Mozzarella

When you have goats in milk you will almost always have more milk than you and your family can use up in a day. We freeze our excess in canning jars (leave space for expansion or you will have explosions). We save up enough for a cheesemaking party. The first cheese I learned to make was Chevre which you can read about here. The second cheese I learned to make was mozzarella. The recipe I first used came from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company website and I modified it slightly to suit my needs. I'm not a fan of hunting down citric acid or waiting for it to come in the mail, so I substitute lemon juice. Here is the original recipe: Mozzarella in 30 Minutes

Here is my version:

Easy Mozzarella
Ingredients:
1 gallon of raw milk (I use goat's)
juice of 2 large lemons, strained so you don't get seedy cheese (ew)
1/4 cup DISTILLED water (don't use tap or the recipe will FAIL)
1/4 tsp rennet
1 teaspoon salt

Tools:
A Stainless Steel Pot and lid large enough to accomodate your milk
Measuring cups and spoons
Ladle
Microwavable bowl
Container to store your cheese in the fridge

Place your raw milk and lemon juice in a large stainless steel pot. Stir. Heat to 90 degrees fahrenheit. The lemon juice is what creates the acidity and make the cheese stretchy later.

At 90 degrees, remove your pot from the burner. Mix your rennet with the distilled water and then pour that slowly into the milk and juice mixture. Stir with a ladle for about 30 seconds. Place a lid on top. Let set up for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes touch the edge of the milk and it should be thick like custard and separate from the edge of the pot. If it doesn't, let it set up longer.

If it has reached custard consistency, slice it with a long knife in a checkerboard pattern. Return the pot to the burner and heat to 105 degrees fahrenheit, slowly stirring. Your cheese may drop or glob together.

After the cheese reaches 105 degrees, remove it from the burner and continue to stir at least five minutes. I like my cheese fairly dry so it's the consistency of the packaged mozarella from the grocery store, so I let it set up about 5 minutes longer.

Remove your cheese curds from the pot with a ladle or your cleans hands if you're fairly heat tolerant and place them in a microwavable container. I prefer a Pyrex casserole dish. Drain off the excess whey.

Place in the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute. Take it out and knead the curds like bread dough. Drain any excess whey.

Microwave again on high for 35 seconds. Knead again. Drain excess whey.

Add salt to desired taste. Sprinkle it around. About 1/4 teaspoon does it for me. Knead it in good. You can taste your cheese at this point to see if you have enough salt. Add more if you like.

Microwave on high a final 35 seconds.

Knead, Stretch like taffy and then roll it into a ball.

I place mine in a screw top platic Ball brand container and put it in the fridge to cool and harden. The container gives it a uniform shape that makes it easy to slice later on. You can also shred it or just eat it as is! We like to make homemade thin crust pizza weekly with ours as well as fresh basil from the garden.