- 4 liters of whole milk (farm or from the market);
- 1/4 tablet of rennet;
- 1/4 cup cold filtered water (to mix with rennet)
- 1.5 teaspoons of citric acid;
- 1 cup cold filtered water (to mix with citric acid)
- Salt - to taste.
Cooking process:
First, let's prepare the curd. Let's start by dissolving the rennet in a quarter cup of water. I prefer rennet tablets over liquid enzymes, they are easier to store until needed again.
Dissolve one and a half teaspoons of citric acid in a glass of filtered water.
Pour milk into a saucepan and heat it over medium heat to 33-36 degrees C, then add a solution of citric acid.
Using a slotted spoon, gently stir in the milk. We monitor the temperature.
Let the milk warm up to 38 degrees C, continuing to stir it slowly, and add the rennet solution.
Stir the milk very gently - already starting to see the curds, just stir up and down a few times to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Do not mix vigorously - move the spoon gently and quietly.
When milk reaches 40-41 gr. C, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Do not exceed this temperature, otherwise the cheese will be harder. Let the pot stand for 10 minutes.
During this time, the curd will curl up completely and unite into a solid mass, the whey will have a yellowish tint.
Place the colander on top of the bowl. If you do not have a mesh colander, but with larger holes, cover it with a piece of gauze folded four times. Our task is to separate the curd from the whey.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cottage cheese to a colander. Let the serum drain.
Raise the colander, lightly press the curd mass with your hand to squeeze out the whey.
We touch the hand very carefully (this is the key word when working with cottage cheese), squeezing the whey from the cottage cheese.
Don't overdo it - the cheese shouldn't be too dry. Let it be soft.
We divide the whole "ingot" of cottage cheese into parts 3-5 cm in size.
For the next step, we need hot water - as hot as our hands can handle. Heat water in a wide bowl. I heated it to 80 degrees C - if this is too hot for you - put on rubber medical gloves, it will be easier to work with hot cheese. A lower temperature is also possible - but not less than 60 degrees C.
Bring the water to a boil and let it cool - use a thermometer and be careful checking the water with your hands.
Add about a teaspoon of salt to the water, then the cheese will have a better flavor. Any salt will do, except for iodized salt. Carefully transfer the curd pieces into hot water.
Using a slotted spoon, gently stir the curd, lifting it up occasionally to see if it's ready to be kneaded.
It will be ready when it looks a little melted, like in the photo above.
Now the fun begins: we will stretch and knead our cheese!
We collect a portion of cottage cheese that fits in the palms and begin to knead, stretch and knead it.
If the cheese begins to cool and lose elasticity, dip it back into hot water.
We continue to do this until the cheese turns into an elastic, smooth, glossy piece.
If not kneaded enough, the mozzarella pieces will have a rough, flaky surface.
This process may take 5 to 20 minutes.
Gradually form the cheese into a ball or any other shape you want (sometimes the stretched cheese is tied into a knot).
This is how it should look. Store mozzarella balls in lightly salted whey (brine) in the refrigerator.
Drizzle a fresh ball of mozzarella with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and spices and eat it still warm - right from the hand of the cheese maker.
Enjoy the great taste of ancient Italian cheese.
Bon appetit!
This is a variant of homemade cow's milk mozzarella, pharmacy acidin-pepsin to curdle milk, instead of cheese starter or pepsin, and citric acid to change pH.
The recipe is simple, but out of three attempts, mozzarella more or less turned out only once!
For accuracy in temperature conditions, use a cooking thermometer or multicooker with the function of setting the desired temperature.
Note: use the remaining whey to prepare any dough: yeast, pancake, pancakes or bread!
To make mozzarella cheese at home, prepare the ingredients according to the list.
Crush the acidin-pepsin tablets to a powder state.
Dissolve the resulting powder in half a glass of water. Water must be clean: artesian, filtered or distilled.
Dissolve a portion of citric acid in half a glass of water.
Heat milk to 25-30 degrees. I just turned on the "Yogurt" mode.
Pour water with citric acid into warm milk first, mix, and then water with acidin-pepsin and mix again. Heat the milk to 40 degrees, it should curdle, i.e. flakes will appear.
Leave the mass for 15-20 minutes at room temperature so that the curdled cheese mass settles.
I often make homemade cottage cheese and I can say that the resulting mass for mozzarella is much softer and more tender in texture.
Pour the milk with cereal into a colander lined with cheesecloth.
Hang a piece of homemade mozzarella to drain excess whey.
