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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Pasta Filata (Pulled Curd) => Topic started by: douglas on September 26, 2012, 06:48:22 PM

Title: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on September 26, 2012, 06:48:22 PM
Ok, so I've been making mozzarella for about a month now, to use in making pizza at home.  It has been working rather well, but I'm wondering if I could control it better for pizza use.  I'm using an "American mozzarella" recipe, with citric acid and rennet, so it will go quickly.  The curd forms in 10min at 90deg., then I cut it into roughly 1/2inch cubes.  I've heated this up to apr. 105deg. for 10-20mins and also just scooped it out right away, both seem to work about the same.  Then to stretch the curd I've either heated in a double boiler, or in the whey at 185deg.  I like the double boiler better, it is cleaner, seems to go faster, and I think heating the curd in the whey for stretching seems to melt out the fat from the curd.  Then stretch and fold, and adding 1 teaspoon of salt to the curd, from the gallon of milk.

Anyway, it works, and then I grate it onto the pizza.  But I find that this mozzarella doesn't really melt all that well, it only melts a little.  This works well for the "Italian style" pizza, where I have disks of fresh mozzarella on the sauce, with largish gaps between them.  But the kids want a smooth layer of gooey-stretchy cheese on top, and this mozzarella isn't that gooey-stretchy.  Tastes good, just not that gooey.

How do I control the mozzarella I make to either get it to melt more or less on pizza?  What factors are involved in controlling the melting quality of cheese?
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 01, 2012, 07:48:31 PM
Ok, just as a follow up to the posting I had before, I looked at things, and there seems to be a lot of talk about "flocculation" and "multiplier times" in controlling the quality of the cheese, in terms of dryness, and moisture of the cheese.  So, this past weekend, when I made mozzarella again, I changed that.  I was getting a good curd after 10 mins before, so I would cut the curd then to save time.  This time I waited 30mins, since people seem to say that longer times setting the curd will result in more moisture, and a softer cheese.  Also I was cutting the curd rather randomly at 1/2inch or so cubes.  This time I carefully cut at 1inch cubes, since people seem to say larger cubes of curd will also result in a moister softer cheese. 

This seemed to result in a much higher yield, with more curd produced to be drained, like twice as much.  But then I put the curd into a double boiler for heating and stretching, and the curd expressed a lot more whey then it had before, so not sure that it helped or not.  It seemed to take longer to get the curd to stretch also, but it got there, and I got a good ball of mozzarella, that tasted good.  Not sure, but maybe in the end, I did get a higher yield, it seemed to be more than a pound, but if so, it was a slight change, like 20% more cheese from the gallon.

So, then I made pizza with it last night, and in the end, no real difference.  The cheese tastes good on the pizza, but it still doesn't melt all that much.  Just a little, before it browns, so no gooey melted cheese experience for the kids yet.

So, I'll stick with the success that I do have.  Next to try I guess is to mess with the fat content.  Maybe going for 2% milk, or adding a cup of cream to see how that effects things.  Plus I need to try with the "good" milk now, the $3.50 "normal" pasturized homogenized milk is working for me, now try the $8 local grass fed non-homogenized milk, and see how that goes.  (I'm putting off trying the $18 local raw milk for awhile yet...)

(Also I try making ricotta from the whey each time, and this time, very little ricotta, like only 1-2oz from the gallon.  I might stop doing that, since it is about another whole hour heating and cooling the milk for such a low yield, I usually got 3-4oz.  But having one spoonful of ricotta in the middle of each slice of pizza is kinda nice, so not sure yet...)
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: JeffHamm on October 01, 2012, 08:13:37 PM
Hi Douglas,

I've not made mozz very often, and haven't had great luck.  However, my understanding about melting and such is that it is related to the acidity.  Too much or too little, and the cheese won't melt well.  It could be that you need to let the curds rest longer (after draining).  I know some traditioanl mozz makes let the curds sit over night before you stretch them.  You could look for one of those makes and see how that goes (MrsKK has one I believe), althoguh these are generally for raw milk.

