Cheesemaking

This week, I was motivated to get busy in the kitchen. I baked up some more pumpkin muffins and bread and also some whole wheat bread. They both turned out really well. I loved the whole wheat bread, much more than the first time I made it, and it seemed to turn out better the second time around too. I also decided it was time to dig into my cheese -making book and go for it. I wanted to try out my mozzarella cheese recipe, it was the middle of the week, not pizza night, so I cooked up some lasagna and homemade mozzarella to put on top. It was super fun and I did it all by myself, a little help could have been useful, but the worst of my problems was when I had it made, and I didn't know what to do with it then. It was HOT and stretchy... so my next task is to figure out timing and quantities for our pizza night.

I heated the milk to 55 degrees and put in the citric acid solution, then heated it to 90 degrees and put in the rennet solution. Then I heated it to 120 degrees and my milk had turned from milk to curds and whey! It was pretty cool.

You can see the curds in the whey above that I scooped out of my pan. I drained as much whey out as I could.

Then I heated the cheese in the microwave, which can also be done on the stove, I think. And I kneaded it, until it was hot enough to stretch.


I rolled it into balls because I didn't know how to grate it up... but I think next time I will try something else.
And here is my homemade mozzarella cheese grated up and ready to put on the lasagna. The mozzarella cheese is an easier cheese to make. I am excited to keep experimenting with more flavorful cheeses. Mozzarella is pretty mild and flavorless, but exciting none the less.