After a few minutes, you will get a soft clot of mozzarella blanks.
Heat water or whey to a temperature of 50 degrees and place blanks in it for a short time.
It is believed that heated blanks should stretch like ... chewing gum. In my case, they just softened and became more elastic. The water is quite hot, so I crushed these blanks in rubber gloves.
Then mozzarella balls should be placed in whey, in which salt is mixed.
Use homemade mozzarella immediately or soon (within a day) for salads, sandwiches, pizza or other snacks. Store in the refrigerator, but keep in mind that it is not intended for long-term storage!
Homemade mozzarella cheese is ready.
Bon appetit!
For the first time cheese recipe mozzarella was created in Italy and, although the classic mozzarella is made from the milk of black buffaloes, now such cheese made from cow's milk is mainly found on sale. For making mozzarella cheese at home be sure to purchase rennet. It speeds up the curdling process and in a matter of minutes you can cook for yourself a large piece of soft, elastic homemade cheese. In order not to disturb the technology of making mozzarella cheese, it is also important to have a temperature meter. The quality of the product largely depends on this. Mozzarella cheese can be formed into small balls, a pigtail, or just a large piece. Mozzarella is stored in salted water or whey and only in the refrigerator. Ready mozzarella cheese can be used to make pizza, lasagna, sandwiches.
Mozzarella cheese is used to make salads, pizzas and delicious sandwiches. Bon appetit!
Everyone loves pizza, and real Italian pizza is made with fresh, soft mozzarella cheese.
In addition, mozzarella often appears in recipes for all kinds of fresh salads.
This is a very tasty, and most importantly, interesting type of cheese in terms of texture.
Very tender and tasty.
It is quite possible to find it on the shelves today, but its price is very high.
So try to make mozzarella at home.
It is not as difficult as it seems at first glance.
homemade mozzarella cheese recipe
So, how to cook tender and tasty mozzarella cheese at home?
Ingredients:
- 4 liters of milk (it is better to take fatty, rustic, but from a proven cow);
- 1.5 teaspoons of citric acid;
- 175 ml of water;
- (it is better to buy it in a pharmacy, be sure to read the instructions before use).
How to make mozzarella cheese at home:
So, for starters, dilute citric acid in water. Such a component is needed to give the cheese the desired consistency.
Water should be cold, preferably boiled, since bleach can kill some of the components of the acid, then you will not succeed.
So, stir the right amount of acid in 125 ml of water until completely dissolved.
Now take the remaining water (50 milliliters left), dissolve the enzyme in it.
The exact amount will be indicated on the package, but it will take a little, about a small pinch.
Stir the powder until dissolved.
Pour the milk into a saucepan, it should not be hot, the maximum temperature is 17 degrees, if this value is exceeded, then the milk will immediately curdle when the acid is added, which is not yet required.
Start gradually pouring the citric acid solution into the milk. Pour it in a thin stream, stirring constantly the milk.
Now put the pan on the stove, the fire should be weak. It is better to take a special thermometer to control the temperature. You need to heat the milk to 35-38 degrees, no more.
Pour the enzyme dissolved in water into the warmed milk, mix everything well. Stir everything for 2-3 minutes. In this case, the fire should be minimal, and then (after 3 minutes) it can be turned off.
Cover the pan with a lid, wait about 30-40 minutes. The folding process should begin. You form a clot - curd mass. In this case, the mass should not stick to the fingers.
Catch the clot with a colander or slotted spoon, shake off excess liquid.
The resulting whey (what is left after folding), heat up to about 85-90 degrees. Pour off part of it (about a glass) and salt (to taste). In this composition, you will store the finished cheese.
Dip the cheese into the heated whey. Wear thick gloves so you don't burn your hands.
After about 10-20 seconds, remove the clot, remember it, stretch it. He shouldn't break.
It is very easy to cook mozzarella at home, if you follow the detailed recommendations from our selection of recipes. Delicious!
- Whole cow's milk - 2 liters,
- Purified water - 0.1 l,
- Coarse-grained salt - 2 tablespoons,
- Rennet - ¼ tsp,
- Lemon - ½ pc.
- Aromatic herbs (basil, dill) - optional
To prepare mozzarella at home, you need to take milk that has not been pasteurized. Squeeze juice from half a lemon using a citrus press, if there is no lemon, you can replace ⅓ tsp. citric acid. Dilute rennet in cold water, which can be purchased at a pharmacy or in a specialized department of a supermarket.
