The Master of
Mozzarella Cheese
The progress of making mozzarella cheese
I knew I still had a couple weeks left of this project and I already made the cheese. So, I decided to brainstorm some ideas on how to use the cheese. There were a few options that I could go with.
I could either go with Mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese, cheese pizza, or grilled cheese. Each would be delicious, I knew that much. The hardest dish to make would either be the mozzarella sticks or Cheese Pizza. I think the easiest dish to make would be the Grilled Cheese. I will most likely go with the Grilled cheese, as all I would need is bread and cheese.
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There was way more improvement this week, compared to the other weeks. The cheese was able to stretch more. The mozzarella cheese was able to be pulled apart into different sections. I was able to form the cheese into ball shapes. The balls were not exactly even but it was close enough! The texture kept improving, the cheese was a lot more smooth. There was more of the mozzarella cheese taste that we all know and love. The cheese was a bit more salty, and easy to enjoy.
FINALLY! The cheese is working! The mozzarella was crumbly but then, this time around the cheese became a little stretchy. To make the cheese more stretchy, I got rid of the white vinegar that I added. I also let the whey get hotter than it was before. I made sure to get the whey to the right consistency. I just know that Gordon Ramsey would be so proud of my life choices with the whey. The whey was absolutely perfect, right temperature heat wise. I made sure the have the whey not be bland in the process.
The consistency of the cheese was amazing, it was exactly what I wanted. I made sure there was no lumps in the cheese. The cheese was stretchy, just like a rubber band or perfectly made slime. The seasoning of the cheese was amazing as well. The cheese had a light salty taste, with some pepper on it as well. There was the cheese taste that everyone can recognize. The cheese tasted better than any sort of cheese that you can get at local grocery stores. My family especially found the Mozzarella cheese delightful. I knew by the look on their faces, they were very proud of the taste and texture. The smell of the cheese was to die for! The smell of the Mozzarella cheese was better than what you could find in the grocery store. This week I retried the process of making the cheese. This time, I combined the rennet and citric Acid. I then put the mixture into the heated-up milk. I made sure to stir the mixture and the milk for 10 seconds longer. After letting the milk sit, I was able to drain the milk from the whey. I did the same process as last week but the cheese ended up crumbly again. The cheese tasted much better than last week. Next week, I will add no citric acid to see what happens. Mozzarella cheese needs to be stretchy and not crumbly. I have gotten the flavor down but not the texture. This week I decided to try the plan I had made, consisting of changing temperatures for the cheese. Also, instead of putting the cheese in the microwave, I decided to heat up the whey to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. I let the cheese sit in the whey for about 15 minutes. This plan went okay, but the cheese became crumbly as I had the cheese sit in the whey for too long. The cheese tasted decently though. The cheese did not get burnt and I did not almost set my stove on fire like the first attempt. This time the cheese had more flavor and actually tasted like cheese which is because I had the mozzarella cheese sit in whey. I also added salt to the cheese so it was not bland. This was, so far, the best outcome of the cheese-making process.
I knew I needed to succeed. I could not keep wasting milk as I kept ruining the cheese. First i burnt my milk and on the second attempt, I burnt the cheese.
I figured out a few things that I needed to change after referencing some other recipes. First thing is that I need to let the milk heat to exactly 95 degrees Fahrenheit so it becomes hot enough. I then need to use a specific amount of animal rennet and a little bit of Citric Acid, which I will be using white vinegar. I need to stir the animal rennet and citric acid into the milk, after the milk heats, for 35-40 seconds. I need to make everything mix together evenly. With making a recipe, comes trial and errors. My first attempt was going alright at first. I had poured 1 2/3 cups of milk into a small pot. I then turned the stove top on, making sure the stove top was set at medium low. I waited for the milk to heat up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, as that was the knowledge I knew of.
I let the milk heat up until I took it off the stove to put 2/4 Animal Rennet with 1/4 White Vinegar. The rennet and vinegar did not fully mix into the milk, which I had not realized until it was too late. Thinking that I was okay and doing everything right, I put the milk back on the stove after letting it sit for 10 minutes. I let the milk heat up, at the same temperature as before, to 135 degrees Fahrenheit. After I let it heat up, I knew I had to put it in the microwave after draining the whey from the cheese. I kept microwaving in 30 second bursts, until I then learned that I burnt the cheese and overcooking it. The cheese had the texture of rubber mixed with scrambled eggs, In the future, I learned that i need to microwave in less amounts of bursts. I also learned that I need to use less Rennet and less White Vinegar. Planning was something that I was thinking about during this week. I knew that I did not need as many materials because I was making Mozzarella cheese. Mozzarella cheese has the least amount of ingredients and steps.
These are the materials that I got
I then had to figure out a cleaning process because this would get messy. I had to make sure that I had paper towels, soap, and Disinfectant Wipes. Everything had to be sanitized, to make sure everything would be safe for consumption. Then, I needed to figure out what days I would make the cheese. I needed to make sure I was free enough so that I could work on the cheese. I had decided Saturday to work on the cheese because that was the only day I was free. I know for a fact that this project would take many hours and would be complicated with time. |
Axe Fletcher
I am a sophomore in Davie County High School, participating in the Genius Hour Project for Mr. Barker's English class. |