Mozzarella advice

[welly]

Hello all,

This is really my first attempt at making mozzarella and first attempt at making a cheese, in fact.

Currently, my cheese is looking like this at the "cooking the curds" stage.



It appeared to be going fine but when I drained the whey away, it became quite dry and bitty looking as you can see in the image. I've been cooking/warming the curds for about an hour now and I'm going to keep warming them for another hour and then will start to try and mould them into shape but my concern is they won't hold together because they have become so bitty and crumby. Any thoughts or suggestions why this might have occurred?

The milk I'm using is standard full cream milk from the super market (so pasturised and homogenised) and I used a MOT092 culture with it. Also used Calcium Chloride as recommended by the recipe.

Thanks in advance!

welly

[welly]

Ok, it came together in the end:



I think it might have needed some more kneeding and possibly the temperature of the hot water bath when I was shaping the cheese (I heated up the whey) could have done with going up a bit more to make it more pliable but I've got cheese! The little bit in the picture I put to the side to give it a taste test. It's good! It tastes like cheese! It's a little more rubbery than I thought it would be but first go wasn't a bad effort. And I think the reason why it ended up being more bitty is probably because of the way I cut the curd. I'll improve on that next time. It's in a brine bath in the fridge and I'll be taking a few into work on Monday.

[SOSEATTLE]

Have a cheese for your success. Looks yummy  .



Susan

[welly]

Thanks Susan! So it turns out it's simply too solid and rubbery. Not entirely sure why - perhaps I didn't stretch it enough? Maybe I cut the curds incorrectly? It tastes quite good but not sure I can do much with it.

[awakephd]

Welly, I am NOT an accomplished mozarella maker, so take the following with a grain of salt (or brine, as you prefer): I think at least two factors could lead to a more rubbery texture: 1) cooking/stirring the curds too dry -- try aiming for a lower final temperature next time, and 2) over-stretching the cheese. I wonder if fat content might also be a factor.

What recipe did you use?

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[welly]

Thanks for your feedback awakephd!

The recipe I got was from Green Living Australia. It was essentially:

- Heat milk to 33c using indirect heat
- Add culture and lipase (if using) and let it sit undisturbed for 33 minutes
- Add rennet and let it set for an hour
- Cut curd into 1cm cubes
- Curds back on heat for 30 minutes (at 33c)
- Increase the heat to 41c over 30 minutes, stirring gently/occasionally
- Drain off the whey and put the curds back in the pot
- Keep the curds at 41c for 2 1/2 hours, draining additional whey
- Test for acidity and when ph goes down to 5.2, cut the curds again, drain off any excess whey and place curds into water that's been heated to 77c
- Knead the curds and form balls

It was about the point that the curds were heated for 2 1/2 hours that they were really quite dry looking. There was hardly, if any whey in them at that point. Was using normal, pasturised milk. I suspect that they were too dry. But I did follow the recipe to a tee, although to be fair there was a couple of occasions the temperature of the pots went over the suggested temperature by 2 or 3 degrees, which I'm sure didn't help.

Cheers!

welly