Pour the milk into a 3 liter saucepan and heat to a temperature of 60-70°C. Whisking constantly add lemon juice and enzyme solution. After the whey begins to separate on the surface, turn off the heat and set the pan aside for 15 minutes.
Using a sieve, catch the formed clots and gently squeeze them out of excess whey, wearing thick gloves on your hands (in order not to get burned).
Put the remaining whey back on the fire and bring to a boil. After salt and dip the mozzarella in it for 3-5 minutes. Stretch the resulting elastic cheese mass, fold it into an envelope and roll into a ball. Repeat the operation several times until the home-cooked mozzarella acquires elasticity, ductility and a uniform consistency.
Store cheese in whey, in a tightly closed container, in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. Homemade mozzarella can be served as an appetizer or used to prepare various dishes. Bon appetit!
Recipe 2: mozzarella at home (with photo)
- Milk (in the original - buffalo) - 1.5 l
- Water (distilled; it is possible from osmosis, but in no case from the tap) - 250 ml
- Rennet (pepsin, we have acidin-pepsin) - 2
- Citric acid - 1/3 tsp.
- Salt - 1 tsp
Let's decide on the ingredients. Mozzarella is made from buffalo milk. But, even brought from Italy to our stores - made from cow.
Water - needed to dilute acid and pepsin in it. Must be dechlorinated.
Pepsin is an enzyme for curdling milk. All cheeses are made using it. In the pharmacy you can buy "Acidin-pepsin".
Citric acid is used to change the pH of milk.
Pour our milk into a saucepan and heat up to 25-28 degrees. Diluted in half a cup of water, slowly pour citric acid into milk, stirring constantly. About a quarter teaspoon of acid is needed per liter of milk.
Slowly heat the milk to 30-35 degrees, not forgetting to stir. 2 tablets "Acedin-pepsin" dissolve in ½ cup of water and pour into milk. We bring the temperature to 40 degrees and remove from heat. Throughout the heating, you need to mix the milk lightly. At this time, the first flakes of cheese should already appear and the milk will begin to curdle.
Cover the pan with a lid and leave it for 15-20 minutes to complete the curdling process.
While we wait, you can cut a sprig of fresh basil. After 20 minutes, we look at what we got. Should look like this.
Everything curdled perfectly and we have more than just sour milk. The consistency is much thicker, the mass took on a solid pancake, the serum is quite transparent and has a yellowish tint. In industrial production, special knives would now be included that would cut all “this” into small pieces. We can take a knife and cut the resulting mass into 1.5-2 cm cells, and / or just mix well with a spoon.
After mixing, put the mass into a fine sieve, or colander and squeeze it well with a spoon or hand. Do not worry that it will crumble and fall into holes, everything sticks together when compressed into a homogeneous mass (of course, if you did everything right).
It is necessary to squeeze the whey out of the cheese as best as possible, but without fanaticism, we will add more later.
Our cheese already looks like cheese. It sticks together in one lump and does not fall apart. Drain the rest of the whey and now we can go two ways:
1 - put our cheese in hot water (60-70 degrees) until it warms up and starts to melt;
or 2 - put our cheese in the microwave for about one minute.
I must say that the time depends on the amount of cheese and the power of your microwave. In any case, you need to look and prevent the cheese from boiling (for the first time I made it from 800 grams of milk and did not follow the process, there was little cheese and it boiled quickly). In any case, it will not be superfluous to turn it over at least once. We need to achieve heating of the cheese to a state of plasticity.
The result of our activities, at the moment, should be what is shown in the photo. Yes, this viscous mass will soon become our delicious mozzarella. Let's admire it a little and stretch it with both hands.
During this process, squeeze out the excess whey, and later, salt and add basil to the cheese. You need to salt as much as you need. Never take and drop at once as much as it is written in the recipes, this is an approximate amount. Basil (dill, in my case) may not be added, but the cheese will be very fragrant with it. Added, once again well stretched and mixed and again for a minute in the microwave.
We warmed it up, took it out and again we stretch it and weave it. The essence of this stretching is to give the cheese its signature structure and fiber. But if you want it to be softer and more tender, don't get carried away with it. Don't forget to shape your cheese into your desired shape before chilling.
You can store our cheese in the refrigerator in an airtight container for a week, or freeze it in the freezer and store it there for a month.
Recipe 3: Mozzarella Cheese at Home
This is a variant of homemade cow's milk mozzarella, pharmacy acidin-pepsin to curdle milk, instead of cheese starter or pepsin, and citric acid to change pH.
