Two day Mozzarella

[cheesie]

I have a question about this recipe... it calls for skim milk. What is the difference between leaving the cream in the milk or skimming it?? Can someone explain that to me

[MrsKK]

I use skimmed milk for making mozzarella because I want the cream for making butter or mascarpone.  You can certainly use whole milk for this recipe and will get a higher yield than what I do.  I get about 3/4 lb of mozz per gallon, plus about another 2 cups of ricotta from cooking the whey.

I mostly came up with this recipe because I needed something to use all the skimmed milk for and don't use enough parmesan to warrant making a wheel of it every other week or so.

[cheesie]

LOL- I thought it was because of some special property... I could have started the cheese today... oh well! haha tomorrow I'll start and make ice cream with the cream...

Thank you so much

[Cheezpleez]

I have a question about this recipe. I noticed some, if not most here are using their own Cow's milk. If I use pasteurized store bought milk will I have to add Calcium Chloride to the recipe to get it to work right? I also read somewhere that using whole milk instead of 2% butterfat might cause the cheese not to spin properly. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

[Cheezpleez]

Well I've tried this five times and all I get is cheese the consistency of cottage cheese. Any thoughts?

[MrsKK]

What kind of milk are you using?  If store-bought, have you tried changing brands?  I'm asking because I'm wondering if the milk you are using is high temp pasturized - they don't have to say it on the label.

Anything else that you are doing differently from the recipe?

[Cheezpleez]

Store bought, all the brands I bought replied to me via email and claimed they weren't UHP. Most said around 171*. I'm thinking they probably bring it up high for a short time and then at that temp for longer. Five different brands and yes plants. I use the "where did your milk come from?" website for dairy products. You can find store brand products cheaper that are made by the same major label manufactures at their plants.
I'm getting some fresh cow's milk this weekend and will try again. I need fresh home made cheese to watch the Pack in the Superbowl ya know!!!!!!!!!!!
GO PACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sailor Con Queso]

Just to follow through for Cheezpleez.

Where is my milk from?

This is a very interesting site that allows you to identify the commercial source for any milk bottled in the USA.

[MrsKK]

So have you tried using Calcium Chloride?  I've never made cheese with pasturized milk, so that is the only thing I can really think of at this point.

So your curd is staying small and cottage cheese-like even after it sits at room temperature overnight?  Just trying to figure out what is going on here...

[Cheezpleez]

Yes, I've tried with calcium chloride and without. I've tried recipes that call for heating after the curd break. I get a beautiful curd break. Cut it up real nice, it's after this that it just disintegrates it seems, won't stick back together.
Still tastes ok though Just not the consistency I'm looking for.
I want good old string cheese like you could get twenty years ago around here. Heavy strings with a thick rind, not the soft processed junk made today. That's my goal with the mozzarella. I'll get there, just will take some time I guess.
I've made four other cheese's and they came out nice. Will start on harder stuff once I get my string cheese perfected.
Thanks for the reply's.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Curd crash is generally a milk problem. Classic symptoms - everything looks great, nice clean break, good curd cut. Then the curds shatter into small pieces. This is more of a problem with citric "quick" Mozz and usually doesn't occur with true cultured. Best remedy is to change milk.

[Cheezpleez]

Success !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got some fresh cows milk from a friend yesterday afternoon. Did the first phase last night, let it set out over night, just got done stretching it. Beautiful!!!!!
No I hadn't tried any "quick" recipe, that's not how I do things. Three Christmas's ago an in-law gave me some BBQ equipment including a bottle of liquid smoke. The bottle is in the frig and hasn't moved or been open since I put it in there. I'm not into short cuts.
Thanks for the support from you guys and gals.

[moodock]

This is very similar to Debra Amrein-Boyes recipe, and it turns out wonderful every time I make it.

[MrsKK]

I'm glad you found success, Cheez!  Raw milk is just wonderful, isn't it?

[Cheezpleez]

I'm glad you found success, Cheez!  Raw milk is just wonderful, isn't it?

Yes, at least you know where you stand when starting.
Now being a life long curing/smoking of other food expert (even my wife agrees  ) I decided to try something a little different with getting the salt into the finished cheese. First I used a liquid brine, terrible slime mess. Second I used Karen's add salt to the heated whey for stretching. That worked very good. Third, I used a dry rub for around six hours and then rinsed under cold water and patted dry prior to smoking. A little better.
Fourth, the one I found that worked best for what I wanted (thick rind, heavy sting cheese). I dry rubbed and then put the pieces into a food saver vac canister. Vacuumed out the air, waited about 2 hours, rinsed, dried and then cold smoked for one hour. YES, exactly what I was looking for.
I used canning salt for each trial, won't do the brine again, although I will use the cheese in cooking recipes from that batch.
A question, has anyone tried using a true curing salt? I know most are made for meat, poultry, and fish? But technically you are infusing the salt into the proteins and fats and I would think cheese would qualify. I'll probably try some on a small portion of the next mozz I make and see what it does.
Thanks.
Cheez