Fresh Mozzarella

            Nothing makes me happier than spending a day at the computer or in the library researching topics that interest me. Today I made homemade mozzarella. It worked fabulously and I had a bacon, egg, and fresh mozzarella omelet for breakfast. I found two great sources that helped make my first try a success.

            The first is on instructables here. The author is featuring the mozzarella recipe from cheesemaking.com that can be seen here. Since the instructables article was written (which featured the recipe from cheesemaking.com) the recipe has been altered to yield a softer cheese. However the instructables instructions are more… user friendly. Like many of the recipes I find on the internet that involve a microwave they were written years ago. Instead of microwaving for a minute on high I left it for 30 seconds. The next round I gave it 10 instead of thirty. Always remember that microwaves have gotten more powerful and some of the old instructions may not apply.

           The cheese was ready in half an hour. It was a stretchy and shiny ball as promised. I worked some salt into it. Always used uniodized salt. I have found out that iodized salt with mess with the whey during the aging process. (I am not aging mine, but thought to get the proper salt anyway.) Any non-idoized salt will do. It is sold as cheese salt, kosher salt, and natural sea salt. Find more about aging at cheesemaking.com.
          Tomorrow night I am making dinner for my boyfriend and his father. I think I must steal my professor’s idea and make poached apples and pears for a light seasonal dessert. I think I shall pair it with white chocolate pot de crème. Don’t forget to check out his blog at www.bookofdaystales.com. There are always interesting new facts about events that happened everyday and don’t skip the recipes at the bottom of the articles. They are well worth attempting.