I only learn what to do when I have failures. --- R. Buckminster Fuller
Last Sunday I was my 1st attempt at making mozzarella after learning from a Facebook post (recipe here) that it is actually the easiest cheese of all to make. I thought that was a good place for me to start venturing into the world of making some of my favorite things myself. I was able to get a couple of gallons of raw milk courtesy of my new acquaintance Farmer X outside of Asheville. I made a donation and acquired unbelievably tasty "dessert milk" as one friend called it.
Making moz is pretty easy - all you need is a gallon of milk, citric acid, rennet, a candy thermometer, and a slotted spoon. The first few stages of the cheese making went great. Added citric acid dissolved in H20, then another temp increase, and in went the rennet....The separation of whey and curd began in earnest then, and I felt hopeful as I spooned the moz-looking blobs into my glass flat dish. The next step was 30 seconds in the microwave, and then kneading each of the two cheese balls like dough. THIS was the stage where all went awry. As I kneaded my first ball, in crumbled more and more into itself, becoming curds. So, I left the second ball unkneaded, so it would stay together. The taste? It's actually QUITE tasty and while it is dense and I definitely need to figure out what when "wrong", I think it will melt beautifully on a pie, which I hope to try later this week! Keep you posted.
