Mozzarella recipe
Mozzarella also works from skim milk, but it will be dry and hard. If you want soft, juicy cheese and the milk is not greasy enough, you can also enrich it with added cream. If the milk is not heat treated, do not worry! When stretching the cheese in the hot water will definitely be heat treated. :)
Only full-fledged fresh buffalo milk may be used in the manufacture of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana cheese. In the Caprania area, mozzarella is still prepared according to the original recipe, the designation of which D.O.P. (Denominazione di origine protetta) guarantees the authentic preparation of the product.
Mozzarella preparation recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
- 10 litres of fresh fatty raw milk
- 1 capsule dissolved Yobiotik Pasta filata cheese culture
- 3.1 mL rennet natural rennet enzyme
- water
1. CULTURING: I heat the fresh milk to 38°C, remove the culture from the fridge, pull the capsule apart, pour it into a small bowl and dissolve it thoroughly mixed with a little lukewarm water. At 38°C I turn off the stove, add the dissolved culture to the warm milk and mix thoroughly. I ripen the cultured milk for 1 hour, keeping the temperature of the warm milk. It is important that the milk does not cool down during this time, because only in this way will the bacteria multiply well.
2. INOCULATION OF THE MILK: In 10 litres of milk, I thoroughly mix 3.1 mL of natural rennet. I cover the pot. I am very careful to keep the temperature 36-38°C during processing! I usually solve this with a thermobox, but it can also be solved with an electric oven, a water bath or a simple dunst.
20-25 minutes of clotting time follows.
3. CUTTING THE CURD: I put my palm on the curd and make sure the curd is already solid enough. I'll start cutting up the curd. I prefer to cut the curd with a cheese harp, but it can also be with a curd slicer or a long-bladed knife. I cut the curd to the size of a nugget of 1.5-2 cm in 8-10 minutes. I make sure that the curd size is even everywhere. I put back the lid and 10 minutes of rest follows.
After 10 minutes, I stir it over, move the curd so that the sticky pieces fall apart and have better whey release.
4. SEDIMENTATION: 10 minutes of settling. The curd settles down to the bottom of the vessel, and the whey collects above it. I put a filter in and remove as much whey as I can from it. On the curd which collected at the bottom of the pot, only a little whey should remain. For a smaller amount, I remove whey with a ladle, and for a larger amount, with the help of a tube.
5. ACIDIFICATION: I still keep it warm at 36-37°C. I acidify the curd for 2-2.5 hours. The curd does not need to be shaped or pressed! It neatly assembles into a warm container on its own. If the curd cools down, it will be more time to acidify! When the acidification time is done, I pinch down a little curd to check if it's already sour enough. It will be stretchable if there are definite but pleasant sour flavors on the cheese dough.
6. SHAPING: Now comes the best part, the formatting begins! I heat water to 80-85 °C in a smaller pot. I cut the soured cheese into cubes of 1-2 cm. I put a handful of sliced cheese in a strainer and then gently lower it into the hot water.When the cheese has melted (this is about 1-2 minutes) I work with a spatula, kneading it until I get a homogeneous, lump-free cheese mass.If it doesn't want to stick together, I'll dip it in the hot water again so it can be molded. I take out the kneaded dough and fold it quickly, like a well-risen bun dough. Turning the curvaceous cheese dough in a circle and around, I can always undercut its edges. After 4-5 folds, I squeeze out the middle of the cheese dough between my thumb and forefinger, and then pinch it off with a sudden movement. I throw it into ice-cold water. I take it in a sealable bottle and get enough "cooling water" on it so that the mozzarellas don't hang out anywhere in the air.
7. STORAGE: Store it in the refrigerator in water
