Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Making Mozzarella

The almonds were to sustain me while making the cheese.

Have you ever made your own mozzarella cheese?  Well, it's simple, fun, and delicious!  I went online to Leeners and bought citric acid, calcium chloride, and rennet. Of course I could have bought their pre-packaged mozzarella cheese kit, but that would have been  more expensive and made less cheese. Then at WalMart, I picked up pickling salt, the slotted stainless steel spoon, and whole milk.

  
 Curd forming


My finished fresh mozzarella
Looks like part of an anatomy lesson, doesn't it!

I'm not sure exactly what I did wrong that gave it that brain-like appearance, but I think it was that it cooled down too fast when I was stretching it.

So did I save any money making my own mozzarella cheese?  Hmm.....no. Although it tasted great, I would have to have my own cow (and have it paid for) before I'd be saving any money. But then, money isn't everything, right?


 Ingredients ready to put on the pizza dough


 Just before going into the oven the first time


 Homemade pizza with FRESH mozzarella.
What could be better!

In case you'd like to do this yourself, here's the video I used to learn how to make this easy and delicious cheese:

But if you DON'T want your cheese to look like a brain, you might want to use this instructional video instead.





Try it. Your kids might enjoy this project also. And I hear that the whey left over from your mozzarella can be used to make ricotta cheese. How fantastic is that! Unfortunately, I threw the whey way away before I knew that. :-(


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This post is linked to  Made from Scratch Tuesday
and Tasty Tuesday
and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays
and Wandering Wednesday
and What's Cookin' Wednesday
and We Did it Wednesday
and Thrilling Thursday
and Favorite Things Friday
and I'm Lovin' it Friday
and It's a Hodgepodge Friday
and Fat Camp Friday
and Fun With Food Friday

13 comments:

  1. I've always wondered if it would be cheaper to make your own cheese....thanks for figuring that out for me!! lol I still should try making it at some point...just to say I did!

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  2. Oh mozzarella is my favorite cheese and fresh is the best! That would be a fun project to do with the kids. I love showing them how things are made and that you can make so many things on your own.

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  3. Sounds fun!! I love making things. How long did the whole process take?

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  4. Geez Judy, is there anything you CAN'T do? LOL

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  5. I've never been that adventurous, but it sure looks like fun! And what gorgeous, fabulous uses for your fresh cheese ... :)

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  6. that looks delicious but 'I don't do cooking' and that looks way over my head!! lol

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  7. Are you sure you don't want to move to Texas? I would PAY you to cook me meals. That looks great!!

    :)
    Rach

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  8. This is incredible. I have to bookmark this to give it a shot myself - I looooove mozzarella and would love to make my own!

    Visiting from Tasty Tuesday

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  9. I had no idea that you could make mozzarella at home. So cool! Even though it cost you more than just buying it, I bet it tasted a whole lot better! You are brilliant!

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  10. Ok, I see what you have been doing over here with the cheese making and the wanting to get a goat! I'm so behind on blog reading! Aren't you clever to make mozzarella from scratch?! I am impressed! I was flipping through my MIL's March issue of Food Network mag yesterday and Tyler Florence was making mozzarella...but he didn't actually make the curd. He started with that already. You could teach old Tyler a thing or two! :)

    It looks delicious, Judy! I'm craving pizza now. haha Thank you for sharing your adventures with us. If you make goat cheese, I want to know, ok? I'm addicted to that stuff! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Candace

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  11. Hi my friend, Your pizza with homemade cheese looks so delicious. I will have to watch the video. I learned today how to make feta cheese and it was so much fun! It tasted great too. :)
    (also made lefse and loved doing it as well.)
    Thanks for sharing the how-to.

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