- Jeff
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: bbracken677 on October 02, 2012, 01:07:35 AM
Or perhaps add a cup of cultured buttermilk and let that work for 30 minutes or so before adding rennet/citric acid.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 02, 2012, 02:18:30 AM

Oooh, so I was thinking there has to be some info out there, so I tried different google searches, and came up with some things:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/why-melting-cheese-to-perfection-is-a-science/article566932/ (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/why-melting-cheese-to-perfection-is-a-science/article566932/)

http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/20330/what-determines-how-well-cheese-melts (http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/20330/what-determines-how-well-cheese-melts)

http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk%20Composition/Protein.htm (http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk%20Composition/Protein.htm)

Looks like it is in the strength of the bonds.   Seems that the main secret is in the acid level, no melting is too hard a cheese, is too acidic a curd.  So, it looks like I melt a little, but not enough, means I'm a little too acidic.  So, next thing to try is reduce the amount of citric acid, and see what that does.

Also mentions the amount of bonds, and that higher calcium content will produce more longer bonds.  I'm using pasturized homogenized milk, so I should try adding a bit of calcium chloride also, and see what that does.  Maybe using better non-homogenized milk would give me a more meltier mozzarella.

They also see to suggest that more moisture and more fat will help in the melting, but until there is too much fat, and it starts coming out as oily butter fat when baked, don't want a greasy pizza.  So, the longer set time, and larger cuts will help, but adding cream probably won't be what I need.

Ok, next time only 1tsp of citric acid (instead of 1.5tsp), and 1/8tsp of calcium chloride.  Something to try next.  Oh, and I just found Berkeley Farms whole milk for $2.80 at the Indian market around the corner, even better than the $3.50 I was getting, bonus.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: Alison on October 03, 2012, 11:47:14 AM
Hi

This may be a bit left field but remember that citric acid mozz leopards (goes brown in spots) - maybe that is happening before you really get the temperature of the middle of the pizza up?
check out
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,6189.msg44210.html#msg44210 (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,6189.msg44210.html#msg44210)

regards
Alison
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 09, 2012, 08:24:37 PM
Well, you might be right, that this mozzarella seems to brown more, and in spots.  But I'm pretty sure it is getting hot enough, the pizza is bubbling quite well in the oven, at 550deg. and on a heavy pizza stone.  The crust is well browned and nicely crispy, so I don't think the cheese temp on the pizza is a problem.

But made Mozzarella again over the weekend, and put it on pizza last night.  I reported on the making of this on another mozzarella thread here, but the main point is that I reduced the citric acid to 1tsp for a gallon, and added ~1/4tsp of calcium chloride.  Added the rennet at 90deg., and let that sit for 30mins.  Then cut it at 1inch cubes, and heated that in a hot water bath to 110deg. over another 30mins., then scooped out the curd, and heated that curd for stretching right away.  The curd expressed quite a bit of whey, and took awhile to get to stretching.  It looked like it wasn't going to happen, but I checked the curd temp, and it was at 175deg.  I got it up to 185deg., and that did it, kneaded it a bit, and there was the nice ball of mozzarella.

But in the end it wasn't that much different really.  It sat in the fridge for 2 days before I used it.  It did feel softer, and maybe on the pizza it did melt a bit more.  But only a bit, still not gooey just yet.  Nice, good cheese, just not gooey. 

I might be getting as far as I can with the citric acid mozzarella, I'll try reducing the amount of citric acid again, maybe lower the temps on dealing with the curd.  But I think it might be time to also start trying inoculated curd mozzarella, and see how that goes.  And since I can get a nice ball of mozzarella every time now I might try better milk.  Except I need to make cheese every week, and my current milk I get for $3 a gallon, the better milk is $8 a gallon, but I should see how it performs in comparison at least.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 13, 2012, 01:05:45 AM
Ok, more reports, made Mozzarella again last night.  This time no calcium chloride, and 1.25tsp of citric acid for a gallon of milk (Berkeley Farms p/h whole milk $3).  But I decided to try something I hadn't up until now, the brine-ing of the cheese afterwards.  Other recipes for Mozzarella seem to call for this, but not many of the "quick" recipes.

So, I made the mozzarella, put in rennet at 88deg. and let sit for 40mins.  Cut at 1inch cubes, and started to scoop that out.  I warmed it briefly in a 120deg. water bath, but not that long, just to see the whey coming out of the curd.  So, in about an hour I have a mass of curd, and I start to heat this to stretch it.  I use a water bath of 195deg. water, and this takes a little while to get to stretching, but gets there just fine.  This one actually seems to stretch better than I've done before.  And this time, I decide to really go for it with the stretching.  Up to now I've been stretching it until I get a smooth ball, and then stop.  But I was thinking that it might be better to really draw out the proteins, so I stretch it out to about 18inches, and then fold it over and press it down, and do this over and over in one direction.  Heating it back up to the 195deg. 3 times.

