failed mozzarella. what now?

[hydromojo]

Hello - guess I had one of those days where the curd 'overacidified'. The resulting mush did no pull and was crumbly and soft. I used a homemade yoghurt and buttermilk combo to start things off followed by 8 drops off vegetable rennet for 2ltrs of milk.
Figuring there was nothing left to loose, I salted the curd and left it overnight to drain in the refrigerator to see what happens.
I now have a formed mass, still crumbly though. Any ideas on what i could do with this ? Is there any sense in wrapping this up in a bandage (kept in the refrigerator) to see if there is a hope of a rind forming?

[linuxboy]

Way too acidic it looks like. You can put herbs in it and use as a spread or cook with it.

[DeejayDebi]

Before you give up ...

throw it in the microwave for a minute and stir it up. Do this several times. After a while it may still come together into a mozzarellaish cheese. Sometimes it takes 10 or more heatings to form a cheese but it may still do it. It seems this happems to a lot of people and this has saved many a droopy cheese.

Good Luck!

[MrsKK]

Or you could use it as a dry cottage cheese-type of product - crumble it on pizza or into lasagna, on bruschetta or toasted sandwiches.  If you can't use it all right away, you could bag up  recipe sized portions and freeze it.

Have you tasted it?

[Sailor Con Queso]

How do you know you are "over acidified" Have you tested the pH? Mozz will not go into stretch mode unless the pH is around 5.2. From my perspective, your pH is probably too high - UNDER acidified. If your cultures were not active enough, they might not have produce enough acid quickly. Refrigerating overnight probably didn't help. The bacteria are active, but they are slowed way down at frig temp. After all, that is why we put things in the frig in the first place. Did you leave the curds in whey overnight or were they super dry? (Should have left them in whey).

Try leaving your "mess" at room temp for at least a few hours to give the bacteria a chance to jump start, then try again. Test the pH if you can. Take a test piece and nuke it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so to test for stretch. When the curds hit 145F or so, they should take on a glossy sheen and you should be able to stretch. If not hot enough, nuke a little longer.

... and despite best efforts, sometimes certain brands of milk just don't work.

[hydromojo]

Sailor - my mistake. I dont have pH strips (which is something I will invest in right away). From the taste, i could tell that the curd was sour, hence acidic(?).
I make fresh yogurt every day so have an idea what time it takes for the yogurt to turn out 'just' right based on average temperature when i put the milk to set. I make buttermilk once a week with the accumulated cream from boiling milk every day. These are my sources to acidify my milk, which is fresh from cows in the neighbourhood.
What I have found is that after I mix in the rennet, I get a clean break in under 3 hrs. If I wait for, say about 5 hrs, a fluffy kind of crop forms on my cheese. From what I have seen, that is the point of no return, as the curd and whey have 'turned' sour. That's been my indicator for a while with a hit rate of about 50% - growing better I think with more experience  . Though not as scientific as pH strips, this worked most of the time.
Looking forward to using the pH strips to see if I can make this process more fool proof.

[Waitawa Farm Cheesemaking]

I found a recipe on this site posted by Mrs KK, her recipe gives a really good consistent result this is the thread, I am not sure how to insert a link
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1452.0.html#msg10890

[MrsKK]

Thanks for the "referral", Waitawa!  I'm glad you're having success with making mozzerella now.

[Waitawa Farm Cheesemaking]

The mozzarella was great, we had it on pizza, it is such a fast method- did you develop it yourself? Also. do you mind if I hand out your recipe at my next beginners soft cheesemaking workshop?

[MrsKK]

I can't take the credit.  It was what I came up with after tweaking Ricki Carroll's recipe, as I didn't get consistent results from her's.

Go ahead and share it!  I love it that I'm actually able to help people here with something, as I'm not as precise and scientific as most of the members here.  I'm more of a down-home, fly by the seat of my pants kind of a cook and cheesemaker.

[DeejayDebi]

  I'm more of a down-home, fly by the seat of my pants kind of a cook and cheesemaker.

My kind of girl! 

[Waitawa Farm Cheesemaking]

Thanks Mrs kk, I have also posted your recipe on a nz site called cottagecrafts, with credit to you. thanks again

[MrsKK]

wow!  World-wide renown!  I feel special.