First attempt to make Mozzarella using Ricki Carroll’s kit and instructions. Temp in the kitchen is 72 degrees and it is 2:30 PM. Got one gallon of Manchester Farms milk which is pasteurized but not homogenized with an expiration date of 12 days from today.
Used one quarter cup of filtered water from fridge. Crushed a quarter tables of Rennet and stirred it in. Stirred it for a while, but it never fully dissolved. (Maybe the water is too cold?)
One and half-teaspoons of Citric Acid was stirred into one cup of water from fridge (Our water is chlorinated. Could that have caused the ensuing problems?). This dissolved in the water very fast. Poured the mixture into the stainless steel two gallon pot I am using followed by the milk, and then I stirred it all with a wooden spoon. Put the pot on the stove (middle row, front burner) and turned on the burner on Low. Time was 2:40 PM. Used thermometer to check the milk temp (64 degrees) and stirred slowly until the milk reached 90 degrees (this went until 2:52 PM).
Stirred in the Rennet solution which still showed crystals in the water. Used the wooden spoon to stir slowly for 30 seconds using up and down motion and then turned off the heat and covered the pot. Waited five minutes. When I looked inside, the milk had started to coagulate but was still very liquid and was not separating from the pot and I could see no whey at all. So, I waited five more minutes with the pot covered. Looked again, still the same. (Do I need more Rennet?) So, I waited 5 more minutes. After this, the milk temp was down to 88 degrees and tilting the pot slightly showed a custard like surface and separation from the side. Finally!
I used a pastry knife to cut the curds as shown in the booklet with the four cuts. Looked good as far as I knew with the curds separating from a yellowish-green whey. I set the pot back on the burner and turned it on low. Moved the curds around with the spoon while waiting for the curds to reach 105 degrees. As I was working this, the curds separated out and started sinking into the whey and also seems to start stretching out (they lost their shape and were becoming little shiny blobs).
When the mix reached 105 degrees I turned the fire off but kept stirring for three more minutes. At this point, I could only see a milky whey at the top of the pot and the temp was down to 103 degrees (time was 3:29 PM). I poured off the why then ladeled the solids into a glass bowl.
Microwaved the solids for one minute in a 1300 watt microwave, poured off some more whey and added one teaspoon of salt. Tried pulling the solids but they never formed into a ball, instead it felt like they were separating out more. Put it back in the microwave for 3 sets of 30 seconds each time to get it up to 135 degrees but by this point the solids had broken down into a milky substance that had no firmness to it at all. It looked like it became a liquid again, and also was not holding any shape. Time now was 3:51PM
Took the dog for a walk.
At 4:19 I looked at it again and the stuff looked like very thin cottage cheese with a few small lumps in it. Decided this was not working so put it in a colander that was lined with cheese cloth and gave up for the evening. The next morning, what I had was a firmer white cheese the tasted like Fromage Blanc - which I mixed with chives and spread on bread. Tasty, but not what I was looking for.
Help?