Then I cut into four parts, and kneaded those separately into balls, about 3inchs in diameter each.  I prepared some brine, with 2cups water, 2cups whey, and 1/4 cup salt.  I put these into the brine for over night.

So, today, used two balls on two pizzas.  The texture was different, the mozzarella is much smoother, and grated very nicely.  The taste was about the best I've gotten so far in making mozzarella.  But still, too stiff in the end.  It melts, but only a little, still not getting a soft gooey pizza cheese.  Although this is a nice cheese.

I think I've gotten as far as I can go with this milk and process.  Next over the weekend I'll try with the same milk, but inoculate it with culture, and make mozzarella that way, and see how that goes.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 14, 2012, 08:35:19 PM
Ok, another report on mozzarella.  I tried to make mozzarella without citric acid, but with innoculation.  Using this recipe here:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Pasta_Filata/Pasta_Filata.html (http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Pasta_Filata/Pasta_Filata.html)

I was using Berkeley Farms p/h whole milk, which has been working for me using citric acid.  I followed this exactly, really making an effort to do everything just as it says.  Added the buttermilk at 36deg. C, then after 15min the rennet (one difference I was using the "real" rennet, not the Junket rennet).  After two hour I checked and it was a really nice curd, setup well.  Best looking curd I've made so far, perfect clean break and all.  So, I cut this into ~3/4 inch cubes, and let it sit for awhile, until the whey was coming out.  Poured off about a quart of whey, and then setup a hot water bath at 37 deg. C for the night, and went to bed.

In the morning the curd had shrunk to a nice ball at the bottom of the pan, in very clear whey.  So, I checked on the ability to "spin", heated up water to 95deg. C, and then pour some of this over a tablespoon of the curd.  And it just fell apart, just a bunch of tiny curd bits all coming apart.  Ok, so it doesn't spin.  So, back in the hot water bath at 37 deg. C, and let it sit.  I check every hour to see it is spins... same thing.  After 4 hours of this, I just decide to go for it.  I put the curd into 95 deg. C water, and I just get curd soup.  Nothing comes together, no gummy mass, just a white smooth soup of curd.

So complete failure there, and I did just what it says, and the curd started out so well.  I took the curd soup, and I poured that through my cheese cloth (a thin white cotton napkin), and I'll see if that comes together after draining all day, maybe I can rescue this failure was a weird Neufchatel or something.

And now I still need to make Mozzarella for the week anyway...
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on October 14, 2012, 08:56:30 PM
Your curd would not spin/stretch because it was too acidic. Letting it sit in a warm environment overnight gave the bacteria too much time to multiply and produce acid. Putting it back in the hot water bath just made things worse. A better method is to put it in your frig and rest overnight. The bacteria will still convert lactose to lactic acid, just more slowly. Then you test for spin/stretch in the morning. If it's not ready THEN you let the bacteria multiply at room temp (or warmer) until it reaches the proper acidity. There are several discussions and recipes in the Forum that use this technique.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 15, 2012, 05:32:55 AM
Hmm... not a bad idea.  I found another method for inoculation type mozzarella on-line also:

http://www.cheesemaking.com/Mozz-Culture.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/Mozz-Culture.html)

Where you make this over the course of one day, waiting for various stages over 5-7 hours or so.  I was going to try this next weekend.

But - and this is your big but - I still needed mozzarella for the week.  So I decided to take it up a notch, since I've been able to get mozzarella consistently using Berkeley Farms p/h whole milk at $3 a gallon - I went and got Strauss Family whole milk, past., but non-homog., for $8 a gallon.  This is a small dairy farm locally producing milk from grass fed (mostly) Jersey cows.  Boy this is good milk.  So, make it the same way, 1.25tsp citric acid, 1/4 tablet rennet at 88deg., sit for 30 mins.  Right away it was different, curd already setup, and pulling away from the sides, very clear whey all around the curd and on top.  It was almost tough to cut, the curd was so thick.  I didn't even need to scoop out the curd, after I cut it, I was able to just pour off the whey, until I had moist curd left in the pot.