Use the remaining whey to make any kind of dough: yeast, pancake, pancakes or bread!
- Milk - 1.5 l
- Citric acid - 1/3 tsp
- Acidine-pepsin - 2 tablets
- Water - 1 glass
- Salt - 1 tsp
Crush the acidin-pepsin tablets to a powder state.
Dissolve the resulting powder in half a glass of water. Water must be clean: artesian, filtered or distilled.
Dissolve a portion of citric acid in half a glass of water.
Heat milk to 25-30 degrees. I just turned on the "Yogurt" mode.
Pour water with citric acid into warm milk first, mix, and then water with acidin-pepsin and mix again. Heat the milk to 40 degrees, it should curdle, i.e. flakes will appear.
Leave the mass for 15-20 minutes at room temperature so that the curdled cheese mass settles.
I often make homemade cottage cheese and I can say that the resulting mass for mozzarella is much softer and more tender in texture.
Pour the milk with cereal into a colander lined with cheesecloth.
Hang a piece of homemade mozzarella to drain excess whey.
After a few minutes, you will get a soft clot of mozzarella blanks.
Heat water or whey to a temperature of 50 degrees and place blanks in it for a short time.
It is believed that heated blanks should stretch like ... chewing gum. In my case, they just softened and became more elastic. The water is quite hot, so I crushed these blanks in rubber gloves.
Then mozzarella balls should be placed in whey, in which salt is mixed.
Use homemade mozzarella immediately or soon (within a day) for salads, sandwiches, pizza or other snacks. Store in the refrigerator, but keep in mind that it is not intended for long-term storage!
Recipe 4, step by step: homemade mozzarella cheese from milk
- 4 liters milk (minimum pasteurized, farm fresh, non-homogenised)
- 1 ½ tsp citric acid dissolved in ¼ cup bottled cold water (water must be non-chlorinated)
- Dissolve ¼ vegetable rennet tablet in ¼ cup cold bottled water (water must be non-chlorinated)
I had the freshest milk at room temperature. I poured it into a large saucepan, put it on the stove on a slow fire (4 at max 9) and poured a solution of citric acid into it. Stirred with a slotted spoon.
I dipped a sterilized thermometer into the milk and began to stir the milk with a slotted spoon so that it warmed up evenly. Raised the temperature in the milk to 32 degrees and immediately switched to 3 division (it surprisingly kept a constant temperature of 32.8 degrees)
I poured a solution of rennin into the milk. Stirred with a slotted spoon.
She covered the milk with a lid, left the thermometer in the pan and recorded 5 minutes.
Exactly 5 minutes later. the serum came out perfectly. I waited just in case for another minute.
I cut the clot with a sharp knife, first along, then across, into squares. She began to slowly raise the temperature, switching the stove to the 5th division. After 2-3 min. slowly stirred the chopped whey clots with a long wooden spoon.
The thermometer remained in the pan with clots. Our task is to bring the temperature to 43 degrees, slowly and gently stirring the clots in the whey. As soon as the temperature was reached, immediately removed it from the stove.
She took out the clots with a slotted spoon into a colander with holes (not mesh) to let the whey drain. I did this in two passes, because the clots occupy a very large volume.
It squeezed the clots very well so that the liquid practically did not stand out. It turned out here is such a lump. That's exactly half the serving.
Each half of the weighed clots was heated in a microwave oven for 30 s (power 700 W) until the cheese began to melt. In order for the cheese to start melting, its internal temperature must be 55-57 degrees. I made both halves almost smooth. I put the cheese balls in ice water with salt for 15 minutes.
Recipe 5: how to make mozzarella at home
- 3 liters of homemade full fat milk
- 7 g citric acid
- 2 tsp pepsin solution
- 200 ml cold boiled water water
- 4 tbsp salt for brine
We leave the milk in the refrigerator for several hours to separate the cream. They should be in milk at least 1 cup, and preferably 0.5 liters. If the amount of cream in the milk is less than 1 cup, it makes sense to add the missing amount of cream to the milk to make the mozzarella tasty.
The temperature of the milk should be up to 10 degrees (immediately from the refrigerator). We dissolve citric acid in 100 ml of water.
We introduce a solution of citric acid into cold milk. Milk, stirring constantly, slowly heat up to 32 degrees.
Immediately turn off the fire and introduce the rennet solution into the milk, which we first dilute in 100 ml of cold boiled water.
