After months of thinking, planning, researching and...well...procrastinating, my wife kicked me in the butt and promised to people that I would have homemade cheese at our Christmas party. I went to find the recipes which were the easiest -- those with the least equipment and ingredients. I settled on cream cheese and Ricki's 30-minute mozzarella (after I found the kit locally.
After talking with the store owner, we were concerned about milk sourcing. I went to Whole Foods, and talked to their manager, who assured me that the whole milk was pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized). Only one way to prove it!
Bringing the milk up to 90 degrees:
Testing the break -- I was completely unsure if this was good enough:
When I started mixing the curd, it started breaking up on me. I had always imagined the pieces would all stay together -- definitely not! So, I was concerned at that point. Moving on, I was stunned how much whey I was pouring off. As I did, the curds looked good -- like they were sticking together. I wasn't able to really "pull" it together -- it was more of a folding. And while one side did become smooth, it wasn't the perfect sphere or oval that I was imagining.
18 ounces of mozzarella:
So...taste? FANTASTIC! I couldn't believe it -- I would've sworn it was buffalo milk, because it was so creamy. Such a relief that 1) I was able to find "good" milk and 2) that the result was so great.
Question: does anyone's curds actually "stretch"? If I were to do that, it would snap. Also, is it possible to create a "seamless" cheese?