cooking class: how to make mozzarella via FOOD52 part 1

oh boy, oh boy!  The day finally arrived and have to tell you I was so excited and eager to get started.  There was a sense of apprehension in learning to make mozzarella, knowing I would have teach a group of us who gathered to kick off my first cooking class & potluck in conjunction with the Food52 potluck!  I found the push in the right direction to get the cooking classes going when Food52 posted they were looking for hosts for their first in a potluck series.

It was game on!  There was a menu to put together, getting the word out (I shared via food52 and with my phoebe’s pure food clients 1st). uh oh… then learn how to make mozzarella. So, I got everything ready… bathroom sparkling clean… kitchen    prepped… food prepared… and the time came to get down to business.  I tried 4 batches and will tell you that the key, for me & the participants, was raw milk.

Here is a link to the Food 52 directions.   We did a few things differently.  We use a microwave to heat the curds before kneading and stretching.  In my experimenting, I used a double boiler which worked well but was messy. We also found that if you use 1/2 a tablet to 1 whole tablet of rennet our batches set firmer and faster (30 min).

be sure to check out my second post to see there recipe we used, some of the amazing food, and the California Olive Ranch testing…

here Shari is getting things started … stove on, milk in the pot and mixing her citric acid to blend in with the milk.

Nadia & Peg practice patience, waiting for the milk to come to temp.

 

after it has set, it’s time to cut & reheat.

 

now the fun begins!

 

we used the microwave to heat the cheese so I was running batches to the machine…I don’t even remember this photo

the stretching has commenced and with it WONDER that (with the exception of 1 person who did not use raw milk) made CHEESE!!

     

how much fun…

TADA!!

 you can find the recipe that we used in the PART 2 post..