How to Make Mozzarella at Home | It’s So Simple!!
Have you ever wondered how to make mozzarella at home? I tried my hand at it recently, and let me tell you – I was surprised at how simple it was!
I have been actively trying to learn all the things since we purchased our farm property nearly 2 years ago. We don’t live there full-time yet, but I want to be prepared to make the most of my harvest yield once we are in that space.
One day I will have a dairy cow. It’s not a matter of if, but when. I seriously can’t wait! I plan to give her a darling old name like Hazel or Mabel – I mean how cute is that?? Having a dairy cow is at the very top of my want list, but will need to wait until after other priority needs are in place.
Why Did I Start Making Homemade Mozzarella?
I’m one of those people who have always wanted to do things myself. I’ve always thought it’s so much cooler to make something from scratch if you can. Sometimes it saves you money, sometimes it doesn’t. The value is really in testing the limits of what you can do with your own hands.
We go through so much dairy in our home! I’m talking cream for our coffee, butter for literally everything, cheese (like mozzarella) for our homemade pizzas, and ice cream to satisfy our sweet tooth. The thing is, I typically purchase all of the aforementioned dairy products in their finished form. I realized that while I’m in this waiting period of life, I can still learn how to make my own dairy products by purchasing raw dairy from a local farm. So here we are!
I purchased Soft Cheese Making: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Butter & Soft Cheeses at Home at the Brazos Valley Cheese Shop https://www.brazosvalleycheese.com/. This book the book isn’t available for purchase online right now. I’ve done the next best thing though, and posted the recipe from their book below.
What You’ll Need:
To make this homemade mozzarella, you will need a large stock pot capable of holding 10 quarts or larger, a cooking thermometer, citric acid, rennet, water, salt, a colander, and of course milk. One of the reasons I was drawn to this recipe in particular is because it doesn’t use a microwave. So many recipes that I’ve seen online call for microwaving your cheese after you heat the curds, which I just really struggle to get behind. This recipe uses a pot of hot salt water, which not only heats the cheese to allow for stretching and shaping, but also seasons it lightly.
One added bonus? You’ll end up with quite a bit of whey after straining your cheese! Hang with me. You can use this whey to easily make a second cheese – ricotta! If ricotta cheese isn’t quite your cup of tea, there are dozens of uses for that leftover whey.
So without further ado, here is the recipe that I used to make this homemade mozzarella!
Homemade Mozzarella
Equipment
- Large Stock Pot at least 10 quarts
- Cooking Thermometer with a pot clip
- Long Knife
- Colander
- Rubber Gloves optional
Ingredients
- 2 gallons Whole Milk raw if possible
- 3 tsp Citric Acid Powder, dissolved in 1 cup cool water
- 1/4 tablet rennet, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water or, 1/4 tsp of liquid rennet in 1/4 cup cool water
- 1/2 cup Sea Salt
Instructions
- Dissolve citric acid in cool water.
- Pour cold milk into your large stock pot and stir the citric acid into your cold milk
- Bring milk to 88°-90℉ over medium heat. Stir occasionally to ensure you get an accurate temperature reading.
- While the milk is heating, dissolve the rennet in water.
- Once the milk reaches temperature, turn off the heat and stir in the dissolved rennet.
- Let the milk sit undisturbed for 5 minutes until it thickens like custard.
- While the milk sets, in a separate pot bring 3 quarts of water and 1/2 cup salt to 185℉
- Cut the curd from top to bottom and right to left creating 1/2" cubes.
- Turn the heat on high and slowly stir the curds until the milk reaches 110℉. Turn off the heat, and continue to stir for 2 more minutes.
- Slowly pour the curds and whey into a colander set into another pot to collect the whey, and press whey out of the mass of curds to form 1 large lump.
- Put the lump or curds into a stainless steel bowl and pour the 185℉ salt water over it. Use your hands to stretch and pull the cheese into a rope. (This is where the rubber gloves come in handy!! That water is HOT)*If the cheese isn't hot enough, it will break apart when you try to stretch it. Place it back into the water to heat up again and continue to stretch as before.
- Once the mozzarella has been stretched for about 5 minutes, shape into dinner roll sized balls and let sit in ice water for 10 minutes.
- Remove mozzarella from water and enjoy!!
- To store, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, or put into a food storage container and refrigerate. Can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
