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

[Erica Schechter]

UPDATE:

I tried the same recipe again, and it worked great this time. I got
plenty of stre-e-e-e-e-etch on my second try, similar to Ricki's
pictures. I think I just needed to get a feel for it.

This time, after working the curds, I stretched it out to a thin
rectangle. Then I covered it with paper-thin slices of sopressata and
rolled it up like a jelly roll. I plan to serve slices of it with
tomatoes and pesto.

--Erica

On 1/27/06, Erica Schechter <erica.schechter at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>