Stir the milk intensively for 10 seconds, cover the pan and do not touch it anymore for 15-40 minutes. During this time, a curd clot should form, which will move 1 cm away from the walls of the pan.
We check the clot "for a clean finger." To do this, lightly press the top of the clot with your finger. Finger after pressing should be clean.
We cut the clot into 2 × 2 cm squares. Leave the curd cubes for 5 minutes so that they have time to settle a little.
We strain the whey and press the cheese a little under our own weight.
It should be elastic, elastic and quite moist.
Pour 1.5 liters of water into a clean saucepan and heat it to a temperature of 80 degrees. Prepare another pot with cold water. Cheese cut into 4 parts. Dip the cheese pieces in hot water for a few minutes.
We put on rubber gloves. As soon as the cheese becomes viscous and soft, take it out and stretch it and fold it several times to get layering.
We take out the cooled mozzarella from the water and fill it with brine (4 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of whey). We send it to the refrigerator for 2 hours. After this time, the cheese can be eaten or the mozzarella can be salted a little more.
From each liter of milk, an average of 100 g of mozzarella is obtained (depending on the quality of the milk). From 3 l comes out 300 g of mozzarella, and from 10 l - 1 kg of cheese. Mozzarella should not be kept in the refrigerator for more than 3-4 days. It tastes better fresh.
Recipe 6: how to cook mozzarella at home
- country fat milk - 2 l
- citric acid - 0.75 tsp
- water - 50 ml
- sea salt - 1 tsp
- rennite - at the tip of a knife
Pour country fresh milk into a saucepan with a thick bottom and heat to 15 C. Pour 0.75 tsp of citric acid into 50 ml of cold bottled water and stir until the acid is completely dissolved. Pour the acid into the milk, add 1 tsp of coarse sea salt, while stirring, heat to 35C.
Dilute rennite in 2 tablespoons of cold water and pour into milk, mix gently, remove the pan from the heat and leave for 30 minutes. During this time, a dense clot forms in the pan. Cut the clot into pieces with a long knife (without removing it from the pan).
Heat the mixture in a saucepan to 45*C and the whey will begin to separate.
Gently stirring, transfer the clot to a colander and let the whey drain.
Heat the remaining whey to 85 * C and lower the cheese mass into it in small portions for 10-15 seconds, get it out and start stretching, DO NOT FORGET TO WEAR TIGHT RUBBER GLOVES !!! The cheese piece should not be torn, if this happens, then again lower it into hot whey.
It is necessary to stretch and fold several times until the cheese mass becomes elastic. We form balls of various sizes and put them in the cooled whey. If this is not done, the balls will turn yellow and flatten slightly.
In general, that's all .... From 2 liters of milk, 300 grams of delicious mozzarella turned out. Drizzle cheese balls with truffle oil, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and enjoy. Bon appetit!
Recipe 7, homemade: mozzarella cheese (step by step photos)
- 2 liters of milk
- rennet extract
- lemon acid
In 125 ml of cold water, dissolve ¾ teaspoon of citric acid and pour into the pan along with milk. Then put on low heat and slowly heat up to a temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. The temperature should be the same as in the recipe, otherwise all efforts are in vain.
After reaching the required temperature, remove the pan from the stove and pour in the enzyme (¼ teaspoon dissolved in 1 spoon of cold water). A harder cheese that can be grated is obtained by adding double the amount of enzyme. Stir gently for 30 seconds, cover and leave for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, we check the milk - the finished one should have a jelly consistency. If the mass is too soft, wait another minute or two. Then cut into cubes vertically, and another - horizontally. This will separate the whey from the cheese.
We put the cheese mass back on the stove and heat it up to 40 degrees, stirring gently. The cheese will begin to take on the consistency of mozzarella cheese and look like the picture below.
Remove from heat and stir for 3 minutes, and then transfer the cheese mass with a special spoon to a sieve or colander.
When excess whey drains, form a ball, transfer to a bowl and heat in the microwave for a minute. The mozzarella will be quite hot, so thick rubber gloves will come in handy. Separate it from the whey and put it back in the microwave for 30 seconds.
If you follow the step-by-step recipe for Mozzarella cheese at home, then in the microwave during this time the temperature of the cheese mass will reach 60 degrees.
We take out the hot mozzarella from the bowl and transfer it to the countertop, like dough. Then stretch and roll into a ball. Formation methods are different and free. You can make small balls, a large cheese block, or a traditional sphere. After shaping into any shape, put the hot mold into a bowl of ice water. Store in the refrigerator in plastic containers with a small amount of whey.