This I then heated with 195deg. water.  And right away, thick, strong gooey mass.  Took a little while to heat, but then stretched, and stretched.  Texture completely different, more protein-like, like meat almost.  Also it was a light yellow, where the Berkeley farms milk was pure flat white.  Got it into a good ball, and salted it.  It stayed moist the whole time, never dried out at all.  Cooled the ball down in cold water, and it looked good.

Then I tasted it.  It is the best mozzarella I have ever had.  Wow - this is good stuff.  Much better than any mozzarella you could buy around here.  I've even had mozzarella in Napoli, and this is better.  Did I mention this is really good cheese?

Ahhh... but $8 a gallon milk... oh well.  Next I'll get the inoculation method working for me.  But if it makes better cheese, I'm not sure I could take it.  And after that I need to try the $18 a gallon raw milk...  Wow - this was good mozzarella.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: mnmaxg on October 16, 2012, 02:44:48 PM
Douglas, thanks for providing detailed updates; I'm trying to learn about pasta filata cheeses before i hop in, and seeing your experience has been very helpful. That quality milk sounds excellent! I can't wait to get my skills to a point where I can make the most of good ingredients :)
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 17, 2012, 06:43:12 PM
And, a quick update.  Put the mozzarella from the good milk on a pizza, and it melted!  Spread out and got all gooey, and melted.  Maybe almost too much, since it melted in with the tomato sauce also, making a yellow-red pizza.  Using the not-fully-melting mozzarella from the cheap milk the pizza was white with brown spots.  And it was very good, I think I've fixed all mozzarella issues there, except the cost.  I've got some other ideas to try still, but good milk - melts, cheaper p/h milk - doesn't melt well.

But, then when I put the pizza in front of the kids, my 12 year-old takes a look at it, and since it is different, she decides right away - I don't like it, and refuses to eat her share.  Ah, well, I can't win.  On the other hand my 7-year-old who is much, much pickier about what he eats, decides it is the best pizza he has had, and eats it all down quickly.  So, still haven't quite come up with the perfect pizza that saves money, and pleases everyone.  Still searching on that one it seems.  Looks like I'll have to go back to working with the cheap milk to please the 12-year-old.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: george on October 18, 2012, 09:07:13 AM
Or make a batch of each and mix 'em half and half on the pizza.   ;D
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 22, 2012, 05:37:49 AM
Ok, more mozzarella testing.  This time I tried making mozzarella using an inoculation method, and then testing the curd over the course of a day to see when is the proper time to stretch.  I started with a gallon of Berkeley Farms p/h/ whole milk ($3), since I have experience getting mozzarella from this with citric acid for acidification.  Also because I want to see how good a mozzarella I can get using cheaper more common milk, if possible.  I heated this to 95deg. in a hot water bath, and inoculated with 1/4cup butter milk (also Berkeley Farms).  This I left for an hour, then mixed in the rennet, and left for another hour.  The curd was quite good at this point, solid, and smooth.  I then cut at 1inch and stirred a bit gently to break up the curd a little more.  This I left for an hour, until the curd reduced in size and there was a good layer of whey on top.  This I scooped into a colander, reserving the whey.  I then left this colander back in the pot, and back into a hot water bath at 100deg. for 2 hours.  At that time I tested a teaspoon of the curd to stretch in hot water, it didn't quite stretch, but held together nicely, it was rather solid.  So I waited one more hour, and tested again.  I seemed to stretch at this point, getting about twice as long before breaking, so I went for it.  I heated the whole curd in hot water (190deg.), and went for the stretch.  I couldn't quite get it.  The ball was quite gummy, a bit rubbery, felt fairly good, but stayed a rough group of curd really. I kept heating and working the ball, and it would hold together, but would not become a smooth ball of mozzarella.  After awhile of this, I just left it, it is a ball of cheese, tasted kinda ok, but looks more like a brain (all bumpy and wrinkly), than a smooth ball of mozzarella.  Oh well.

And it feels rather stiff and rubbery, not sure it will melt.  I kinda think at this point, I've now gone as far as I can go with the cheaper p/h milk.  I can make a nice tasting mozzarella, but it isn't going to be really soft ever, or melt well.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: Boofer on October 22, 2012, 02:08:27 PM
Douglas, great dialogue on mozzarella. I have never successfully made it although I have attempted it once. A cheese for your inspiration.

So why doesn't your 12-year-old like the better milk mozzarella?

