How to cook mozzarella at home?

On the shelves of modern supermarkets you can often find unique and healthy products from around the world, a special place among which is occupied by Italian cheeses.They can be used both independently and cook on their basis a lot of delicious and original dishes. Most of the cheeses can be prepared independently, including the popular mozzarella.

Mozzarella is a young cheese that was originally made from black buffalo milk. The birthplace of this product is the Italian region of Campania. On sale you can find several options for mozzarella:

• balls of different diameter in brine;
• solid form of cheese;
• smoked

Modern versions of this cheese are made from the milk of cows or goats with the addition of special enzymes that cause the maturation of raw materials. The product has a delicate, bland taste and a taut texture. Actively used in salads, in the preparation of traditional Italian dishes and desserts.

It is easy to prepare mozzarella, the main thing is to follow the proportions indicated in the recipe, and also to choose fresh products.

For the manufacture of this type of cheese suitable milk, which has not been pasteurized.

In addition, an important ingredient, without which mozzarella cannot be made, is rennet. It is a substance that is derived from the gastric glands of some mammals. Due to this enzyme stiffening of milk occurs. Before proceeding to cheese making, you must purchase this product in a specialized store or pharmacy.

There are a great many recipes for homemade mozzarella, which differ not only in the number and composition of ingredients, but also in manufacturing technology.

To make cheese in this way, you will need:

• milk - 2 liters;
• water - 100 grams;
• coarse salt - 2 tablespoons;
• ½ lemon;
• rennet - ¼ tsp;

You can add aromatic herbs and spices, such as basil, thyme, oregano.

Cooking progress:

• it is necessary to squeeze the juice from the lemon using the tools customary for this purpose, for example, a special press for citrus fruits;
• in water to dissolve the enzyme;
• heat milk in a saucepan of suitable volume to 700 ° C;
• with stirring, put lemon juice and enzyme into milk;
• after the start of serum formation, turn off the stove and leave the pan for 10-15 minutes;
• with a sieve, remove the curdled clots from the pan and squeeze them with gloved hands;
• put the whey remaining after separation of the curd mass on the fire, bring to the boil and salt;
• immerse mozzarella in whey and boil for 4-5 minutes;
• remove mass from brine, stretch and form a ball;
• Repeat the last two steps several times until the cheese has acquired the necessary consistency and elasticity.

You will need the following ingredients:

• high fat milk (goat can) - 2 liters;

• citric acid - 4 grams;
• pepsin - 1 tsp;
• cold boiled water - 200 grams;
• salt - 3 tablespoons.

The cooking process contains many steps.

• Farm milk to refrigerate for 3-4 hours to separate the cream. Gotta collect 1 glass of cream. If you manage to collect less, you can add to the required amount of store cream.
• Dilute citric acid in half the volume of water.
• Pepsin diluted in the remaining half of the water.
• In the cold milk to introduce citric acid.
• While stirring, bring the milk to 350 ° C and inject rennet.
• Intensively stir for 10 seconds, then leave for 12-20 minutes (until curd is formed).
• Open the lid and cut the resulting cottage cheese piece into small squares. Leave them in brine for 5-7 minutes.
• Heat the saucepan again to 350 ° C, stirring constantly.
• Catch the cheese in a sieve and squeeze out excess moisture with a spoon (pressing on the mass). At this stage, it is important not to overdry raw materials.
• In another pot, dial 1 liter of water and heat to 800 ° C.
• In another pan, pour 1 liter of cold water.
• The cheese mass is cut into several parts and immersed in hot water for 1-3 minutes.
• Take out the cheese and form a ball with your hands. It is better to do this with rubber gloves so as not to get burned.
• Put the mozzarella in a saucepan with cold water.
• When the balls have cooled, pour them with brine and put them in the refrigerator for several hours.

Mozzarella cooked at home is stored in a refrigerator at a temperature not exceeding 100 ° C. Without brine, the cheese can keep fresh for 3 days, and with it - about a month. It is necessary to treat these shelf lives responsibly, as in home-cooked cheese there are no preservatives that provide long-term storage of industrial products. If the shelf life ends, you can make a wonderful pizza or Italian national pie calzone from mozzarella.

To make homemade mozzarella tasty and correct, follow these tips:

• use cow's milk of high fat content (not less than 4%);
• tap water is not suitable for making cheese, it is better to replace it with bottled or boiled water from a natural source;
• aluminum and its impurities should not be in the material for making cheese, otherwise the taste of the product will worsen, the shelf life will be reduced;
• strictly follow the temperature and time recommendations;
• In order to prevent burns and for convenience, you can wear a few pairs of thick rubber gloves on your hands.

The following video presents the recipe for making mozzarella at home.