Jim's Galley: Mozzarella Recipe Homemade, Delicous, Easy and Cheap!

Caprese salad made with our fresh Motz

Homemade Mozzarella is about as good as it gets. It is fantastic plain, or good in many dishes. Making Motz homemade has many benefits, the most important one is taste. It is wonderful!!

Making homemade cheese may sound like a daunting task. At least for making Motz, it is not. This is very easy to do, there are just a couple of things you need to remember. Check out our tips section at the end.

Our buddy Wayne Bradby, a great fisherman and
our "Director of Cheese"

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup water (filterd)

1 1/2 teaspoon citric acid

1\2 teaspoon Lipase

1/2 rennet tablet

1 gallon whole milk (NOT ultra pasteurized)

2 teaspoon cheese or kosher salt

Tools

5 quart or larger stainless steel non-reactive pot

Thermometer

Slotted spoon

Instructions

1. Measure out 1 cup of water. Stir in the citric acid until dissolved. Measure out 1/4 cup of water in a separate bowl. Dissolve the rennet.

2. Warm the Milk: Pour the milk into the pot. Stir in the citric acid solution. Set the pot over medium-high heat and warm to 88°F, stirring mildly. Add the rennet and 1\2 teaspoon of Lipase once the temp gets to 88.

3.Next heat to 105 degrees. Stir while the curds solidify. Remove from heat let sit for a few minutes.

4. Using a large slotted spoon, dip out the curds and place in a bowl

5. Using your hands, squeeze the whey out of the curd.

6. Next place the bowl of curs in the microwave and heat only for 20 or thirty seconds. More whey will separate. Remove the whey by hand over the sink. Repeat this two or three times.

7. Place curd on a cutting board with two teaspoons of salt sprinkled on the board. Next pour the curd on the board and knead gently just like dough. Only do this for about a minute or so (do not overwork). Then shape your motz however you like and eat ASAP!

Tips:

Storage. Take some of the whey and place in a storage container (maybe three cups, enough to cover the cheese) add a dash of salt into the whey and stir. Then place your finished Motz in the container, seal and refrigerate. Ours stayed very good for five days, but in truth we did that as a test. The Motz would never last that long in our house with my Italian wife.

Milk. DO NOT TRY THIS UNLESS YOU USE PASTURIZED ONLY MILK! A lot of popular milk, organic, etc, is ULTRA PASTERUIZED. If you use this, you will not have cheese. Look carefully at the labels and make sure you are using standard pasteurized whole milk. I use Pet or house brand generic milk, the cheap stuff. Ultra Pasteurized will not make cheese.

Rennet. Store your rennet tablets in a storage bag and keep in the freezer.

Water. If you can use filtered water throughout the process that would be nice, but not a necessity.

Salt. You can vary the salt, try using Sea Salt.

Variations. Once you have made your first batch, remember you can always do variations by adding fresh herbs towards the end of the molding process. Fresh basil, parsley, etc. Just make sure they are finely chopped and not too much.

Cook with this cheese just like you would with any Motz. We have used it in Pizza with a floor of 700 degrees and it worked wonderful. Just plain on tomatoes or any salad is fantastic. This cheese is best fresh and nothing quite like it. The best. Enjoy!

Thanks to our buddy Wayne Bradby for sharing this recipe. He has made this MANY times successfully and the batch we did worked perfect with no issues. I think it is pretty failsafe.

Jim’s Mozzarella Cheese Update!

“That 70’s Cheese”

Recipe.

Put back in what THEY take out!

Well after a lot of research, I finally figured out why the Mozzarella of today is not the Mozzarella of yester year. Back in the 60, 70, and early 80’s you could order a Pizza and the cheese was so rich in Butterfat that it would actually have some butterfat ooze out of the cheese while baking. This of course, added a TON of flavor to the Pizza. I have finally figured out, that the reason you really can’t get this cheese anymore is because the American manufactures do not make it that way. What they do is sell off most of the butterfat in milk to butter and whipping cream manufactures leaving a whole milk Motz, that simply does not have the butterfat content of days past.

Now I am all for reducing fat intake and healthy diet, however on the not so often times I want to make the super delicious pie, I would like the Mozzarella of yester year. So…. I had an idea. To confirm my crazy idea I called a couple of Chef friends of mine and told them what I was thinking. The brain trust agreed, give it a try, it should work, and let us know what happens.

So! If the cheese manufactures can take the fat out, then we can put it back in! And that is what I did. For “That 70’s Cheese” recipe do this.

Follow the recipe above. However substitute two cups of heavy whipping cream in with the whole milk. Then before you add the milk to the pan to heat, melt one quarter stick of unsalted butter in the pan, then add your milk cream mixture.

That’s it!

You will end up with the creamiest and tastiest Mozzarella you have ever had. Use sparingly! This is rich stuff, ideal for Neapolitan Pies.

Cooking tip: Because of the higher fat content and actual butter in the cheese, you will want to first par bake your pizza, add the fresh motz during the last 20 percent of the bake. Keep an eye on it so it will not burn.

Great recipe and it works!

Chow

Jim Baugh
JBOTV

NOTE: We found our supplies in the Coastal Virginia Area at the Wine Cakes and Hobbies Store. Nice folks and good supplies, everything you need. 757-857-0245. They are on Tidewater Drive Norfolk VA

My checkout at Wine Cakes & Hobbies
first visit. Super people! Everything you need to make Motz!!
(Craft Beer Too!)
757-857-0245

Here is our homemade Motz on our Chesapeake Bay Sourdough Margherita Pizza
baked in WFO 700 degree floor. 2:45 baking time

UPDATE 7\27\2015
Wayne had suggested while we were making our first batch, that infusing the cheese with fresh herbs, garlic, etc, is really great. So I made this Basil infused Fresh Motz. It truly was fantastic.
Have fun with it!