Making Mozzarella Cheese

Making mozzarella cheese was an absolute blast! The process was surprisingly straightforward, and the satisfaction of pulling apart that soft, stretchy cheese was unbeatable. I’m already looking forward to doing it again, especially since tomorrow’s chicken parmesan will be on a whole new level with my homemade mozzarella. Trust me, if you’ve never tried making your own cheese before, this is one adventure worth embarking on!

What You Need To Make Mozzarella Cheese

If you can get your hands on raw milk, definitely go for it! I grab mine from a local dairy that delivers every Tuesday and Thursday. You can use a Raw Milk Finder to track some down in your area. It’s got this amazing creamy, fresh taste, but heads up—it doesn’t last as long as pasteurized milk. Mine usually lasts about a week in the fridge, so I make sure to pick it up when I have time to whip up some yogurt, cheese, and sour cream. Those last longer than the raw milk itself.

Don’t worry about the safety of the milk. Pasteurization happens at either 145 degrees for 30 minutes or at 165 degrees for 15 seconds. We are going to pasteurize the milk before we start.

Now, for making mozzarella, you’ll need rennet to coagulate the milk, which basically means helping it solidify and come together. There are two types: animal-based and plant-based. I haven’t tried the plant-based kind, but it sounds pretty cool since it’s extracted from weeds. Also, while I haven’t made cheese without rennet, I’ve heard you can use lemon juice or vinegar instead. Just know the result will be more like farmer’s cheese, which has a different texture. And hey, maybe don’t Google where animal rennet comes from… seriously, you’ve been warned.

Citric acid is another key player in speeding up the cheese-making process. It tweaks the pH of the milk so the rennet can do its thing.

And of course, you’ll want to add some salt. Not only does it make the cheese taste better, but it probably helps with preservation too.

Equipment

• Large, heavy-bottom non-reactive pot
• Instant-read digital thermometer
• Wooden or non-reactive long handled spoon
• Slotted spoon
• Strainer and a bowl to catch whey
• Microwave safe bowl

Before You Start

You want to use either raw milk or pasteurized milk–not ultra pasteurized milk, which breaks down the proteins and keeps the milk from curdling. I buy raw milk from a local dairy but still like to pasteurize it myself to kill any bacteria that might exist before I make things with it or drink it. Here is how I pasteurize raw milk:

Step 1: Pour the raw milk into either an instant pot or a large pot on the stove. Insert an instant read digital thermometer.

Step 2: Slowly heat the milk, stirring often. Start on medium-low heat and gently increase the heat to medium, until the milk reaches 145 degrees F. Let it stay at this temp for 30 minutes and then remove from heat. It might mean turning the heat down or up depending on how your pot maintains heat.

Step 3: When the milk has about 5 more minutes at 145 degrees F, fill your sink about 4 inches full with ice water.

Step 4: Place your pot into the ice water until the milk cools to 90 degrees F. If you are using an instant pot, you may have to transfer the milk to a different container before plunging into the ice bath.

Step 5: Continue on to make mozzarella cheese.

Step by Step Process for Making Mozzarella Cheese

Step 1: Sprinkle 1.5 tsp citric acid per gallon of milk into a cool non-reactive pot. Pour 1/4 cup cool water over the top and stir until the citric acid has dissolved.

Step 2: Pour your raw milk into the pot and stir to combine. If you just pasteurized your raw milk, it might be slightly cooler than 90 degrees by now, and that is okay.

Step 3: Put the pot over medium-low heat and gently warm the mixture to 90 degrees, watching it carefully with your instant read digital thermometer

Step 4: When it reaches 90 degrees, remove it from the heat and pour in 1/4 tsp rennet per gallon of milk, mixed with 1/2 cup of cool water. I don’t know why this is important, but it is: Don’t stir in a circular motion because you want the milk to not move too much. Instead of stirring, move the wooden spoon up and down for 30 seconds gently. Then stop the water from moving by inserting the spoon and holding it still for a few seconds.

Step 5: Place a lid on the pot and walk away for 5 whole minutes. Don’t even touch the pot!

Step 6: After time is up, remove the lid. The cheese should resemble a soft custard. If you’ve ever made yogurt, its like that almost. If its not custard-like or thick enough, cover it again and let it sit for another 5 minutes up to 30 minutes total.

Step 7: Take a wooden spoon and cut the cheese (no pun intended) a few times in a checker board pattern. Cut all the way to the bottom of the pan. This will help to release more whey in the next step.

Step 8: Return the pot to medium heat and cook until the whey, the liquid that seperates from the curd, reaches 105 degrees.

Step 9: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the mixture to a strainer that is positioned over a bowl.

Step 10: Slowly spin the colander so you get as much whey as possible out. Be patient and keep turning and turning it.

Step 11: Remove the curds and gently squeeze them over the bowl. It won’t be a solid mass yet and will slip through your fingers like mud, delicious cheesy mud.

Step 12: Transfer it to a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.

Step 13: Remove from the microwave and pour off as much whey as you can. Press the curd together in your hands and gently squeeze out any extra whey you can.

Step 14: Microwave it again for 20 seconds, pour off the whey and gently squeeze out what you can. It might get a bit warm at this step. I’m not sure what to tell you to do, other than I ran cold water to cool my hand before touching it. Maybe latex gloves might help as well.

Step 15: Knead and stretch the cheese to remove even more of the whey. Then microwave for 20 more seconds and drain. I am whey serious (lol) when I say that you need to get rid of as much of the whey as you can.

Step 16: Knead in some salt and roll it under into a ball, like you would when shaping hamburger buns.

Step 17: Place the cheese ball into an ice water bath and let it soak until it is completely cooled down. Around

Step 18: Eat it! This process really doesn’t take that much time andNow you have fresh mozzarella! I spend $5.00 per gallon of raw milk and yield about 1.2 lbs of mozzarella. I can buy 1.2 lbs of psuedo-fresh (I mean its not hard cheese) from the grocery store for almost $9.00. I think this is a win!

Frequently Asked Questions