I dissolved a teaspoon of citric acid in a quarter cup of cool water and added it to the milk (a few tablespoons of lemon juice would have done just as well). I heated the milk to 88 degrees F (luke-warm) and added half a rennet tablet dissolved in a quarter cup of water. I stirred this and set it aside for 20 minutes.I used a stainless steel knife to cut the resulting gelled product (curds)into half-inch chunks. I placed the pot in a larger pot filled with hot water, and heated it on the stove until the curds reached 98 degrees. I then stirred it gently every 10 minutes for half an hour. I put an old bandanna in a colander (cheese cloth is called for, but I had none) suspended over a bowl. I poured the curds and whey into the tea towel, and allowed it to filter through, over 20 minutes. I then gently squeezed the curds in the towel to drive off excess liquid. I placed the curds in a ceramic bowl and cut it into 1 inch squares,, after which I nuked it in the microwave until the squares began to melt and sag. Donning latex gloves to protect my hands from the heat, I picked up small handfuls of hot curds and kneaded it into spheres, which I squashed into cylinders. I doubled these over and formed into spheres, and repeated this 3 or 4 times until the cheese became plastic. Finally, I formed the cheese into a one inch sphere and dropped it into iced-cold salted water containing a few ice cubes. I repeated this until all the cheese was formed into balls swimming in the ice water.
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| Mozzarella |
