MOZZARELLA
This cheese requires thermophylic cultures and powdered milk must be used to get the proper stretch.
Ingredients:
1 Gallon reconstituted powdered skim milk
1 Pint whipping cream
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride
1/8 tsp S. thermophylus
1/8 tsp L. lactis
1/2 tsp liquid rennet
1 cup salt
Heat milk, cream and calcium chloride to 90F.
Add cultures and ripen for one hour.
Add 1/2 tsp rennet dilluted with 1/4 cup water to milk and stir for no more than 2 minutes.
Let curd set for one hour undisturbed.
Cut curd and rest for 15 minutes, then heat slowly to 100F stirring very gently only to distrubute heat.
Rest at 100F for 15 minutes then drain off whey and set kettle in sink with warm (100F) water.
Use a turkey baster to remove whey as it forms and once the curd has matted together, flip it about every 30 minutes and remove whey and maintain water bath at 100F.
The proper stretch can only be achieved at a pH of between 5.3 and 5.1. If you have no way of measuring it, assume it is near enough at 4.5 hrs from the time the culture was added. At this point, break up the curd mass into walnut sized pieces, put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, heat up enough water to cover the curds to about 170F and place the curds in this water. If all goes well, the curds will soften up so they can be stirred and kneaded into a dough-like consistancy. Use a pair of large spoons to press individual pieces together to build up one mass from all the pieces. This lump of cheese can be pulled and stretched like taffy and once it takes on a sheen, form into a ball and place in a pan of cold water. The trick is to keep the curds around 135F as this is the actual temperature that proper stretching
When the ball is cool, mix one cup of salt with one quart of water and float the cheese in this for about 8 hours. As an alternate you can add 1% salt by weight to the cheese toward the end of the kneading process.
The cheese is then stored in the fridge after air drying for a few hours.