Berkeley Farms = Industrial milk = P/H...white...grain-fed...no beta carotene
Straus Farms = Family farmed = P, not H...cream-colored...grass-fed...good beta carotene

In my area, creamline milk (P, not H) goes for $3.19/half gallon. Whole raw milk comes from 3 dairies, 2 @ $9.99/gallon and 1 @ $11.99/gallon. I initially used industrial milk (P/H) @ $3-something a gallon. Then I persuaded myself to commit to a higher quality milk for my cheeses. It makes a big difference in curd development and final cheese quality and flavor.

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: MrsKK on October 22, 2012, 07:53:56 PM
Buttermilk may be your problem with the cultured mozz you tried to make, as it is a substitute for mesothermic culture.  Try using plain yogurt with live, active cultures, as it is a good substitute for thermophilic culture.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 23, 2012, 06:18:54 PM
Oh, that is interesting, do you think?  Well, the temps I was using were 95deg. for the inoculation, and ~100deg. for the ripening.  Is that a mesophilic temp?  I thought yogurt bacteria prefer 110-120deg., that mesophilic is around 90-100deg.  But I haven't tried that much on that just yet.  I did make Fromage Blanc (which is a type of cheese I liked in France, and I can't seem to find here, cream cheese isn't that same), and that one was at about 80deg. just to put in the culture, and then left it at room temp over-night.

But in any case, that is something else to try.  I was also going to try with buttermilk and the good Strauss milk, and see how that goes.  But I can also try with yogurt and compare.  I need a pound of mozzarella a week in any case, so there is more chance to experiment.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 23, 2012, 07:26:27 PM
Oh, and Boofer - Yes, I agree the good milk was soooooo much better than the cheap milk, I would prefer to use that all the time.  But I've a got a bit of a quest with this, since I can get mozzarella already made for about $7 a pound, and I need about a pound a week to keep the kids happy.  I was looking to see if I could make a better cheese for less than I can buy.  It seems that I can make a better cheese than I can buy, it will just be for $8 a gallon of milk, which will make about a pound of cheese.  So, I'll do that from time to time, but not every week.

Looks like you are in a better place for milk.  The choices I have seems to be $3-4 a gallon of industrial p/h milk, $8 for Strauss p/non-h (which is very-very good), and there are 2 raw milk producers both at $18 a gallon, and I haven't gotten to those just yet (I will get there...).  And that is about it, I'd head to raw milk quicker also if I could get it for $10 a gallon.

As to why my 12 year old doesn't like the much much better mozzarella on the pizza?  I have no idea, but then again I usually have no idea why thinks what she does in general...  You do what you can to point out the better things in life, and for the most part the kids just ignore you while you do it, that's life isn't it?
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: bbracken677 on October 23, 2012, 08:56:51 PM
Haha ...and then they realize when they reach adulthood that you weren't such an idiot as they thought  :)

Optimum range for mesos seems to be mid to upper 80s, while thermo is generally stated as 104F in recipes.

I think you will like the results from using yogurt as your culture a bit better.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: Boofer on October 24, 2012, 02:21:57 PM
One of the compromises you can make is to use the cheaper P/H milk and add a little of the more expensive, higher quality, raw or creamline milk. That has worked for me and others in the past.

There's a distinction to be made concerning cheese you can buy for some price and the cheese you can make that maybe costs a bit more. For my money, I have found that most of the cheese styles I craft either cannot be found in my supermarket or fail to deliver the quality and eating satisfaction that I expect. I don't eat that much mozzarella presently so that's probably why it has remained on my "back burner". I resisted making Cheddar for the longest time because I felt that a local cheese maker met my needs there. I finally decided to make Cheddar, but still haven't tasted either of the two (#1 (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,9548.0.html), #2 (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,9589.0.html)) that I made. I don't want to be hasty, but I hope they satisfy when finally opened next year.

Haha ...and then they realize when they reach adulthood that you weren't such an idiot as they thought  :)
Very true. It really is amazing.

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on October 29, 2012, 04:10:54 PM
Ok, more news on the mozzarella front.  Made more, of course, but still going for soft moist form, that will hopefully melt well on the pizza.  So, I am still making the citric acid version, but this time I used Clover whole milk, p/h for $4 a gallon.  This is a smaller scale producer , better known for their organic milk for $6 a gallon, but I'm going for the non-organic, and see how that goes.  Also I was wondering about any pressure on the curd forming a harder cheese at all.  So, this time I did not scoop out the curd into a strainer to drain.  I cut the curd at about 1inch cubes, and then I put this in a warm water bath at 110deg. for 30 mins.  As the whey separated from the curd, I then just poured off the whey, and left the curd in the pot.  I got as much whey off the curd as I could, and this really only took as long as it took to scoop out the curd with the slotted spoon. 

