Recipe: Fresh Mozzarella - Another Recipe for Philip

MOZZARELLA RECIPE:

MOZZARELLA Ingredients:
1 gallon fresh milk (I use goats, classic calls for water buffalo milk (!), but cow's will do.) 3 Tbl fresh yogurt starter (Dannon plain)
3 Tbl buttermilk
1 tablet Junket rennet salt

Apparatus:
Covered stainless steel pot (about 1.5 gallon capacity), sterilized by boiling a small amount of water until steam rushes out from under the lid.
Whisk long bladed knife for cutting curd (I use a 2 foot piece of banding steel) table knife for finishing the cutting of the curd
Slotted spoon
Dependable thermometer, range 0-100 C (32 - 212 F)

1. Warm milk to 32 C in sterilized stainless steel covered pot . Meanwhile, dissolve rennet in 1/4 c water. 2. Blend yogurt and buttermilk, stir into 32 C milk. 3. Stir in dissolved rennet thoroughly, cover, let sit in warm spot until gelled (clean break), about 45 minutes. 4. Cut curd with clean knife into 1/2 inch cubes. Rewarm to 32 C with stirring, cutting larger chunks of curd into smaller pieces with table knife. 5. Let sit covered overnight at room temperature to develop acidity. Check the next AM for proper acidity: Heat 2 c water to 85 C. Drop several chunks of curd in, stir gently with a fork. If it softens and draws into strings ("spins"), it is ready. If not, let sit several more hours until it does (keep your fingers crossed). 6. Once the curd will "spin", pour off the whey (save it for ricotta, if you like. It makes very good ricotta), and break or cut up the curd into pieces about 1/2 inch diameter. Place cut curd back in stainless steel pot. 7. Heat 1/2 gallon water to 85 C. 8. Pour heated water over the curd, and stir with a slotted spoon. As the curd warms, it should become more elastic, and finally "spin." It should be folded over on itself to form thin layers. 9. Cut the hot cheese into pieces (mozzato in Italian) and form into balls (size depends on how you wish to use it. In Italy, they are most often about 2 inches in diameter). The balls should be glossy and smooth on the outside. Plunge into cold salted water (1 Tlb salt/quart) to firm up. It may be stored for several days in this brine, but should be used while very fresh. Ideally, when freshest mozzarella is cut, the thin "onion-like" layers of streched should be visible, srufacesmooth and tight, texture between rubbery and soft. The "onion" layers dissapear after less than a day after making. I believe that the problems I have had making mo\zzarella are primarily due to insufficient adicity in the curd. The result is a tough, rubbery mozzarella. You may know that the classic and simple neopolitan service of this delicious cheese is to slice it, and serve on slices of fully vine-ripened tomato slices, drizzled with olive oil and then balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled with fresh basil, salt and freshly ground pepper.