[Cheese] The 30-minute mozzarella that wasn't

[Erica Schechter]

So I tried Ricki Caroll's recipe for 30-minute mozzarella. If you are
unfamiliar with this, the recipe is shown here:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/includes/modules/jWallace/ChsPgs/1Mozz/Index.html

I know that the curds must be 145 degrees to stretch. Fresh out of the
microwave, the curds pulled themselves. However, they cooled off
rather quickly. I did remember to knead the curds to distribute the
heat before stretching. They just kept cooling off. I reheated several
times. I got the curds to a point where they were opaque and shiny,
but they never stretched very far.

I wonder, did I do something wrong? I only deviated from the recipe in
that I added a bit of calcium chloride to my store-bought milk. Or is
microwave mozz just unreliable? Did I ruin it by microwaving the curds
a whole bunch of times?

Thanks,
Erica