Make mozzarella from scratch or from ready-made curd? – Regardless of the method, the secret is in the stretch.
From scratch begins with fresh milk, rennet and calcium chloride or with ready-made curd. But the real secret of great mozzarella is in the stretching and gentle folding.
You will need a Gallon of whole milk, two teaspoons of citric acid, half teaspoon of calcium chloride, half tablet of rennet diluted in a quarter of a cup of distilled water and half a teaspoon of flaked salt. Mozzarella cheese making kits are available on line from Leeners, whose co-founder wrote “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cheese making“, this is how Leeners introduce it:
“Cheese making is chemistry; it comes about through the controlled interactions of dairy cultures and chemicals called enzymes. Many people become interested in hobby cheese making by creating simple, direct acidification cheese recipes like the lemon based cooked curd called Paneer and vinegar based Queso Blanco. The cheese recipes, dairy ingredients and instructions we have presented here are designed for the home cheese maker and will teach you everything you need to know to make your own cheese using the same process as a real creamery.”
There are numerous “mozzarella making kits” and and how to “stretching video“, just do an on-line search and choose what you like best. At Fairway Market, Whole Foods and Stew Leonard’s, mozzarella in made fresh from curd. I’m sure if you shop at any of these stores, you must have witnessed the process live or from a video they usually run in the mozzarella making section. And if you haven’t, you can learn from this You Tube video shot at Fairway Market, also watch “How to turn milk into mozzarella cheese” on You Tube.
A must see on You Tube is on how industrial curd is made, and it seems the safest and healthiest and the most popular approach to fresh mozzarella, method preferred by most Chefs.