in step one) to
the milk. Stir in a top to bottom motion for approx. 30 seconds, then stop.
Cover the pot and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes.
Check the curd after 5 minutes, it should look like custard, with a clear separation between the curds and
whey. If the curd is too soft or the whey is milky, let it set for a few more minutes.

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 6. Cut and Cook the Curds:
Cut the curds into a 1" checkerboard pattern (as in the photo below).
Place the pot back on the stove and heat to 105F while slowly stirring the curds with your ladle (if you
will be stretching the curds in a hot water bath rather than using a microwave heat to 110F in this step).
Take the pot off the burner and continue stirring slowly for 2-5 minutes. (More time will make a firmer
cheese)

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 7. Transfer and Drain the Curds:
With a slotted spoon, scoop curds into a colander or microwave safe bowl (if the curd is too soft at this
point let it sit for another minute or so).
Once transferred, press the curd gently with your hand, pouring off as much whey as possible. If desired,
you can reserve the whey to use later in baking or as a soup stock.

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 8. Heat the Curds and Remove the Whey:
If in a colander transfer the curds into a heat safe blow. Next, microwave the curd for 1 minute.
You will notice more whey separation from the curd. Drain off all whey as you did before. Quickly work
the cheese with a spoon or your hands until it is cool enough to touch (rubber gloves will help since the
cheese is almost too hot to touch at this point).
Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each, and repeat the kneading as in the last step to aid in more
whey drain off and ensure even heating of the curds. Drain off all of the whey as you go.

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 9. Knead and Stretch the Curds:
Now the fun begins, knead quickly now as you would bread dough. Remove curd from bowl and continue
kneading until it is smooth and shiny. Return it to the microwave if needed (if it begins to cool before it's
ready to stretch). Add salt near the finish. At this point, if hot enough, the cheese should be soft and
pliable enough to stretch, and stretch, and stretch some more (like taffy). This is what makes it
Mozzarella
We hope you have as much fun with this as we do!

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Now knead your cheese back into a big ball until it is smooth and shiny
Your Mozzarella is ready as soon as it's cool enough to eat. To cool quickly place it in a bowl of ice water
and refrigerate. When cold you can wrap in plastic wrap and it will last for several days, but is best when
eaten fresh.

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Page 11 of 16
 Bon Appetit and Happy Cheese Making!

30 minute Mozzarella without using a Microwave

What you will need:

 1 Gal Good quality milk...Whole milk will produce the richest cheese (do NOT use Ultra
Pasteurized milk). Or the Nonfat dry milk and cream combo in Ricki's book
 Stainless Pot to hold 1 Gallon of milk
 Colander or Bowl to hold curds
 Another bowl or pot to hold hot water
 slotted spoon or ladle
 measuring spoons and cups
 Thermometer
 sharp knife
 1.5-2 tsp citric acid
 1/4 rennet tablet or 1/4 tsp liquid rennet

Quite often we get asked how to make this without the microwave, so we have combined the best of both
worlds. Using the traditional process for Mozzarella and Ricki's 30 minute magic recipe to make this
wonderful cheese that will make everyone smile.

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laying it out adding citric acid measuring rennet milk is almost at temp
1. Getting everything together:
We begin by collecting and sanitizing all of our equipment and gathering the ingredients. A 2 gallon pot
for the milk, a sharp knife, a colander, a couple of bowls, measuring cup, and slotted spoon plus the
ingredients and thermometer that came in your '30 minute mozzarella kit' are what should be in front of
you now. Also place another pot of water on to heat (you will need to get it to 175F... this will be used
later for stretching). Measure 1/4 tsp of liquid or add 1/4 rennet tablet into 1/4 cup of cool water and set
aside. Next Measure out 1.5 tsp of citric acid into a 1/2 cup measure of cool water and place this in your
milk pot. Now pour your milk into this pot with the citric acid and stir well. Some curdling will take place
because the milk is now quite acidic... No worries. Place the milk pot into the sink and fill your sink with
very hot water (110-125F should do). Stir the milk while watching the temperature rise to 90F. If your
sink water bath is still very hot you may need to add some cold water to it to keep the milk from rising
over 90F at this point....NOTE... if having problems with milk forming a proper curd you may need to
increase this temp to 95 or even 100F ...

adding rennet about 5 1/2 minutes milk is now a curd testing the set
2. Setting the milk
Now we are ready to make the milk into Mozzarella. Begin by adding the rennet diluted in water to the
milk, stirring up and down for 30 seconds and then letting everything rest quietly. In about 5 minutes a
curd should have formed as shown in the 2 photos on the right. If it seems a bit soft at this point it will be
OK to wait another 3-5 minutes. Test it by pulling the curd away from the pot with the back of the hand
and it should show a bit of clear whey. If a firm curd does not form please see note above.

