Lookey here you mozzarella junkies Artisan Ingredients Discuss Lookey here you mozzarella junkies in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; WOOHOO!!! Mail just came. Supplies are here. Rennet Calcium Chloride Citric Acid Lipase Powder Now I just need to lay ...

[asudavew]

WOOHOO!!!

Mail just came.

Supplies are here.

Rennet
Calcium Chloride
Citric Acid
Lipase Powder

Now I just need to lay my hands on some milk, a new thermometer, and some flaked salt.

Wish me luck!!:
Pictures soon.

Dave

[gjbingham]

Flaked salt huh? Sounds like mail order around here. I can't even find metal studs.

[Bacterium]

Hi asudavew.....I've done a bit of cheesemaking myself.....I think I mentioned some stuff on cheese in the chit chat section a while back.

The 30 minute mozarella is a good one to get started on, sure it won't make a top shelf (high quality) cheese but it will be fresh. I haven't made any of this since I've had my oven - but would be interested to see what its like on WFO pizza.

Crash course on the general (very basic) steps of cheese making.

-The Starter(culture of bacteria) goes into the milk - this converts the sugar (lactose) into lactic acid. The acid production will help the curd to form and shrink AND prevent the growth of spoilage bacteria AND starters also help determine the characteristics of the cheese.

Starters have various types, for example - mesophilic or “medium temperature” which may be used in cheddar, blue vein etc. There is thermophilic or “high temperature” which tends to be used in yoghurt, some Italian cheeses ………and many other like mould spores and gas producing starters – which can help to create the eyes in things like Swiss cheese.

Once the starter has been in the milk for a while the bacteria will have multiplied many times over yet the milk will generally be the same consistency.

Next step is to add the rennet, which is basically an enzyme which reacts with the protein in the milk to coagulate it. Once it has coagulated the milk firms up – what we call the curd.

Next the curd is usually “cut” in some form to separate the whey. Harder cheeses (eg. Cheddar will generally be cut more, hence more whey is released. Whereas a softer cheese has less cut to retain some of the whey. Some cheeses may involve even heating the curd (eg. Gouda, Edam, Haloumi) to give different characteristics again

The following stages would then be salting the curd, pressing it (removing more whey – generally for harder cheeses), some have coatings (eg. Ash, grape seeds, wine).
Some cheeses might just go straight into brine (eg. Fetta) whereas others might undergo other things in the maturation process.
…..a very basic overview but hope it helps.

I’ve attached a few pics of when I made some fetta a while ago..

First there is the curd and whey

Then its after its been pressed in a block

And then you can see where I have cut it up into blocks and have it in the brine….


whoopss I haven't added any funny bits

[Frances]

Hey cool Dave! Up and at em!

Can't wait to see how it turns out...

[sarah h]

Dave, a cheese question from Frances in another thread made me wonder ... how's the cheese-making going?

[gjbingham]

I'm curious as to what your costs are to make the cheese. Will it be less expensive than the store-bought variety?

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by gjbingham

I'm curious as to what your costs are to make the cheese. Will it be less expensive than the store-bought variety?

Well I did finally make some... Then got busy and had to put it in the freezer.
I haven't used it yet, but I will soon.

I will probably make another batch.

The cost, excluding chemicals.... $30.00 that will make probably 50 lbs of cheese or more. .. Anyways.... 1 gallon of store bought milk made 1 lb of cheese.

About $4 dollars a gallon, plus chemicals = $4.60/lb

I will take some pics next time, and let everyone know how it turns out on pizza.

I just got back from D.C. so I have some catching up to do!

Dave

[asudavew]

By the way, they loved my use of Ya'll in D.C.

Hick boy gone wild!

[Frances]

I learnt to say "y'all" when I was in texas.... long time ago...

[RCLake]

Originally Posted by Frances

I learnt to say "y'all" when I was in texas.... long time ago...

I'm sure you leaned to use "hon" more than y'all, after 25 years that still catches my ear, although 20 were in Houston and not heard as often.