Burrata Cheese Making Recipe

[Sandy]

Thank you to all.  These comments and suggestions have all been very helpful.     

[iratherfly]

Brie, the melting in Mozarella has to do with acidity. The lower the acidity ( = the higher the pH), the more it melts. This is why you dunk it in water and dilute its acidity and deactivate acidifiers so that it begins to stretch.

In other words, you need to keep the filling that goes into the Buratta at higher acidity/lower pH (I say 4.8 to 5pH). It will keep it from melting.  Don't subject it to the heat and water that you use for the rest of your Mozarella portion (which is probably around 5.2-5.5pH). Does that make sense?

[Brie]

It makes perfect sense--I will dunk till it's drunk.

[linuxboy]

Maybe if you sprayed the inside surface of the mozz with a little vinegar to raise the surface acidity some more, it would help? So spray with vinegar, wait a minute, rinse to remove any residual vinegar flavor. Or as another option, what if you used mascarpone instead of cream? Or a mascarpone/cream mix... something to bring the acidity down a little. Or what if you cultured the cream with Leuconostoc like you would for creme fraiche? Just throwing out some ideas. Haven't tried any of these.

[Brie]

Thanks LB--actually, I have tried buratta using ricotta (mixed with pesto), and it was very good, in fact the ricotta held the cream much better than the mozzarella strands.  The vinegar method certainly deserves a try. What is it in mascarpone (or ricotta) that would lower the PH?

[linuxboy]

Mascarpone is just a lower pH by itself, so is ricotta.

[iratherfly]

Brie, dunk the Mozzarella, not the filling! yes? Linuxboy has a great idea. You can also mix the vinegar in your filling. Of course that would curdle it, but if you use rème fraîche than it may not curdle. But all that aside, anything that lowers the pH of the filling will prefent it from melting and knotting into the Mozzarella bowl