I then transferred this curd straight to the double boiler, and heated this for the stretch.  This took awhile to drive off the remaining whey, and then get to the stretch.  Once it did get to 190deg., then it stretched just fine, and turned into a smooth ball quickly at that point, just took awhile to get there.

The ball was rather moist, and seemed softer than with the Berkeley Farms milk.  And then I grated it and put it on the pizza, and it is fine.  Again, it melts a bit but not completely.  Maybe a little more than the Berkeley farms milk, but it doesn't become all bubbly and gooey.

But this time at least, both kids liked the pizza, and ate it all.  So, I think I've gotten to the best I can do for the pizza that the kids will really like. 

I still have to try for a good inoculation type of mozzarella, still haven't been able to get that to work yet.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: bbracken677 on October 29, 2012, 05:32:41 PM
Nice! Great job working through the make and improving your product! 

A cheese for you!
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on November 06, 2012, 09:59:05 PM
Ok, so more in the mozzarella story.  Made it again last night, like I do each week.  And this time I went from 1.25tsp to 1.5tsp of citric acid to acidify the milk.  Just to see the effect, and I kept everything else the same.  Used the Clover Stornetta whole milk, p/h at $4 a gallon.  The milk got a little warm on me, and I put in the citric acid and rennet at 92deg., I had been doing this at 88deg.  Waited 30mins, then cut the curd at 1inch, and put in a warm water bath at 120deg. to separate the whey.  The whey I just poured off, and left the curd in the pot.  Then heated this in a double boiler over 195deg. water.  This then started to stretch almost effortlessly, and turned into a ball of mozzarella without much working at all.  It also seemed softer than I had made before, and in a few days I'll get around to putting it on pizza, and I'll see how well it melts.

So, some conclusions, to get a good mozzarella you need a certain range of acid, and it can be too low.  There seems to be some consensus that if the acid is too high, you will get hard crumbly curd that won't hold together and stretch, which is true.  But if the acid is too low, the curd won't hold together or stretch either.  So, along with that, I've decided to get a ph meter and start to record ph as I go on.  I think this one might be a good buy, since it gives temp. and ph, and doesn't cost too much?

http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-Instruments-PH55-Waterproof-Tester/dp/B002SGKE8W/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1352238806&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-Instruments-PH55-Waterproof-Tester/dp/B002SGKE8W/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1352238806&sr=1-1)

Also either the temp. doesn't matter that much, since 92deg. made a softer cheese than 88deg., or 92deg. is just better?  And I took mote this time of the sell-by date.  The milk was bought and used on Nov. 5th, and the sell-by date was Nov. 16.  I should record that also for each time that I make the mozzarella to see how that might effect things.
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: makkonen on November 09, 2012, 08:47:07 PM
Your sequence of successes and failures reminds me pretty strongly of my own. (Although yours has a stronger focus on success. For me, mozzarella has just been a constant heartbreaker.)

First of all, as for recipes: that Fankhauser recipe is terrible. I threw away gallons of lumpy milk trying to get it to turn out. (Before I found this place.) The cheesemaking recipe is much better, and gives some good insights into what variables really matter in formation of the right type of moz. But the best starting point I've seen for homemade mozzarella comes from our own linuxboy (I think):

http://www.wacheese.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48:traditional-mozzarella-howto&catid=43:moderate-cook-temp&Itemid=66 (http://www.wacheese.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48:traditional-mozzarella-howto&catid=43:moderate-cook-temp&Itemid=66)

That is, of course, pretty focused on hitting pH targets. A lot of things that are completely opaque when just going by time become clearer and more repeatable when you know exactly where the acidification process is at any point.

Secondly as for the milk: As far as bacterially acidified goes, It didn't matter what recipe I used... I tried dozens of times, and maybe got one successful ball of cheese out of it. (Not exaggerating. Definitely <5% success rate.) I bought a pH meter (Exstik pH100 -- mixed feelings on that one), I built a PID-controlled cheese vat, I took fastidious notes, and still... hitting that magical pH of 5.15 and getting a good stretch was like landing an airliner on the head of a pin. I'd stick the curd into the fridge for 2 days to make sure it acidified slowly, so I wouldn't miss it... I'd pull it out and try to stretch it and it'd break, and I'd wait some more... and then, one wrong breath and I'd overshoot and have a bunch of mush (or an ersatz feta for salads).

