Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather the ingredients from the list. Whole, full-fat farm milk is your best bet — cheese made from milk like that comes out tastier, more wholesome, and in a bigger yield than from store-bought. That said, you can make cheese from store-bought milk too; just be sure to use one with a high fat content.

2. Step 2:

   

   Pour the milk into a deep enameled pot and set it on the stove. As a trial run, I made cheese from just half a liter (about 2 cups) of milk — scale everything up proportionally if you want more. Warm the milk to about 68°F (20°C). Making mozzarella is simple, but holding the right temperatures matters, or it won't come together.

3. Step 3:

   

   Always use clean, filtered water for cheese making — never straight from the tap. Dissolve the citric acid in half of the water called for.

4. Step 4:

   

   Stir the citric acid solution into the milk. Over low heat, stirring constantly, bring the temperature up to 95°F (35°C). A thermometer really helps here — it's hard to hit the right temperature by eye.

5. Step 5:

   

   To make the cheese, you need something to separate the curds from the whey — rennet. You can buy it at specialty cheese-making shops. As a substitute, you can use acidin-pepsin tablets, available at any pharmacy. Crush a tablet into a powder and dissolve it in the second portion of water.

6. Step 6:

   

   Pour the acidin-pepsin solution into the pot of milk. Keep heating, stirring constantly, for another 30 seconds. Then turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it sit for 20 minutes.

7. Step 7:

   

   Now separate the curds from the whey by straining the mixture through a sieve. Don't worry about the curds slipping through the holes — the cheese is stretchy and sticky, so it holds together.

8. Step 8:

   

   Pour the whey back into the pot, return it to the heat, and bring it to a boil. Then melt the curds in the boiling whey — a small strainer works well for this. Scoop out the cheese a little at a time and shape it into balls by hand, or any other shape you like.

9. Step 9:

   

   It's best to shape the cheese wearing gloves, since it's very hot. To get the right texture, stretch, fold, and roll the cheese, repeating several times. Afterward, let the mozzarella balls rest in salted ice water — this gives the cheese a smooth, glossy finish. Good mozzarella should be smooth, almost film-like on the outside, and layered and springy inside. Enjoy!