I am looking for a recipe to make burrata cheese. If possible I would like the recipe to be for 5 to 10 gallons. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Sandy
You can make a normal pasta filata base, then pull off a chunk of the curd, stick your finger in it, but not through it to create an indentation, then make the indentation bigger to form a pouch, then scoop some cream inside and seal the pouch.
The cream inside can be made in various ways, depending on the style of burrata you want to make. You can use heavy full fat cream that will ooze, or you can whip it so it is lighter, or you can make a cultured cream, or you can even make a high-cream fresh curd, so it's coagulated.
I have made quite a bit of burratta--the trick is to pull aside some curds before they are totally streched. Break them into pieces and add cream (I have also fortified the cream, at times, with truffle oil). When the rest of the mozz has been streched, I flatten out portions and put them into ramekins and fill wth the creamy curds, then fold over the ends and either tie or let fold together on their own. You will need to work quick with this method, as the mozz dries out quickly. Good luck--one of my favorite cheeses.
I have never even heard of this. Does anyone have pictures?
The New England Cheesemaking people have a blog and they have pictures of this cheese that one of their customers is trying to perfect. It does look yummy, but I can't get mozz to turn out so I definitely won't be messing with this one.
I've never heard of this cheese either, but found several pictures at google images. It looks good. :)
(http://www.vipnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/burrata-2.jpg)
indeed. But I say forget the cream filling, how about sun-dried tomato and basil ricotta. I suppose the possibilities are endless!
Yes, much like ravioli without the pasta shell. :)
Just hearing the name Buratta puts me in heaven. The mozzarella filled with clotted cream is just the perfect breakfast for me. I had one 2 weeks ago, bought it from a crazy importer that brings it from Italy overnight because it's so fresh and delicate and has such short shelf time. It was also wrapped in this giant green leaf of some sort. absolutely delicious.
I made plenty of Mozzarella before but don't know how to make the clotted cream filling. Would love to know. I don't think that regular whipping cream is quite as thick
I don't make this, but I talked to a few folks to get their notes. Apparently, in the factories what they do is take leftover bits and shreds of mozzarella from the day's production, and add cream to it. The curds become saturated and the whole mix becomes this thick, pullable, soft goodness called Stracciatella. I'll try to find out about ratio of curd to cream and final fat targets.
I can't bear this thread! Oh, the craving! the craving! Somebody stop me! :P
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/04/making-burrata-the-meta-mozzarella-in-puglia-italy.html (http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/04/making-burrata-the-meta-mozzarella-in-puglia-italy.html)
Looks like it's a full fat (32+%) cream with salt added to shreddings of fresh mozz.
You are correct LB--traditional is made with full-fat cream with mozz shreddings--the trick is not letting the cream melt out before (and after) sealing. The possibilities are endless, and most of you suggest. I have filled it with ricotta, pesto, sundried tomatoes, herbs, etc. Truffle oil mixed with the curds is amazing. As stated before, I mix unpulled curds with the cream or other additives and then pull the "mother" mozz and stretch into a ramekin and add the unpulled curds. Tie at the top (tradition is to use some sort of straw). The problem I have is that the mixture seems to all meld together--terrific taste but no separation of the sides from the middle. Answers, anyone?
Having no experiene to reference whatsoever, perhaps you are not putting it in cold water, or not cold enough water, to stop it from melting the insides?
Tried that, Nitai, and the cream just dispersed into the water--at least without putting into water, I withheld the ingredients--but they all just melded together!
Thank you to all. These comments and suggestions have all been very helpful.
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?
It makes perfect sense--I will dunk till it's drunk.
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.
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?
Mascarpone is just a lower pH by itself, so is ricotta.
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