How to Make Great Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

Step 6 Wait for a clean break.

This is what a clean break looks like. When you poke your finger into it and move for an inch or so and lift it out, the Curd and Whey should separate shortly. If it is still liquidy (Is that a real word?) and sticks to your finger let it set a while longer.

Comments

[mzoch]

Okay. We aren't sure what to do here. The first time we tried we used a store brand whole milk and ended up with something that with a few herbs is a pretty decent cheese spread. But were never able to get ANY curds to form. Even after adding a full tablet of rennet. Our rennet is Marschall. It said to use only a 1/4 tablet for a gallon of milk. So we tried again today. I bought a gallon of organic 2% milk. We made sure that we brought it up to the 89 very slowly. We removed it from the heat and put in a full rennet tablet. It immediately started to do something. But now, 20 minutes into the set time, it just looks like large cottage cheese floating on the top. Did we use too much rennet? What are we doing wrong?

[rbailey5]

I tried this about a month ago it came out perfect, I used black truffle salt it was so good. I did use NON homogenized cream top organic milk. I tried it today with homogenized milk, did not work at all, now doing it again with the correct milk type. I did not let the milk go above 85 degrees and it is setting right now

[cbaron3]

I'm not sure this is any perfect recipe. I followed the instructions to the letter and degrees and came out with soup. I did not get a clean break. My temp never went above 90 degrees and I added the rennet at 89. Let it sit 30 minutes and was very disappointed. My water was reverse osmosis so it was 99.99% clean of any impurities and also went through 2 charcoal filters so no chlorine. There went $4 in milk.

[ybreiden]

How much liquid rennet would I need for 1 gallon of milk?

[wnb882]

i tried this recipe yesterday and was quite happy with my results although my sister had millions of comments. Anyways i tried the recipe using only a litre of milk and adjusted the measurements accordingly except i left the milk to curd too long! i got a clean break BUT the curd was so hard and it was already separating from the whey like a lump of milk dunk in water. I manage to cut the cheese and went thru the process as per instructed. My end result was... my cheese was too chewy and i didnt melt nicely when i bake. So was it because i left the curd to long that the cheese became chewy?

[thomas9666]

If you leave the milk to curdle for too long this might happen... Did you also turn off the heat? It also sounds like you over cooked the curds....

[Audios Muchacho]

It seems like there are a lot of comments about people not getting a clean break. I've found that it is ideal to get a clean break, but not necessary to get a good finished product. The first few batches I made never got to a clean break; they were dime size curds at best.

What seemed to make the most different was a good job in step 17. Continue kneeding the cheese like dough & heating intermittantly even if you start with what looks like ricotta, eventually it will form-up into a nice ball. This is where the microwave method is very useful.

[launmark]

ok, mine does not look like this. all of the curd sinks to the bottom and looks kind of like meelly (sp?). what am i doing wrong? i followed all of the directions perfectly, i thought. then at the end, i can't get it to the stretchy stage. the cheese comes out kind of creamy like cream cheese. it does taste good, just not the texture of regular mozz. help!!

[Shiftlock]

Sounds like maybe you over-microwaved it. At step 13 it says

"Place the Curds in the microwave on high for 30 - 45 seconds. If you have it on too long you will cook the Curd and it will turn to mush. "

Sounds like that happened to you. Maybe try 15-second cycles next time, checking it after every 15 seconds.

[JackieL]

I think I know what went wrong for you because the same happened to me. I had accidentally heated the citric acid milk up to 97. So I dropped the temp down to 90. I thought it would be ok. It wasn't. While the rennet milk was sitting for 20 minutes, the tempature went up to 100. My solution looked just like your's did. I started over with a new gallon and this time it was perfect.

[mcs5076]

I am new to this myself, but the first one i made (using the 30 minute instructions >.< bad) didnt make a clean break and looked like ricotta or something else. I used store brand on accident which is probably ultra pasturized. I used schepps and it worked better. I am trying borden as we speek. I do not know if that helps but if no one else replies you might try another brand of milk.

[Shiftlock]

How did it come out with the Borden? So, the brand of milk makes a big difference in this recipe?

[diybrewing]

You can let your milk get to 95F with the rennet in their. I find that moving the pot away from the burner helps immensely. That way you do not get hot spots in the process.

[vmopar]

Help!!
I started with whole, pasturized, non-homoginzed milk.  After 2 hours-no break, still liquid.  Checked temp, At 89 degrees,  added another whole Rennet tab.  After 90 min-no break, still liquid.  Checked temp again, at 89 degrees added another whole Rennet. 
Is this batch trash?  Any hints?
Thanks

[rhaubejoi]

Did you use Junket brand rennet tablets, because I have heard those are not all that great for cheesemaking.  They are for making deserts because they have other additives in them, like cornstarch...Just a thought.

[vmopar]

Yes, i did use Junket rennet.  However, I later found out that it was about 18 months old.  The shelf life is 24 months, so maybe the rennet was too weak.  I did purchase Junket rennet that was only 7 months old, and got similar results.  I am doing something else wrong.  I have purchased a pH meter and am waiting for its arrival before going in again.  T
Thanks for the tip.  Maybe I'll switch to the liquid.

[dichotom]

I just did this recipe last night and at every turn I thought, "I have totally screwed this up" and then I would proceed and it would work out right. When I was at the rennet stage I used 1 tab and it would not curd up at the top so I went back 45 minutes later, heated the milk back to 90 degrees and added another half tab diluted in water. Got a more or less clean break 20 minutes later. I then proceeded to the strain and microwave stage and I thought again that I was screwed because it was very crumbly and every 20 seconds in the microwave I could get more whey out but it was not turning into cheese and I thought I was going to be left with mush. I did the microwave routine probably 3 or 4 more times than the instructions said because I didn't want to give up and then suddenly it got soft and turned into something like bread dough, I kneaded it, rolled it into a ball, smashed it down and it came out perfect! When you make this cheese, never give up! I doubt it ever goes the same exact way twice but persistence could save you in the end.

[bastag23]

I echo what launmark said. DID NOT work at all, despite strict adherence to directions. We let the temp get to 88.5, and no higher.