Mozzarella (Cultured)
Q. "You can make a huge batch of the curd mass, cut it into single use (1lbs) portions and freeze it." I have to put the curd mass the colander and wait... How long I have to waiting before putting the curd mass to refrigerator?
A. Thank you for your inquiry. You want to wait until the draining slows down, to avoid freezing with too much whey. It should still taste sweet when freezing. Too much moisture in freezing will cause a mushy curd on thawing. Once you remove them from the freezer, you will still need to allow it to ripen a bit after it comes to room temperature, so use the hot water test I describe to check for stretch. Then continue with stretching as normal.
Goats Milk
Q. I am going to try this recipe using raw goats milk. Any suggestions before I attempt this?
A. Thank you for your inquiry. Raw goat milk seems to be a mixed result judging by our customers reports. Here I find my goat milk source to be a challenge to get the comparable results of cow milk. Even with The many trials I have done to sort it out. I would definitely try small batch trials. Here is some info on goat milk variations:
Goat's milk takes less rennet, about 25-50% less.
Raw milk is far more active, of course, and so it needs less culture, if any. This
will be true of raw goat and raw cow milk.
Goats milk requires a lower temperature than Cows milk in most cases.
Calcium Chloride?
Q. I noticed there's no addition of Calcium Chloride in this recipe. What is the reason for this? I would've thought that the addition of calcium will result in a better curd set for all pasteurized milks.
A. At one time I thought the same but testing showed otherwise. Since the whole mozzarella stretched curd thing is about losing calcium after the curd forms, adding CaCl is counter productive.
Q. What do you do to get the drier pizza style mozzarella (low moisture)? It says this recipe allows you to get a drier mozzarella but I don't see how.
A. The moisture of the final cheese can be controlled by curd size and heating/stirring. To dry the curd more, cut them smaller and stir longer before draining and trying to stretch.