cutting the curd scooping the curd out draining the whey our kit reads ideal pH
3. Separating the curds and whey:
First you will cut the curd with the knife into about 1 inch squares. Let this rest for 2-3 minutes. While
you are waiting drain the water from the sink and add new hot water to the sink at about 110-115F. Using
your slotted spoon, scoop the curd from the pot into the colander and allow the whey to drain into another

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bowl. When done transferring the curd to the colander, pour the whey back into your milk pot resting in
the sink of hot water. Rest the colander with curd in the pot of whey (notice that the curd in the photo
above is reading an ideal pH of 5.2 due to the citric acid you added) to keep the curd warm and add a
little salt to your taste (1/4-1/2 tsp if you like), the salt will work into the cheese in the following steps.
You may now fold this curd over on itself as it drains to increase the amount of whey running off. The
more you work the curd at this point the drier the Mozzarella will be.

Hot water for stretching heating the curd and we have stretch final forming
4. Stretching the curds
Now we are ready to heat the curds and stretch them. Begin by pouring some of the hot water that has
been simmering on the stove into another bowl and adjust its temp to about 175F. This will be too hot for
your hands so have thick rubber gloves or use the slotted spoon to work the curd in the hot water. Next
cut or break the curd into 1-2 inch pieces and begin placing them into the hot water. Work the curd
quickly at this point by pressing them together and folding over in the hot water to facilitate even heating.
It will begin to get quite sticky at this point. As the curd begins to meld together pull it from the hot water
and begin to stretch it. If the curd does not stretch check and adjust your water temperature and re
immerse the curd. At first it may be a bit lumpy but as you stretch the curd, it will become quite smooth.
Stretch it out several times and fold it back on itself and repeat. If it begins to cool too much (you will
notice it begin to tear), place it back in the hot water to reheat. When it seems to form a consolidated mass
and develop a sheen (stretches like taffy) you are ready to pull it all back into a ball for your final cheese.
At this point your Mozzarella is finished and you can make a brine with 2-3
tbs. of salt plus 2-3 tbsp. of your clear whey in a quart of very cold water. This
will chill the cheese and help it hold its shape.
The beauty of this process is two folds: 
1. You can control the amount of moisture in the cheese by the amount of
kneading and stretching you do.
2. You can stop at the end of step #3, place it in a sealed bowl, chill, and take it
Chill and Brine out the next day and complete the process when you are ready for fresh
Mozzarella.

STUFFED PIZZA MUFFINS RECIPE

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 Print
INGREDIENTS
 8 oz. fresh Italian sweet sausage patty
 Olive oil, for drizzling
 6 limes
 4 (5 oz.) pizza dough balls
 Provolone slices for topping and charring
 Pizza sauce
 3 oz. capicollo
 Kalamata olives
 Fresh mozzarella
 Oregano
 Extra basil and crushed red pepper flakes for garnish

LET'S GET COOKING...

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large cast-iron skillet coated with oil, break apart sausage and par cook. Remove
from heat.
3. Coat a large muffin pan with olive oil. Wrap a lime in aluminum foil, leaving a long tail.
Place dough balls in muffin pan, and press a lime into the center of each one. Finish with
a little drizzle of olive oil. Par bake dough for 10 minutes.
4. Remove limes from center of dough. Transfer dough shells to a sheet tray. Line each
dough cup with a slice of provolone. Then add a tablespoon of pizza sauce, a sixth of the
par-cooked sausage, a slice of capicollo, more sauce, kalamata olives, mozzarella, and
oregano. Continue with another layer of sausage, capicollo, more sauce, kalamata olives,
mozzarella, basil and finally a provolone cap. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until bubbly.
5. Now for the authentic pizza char! Torch the top layer (or broil) until golden and charred.
Top with torn basil leaves and crushed red pepper flakes.

BRAZILIAN COCONUT FLAN RECIPE

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INGREDIENTS
 1 can of condensed milk
 1 cup of coconut milk
 6 eggs
 1 cup of grated coconut
 1 cup of sugar to make the candy

LET'S GET COOKING...

1. In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs with the coconut milk, condensed milk and the grated coconut.
2. Pour the sugar into a mold of cheese and melt over medium heat to make it a caramel. Let it cover
bottom of the mold and cool.
3. Pour the mixture into the mold with the caramel, cover it and cook it in a water bath for one hour
until it curdles.
4. Let it cool, unmold and decorate with coconut strips.

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