Then my friends brought home some raw milk (~$7/gallon around here if you manage to get to the farms where they sell it) and everything changed. The curd set up like a damn superball, cut and held its shape gorgeously, and when it was time to stretch, it pulled like taffy, even though I'd let it acidifiy too much. When I put it on pizza, it melted perfectly, held up to the liquid in the sauce, and had enough flavor to hold its own. Since then, I've given up on trying to get any of the storebought milks around here to make mozzrella -- which is disappointing, because I'd really like to be able to make something that works well on the cheap.

As far as directly acidified (the citric acid recipe)... it seems pretty bulletproof to me, for what it is. I haven't had trouble with the marginal milks that failed for real moz. And it makes a tasty, quick cheese for slicing and eating. (A bit flat, a bit sweet, but still sort of magical for a half-hour's work.)

But, as mentioned in that wacheese page, for good melting cheese that doesn't burn, you need to break down all the excess sugars. The direct method doesn't do any of that. And the proteins need to be broken down correctly as well (this part I don't even begin to understand). Every time I've tried directly acidified moz on pizza, the 800 degree oven has left me with a layer of brown-black burnt sugar on top of a layer of sort of half-melted cheese.

(Then again, I never did try the direct method with raw milk. It'd kinda seem like a waste, I guess.)
Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: douglas on November 13, 2012, 06:54:03 PM
Ok, more mozzarella this week, but this time I have a ph monitor.  So, once again I started with what going to be my standard milk it seems, the Clover Stornetta farms whole milk, p/h at $4 a gallon.  Seems to be the best milk for a balance of quality and price.  This was purchased and used on Nov 10, sell by date was Nov 19.  So, I got out the ph meter, and spent a bit of time fussing with it, need to soak it in bottled water first, and calibrate it, and such.  Took a bit, and in the end I didn't become too confident in it.  It has a readout to a tenth of ph unit, but the calibration and reproducibility seemed to show that the accuracy was 2 tenths of a unit.  And there seemed to be some time delay in coming to a stable reading.  But I forged ahead in any case.

The milk was at 6.6ph when put in the pot to warm, which I did with a hot water bath, to 93-94deg.  I added the lipase, and 1.5tsp. of citric acid that was dissolved in 1cup of distilled water.  This brought the ph of the milk to 6.0ph.  This doesn't seem acidic enough.  The recipe mentioned in the previous post suggested a ph of 5.1 for the stretching, so I added 0.5tsp more of citric acid dissolved in 0.5cup of distilled water.  This dropped the ph to 5.6, which seemed like a large change compared to the change for 1.5tsp, so like I said, not sure bout the ph monitor and its accuracy beyond 0.2ph or so.

Anyway, so added the rennet, and waited 30 mins, cut into 1.5inch cubes or so, and started to pour off the whey.  The whey was very clear this time, more so than before.  Transferred the curd to the double boiler to heat for stretching, over 195deg. water.  This took a little while to drive off more whey, but once the amount of whey in the curd fell, it started to stretch just fine, quite quickly.  The mozzarella formed a ball, but it was very soft, almost mushy actually.  The whey after removing the curd was 5.3ph, not sure what to do with that number.

And then I put it on pizza, and not really much difference there.  It melts, but only a little, and does dev. brown spots from the lactose burning.  But it works, tastes good, and keeps the kids happy, and I get lots of mozzarella for about $4 a pound.  So, I'll stick with this, time to get a large pot, and start making more at a batch, and freezing the extra and see how that goes.

So, it seems that the ph for stretching needs to be at least 6.0, and the other recipe suggests 5.1, but here at 5.6 it works, but I think it was going a little too far.  I am going to use 1.75tsp of citric acid per gallon from now on.  And on the other hand, it seems that using these types of milk, larger scale p/h milks, you are just not going to get a mozzarella that melts right on the pizza.  To get a melty cheese you need to start with raw or small scale lower-temp pasturized non-homogenized milks.  Or at least, I think I've learned enough to draw that conclusion for now, unless someone else has found a way to disprove this assumption of mine.

Title: Re: Mozzarella melting
Post by: bbracken677 on November 13, 2012, 07:39:41 PM
A cheese for your persistence and analysis!   :)