How To Make Homemade Mozzarella Cheese With Clabber Culture
Learn how to make homemade mozzarella cheese using a clabber culture instead of citric acid or vinegar. This old-fashioned way of making cheese gives it the best flavor and even though making mozzarella this way takes a few hours, I especially like this method because it takes very little hands on time. Making mozzarella cheese is an easy way to use up a lot of milk, and turn it into a beneficial food for your family.
Ingredients
- 1 Gallon Milk
- 2 tablespoon Clabber Culture Or 1 ½ tsp. citric acid dissolved in water
- ¼ teaspoon Animal Rennet
- ¼ cup water
- Salt
Instructions
- Skim the cream from the top of the milk if it is whole milk and save for butter making.
- Add the milk to the cheese pot and slowly heat milk over medium heat to 90 degrees f.
- Add the clabber culture and gently stir.
- Mix the rennet with ¼ cup of cool water in a small bowl and add the rennet mixture to the milk.
- Stir gently for a couple of minutes in an up and down and side to side motion to ensure that the rennet is fully dissolved in the cheese.
- Allow the cheese to rest for 1 hour while the rennet coagulates the cheese.
- After 1 hour check for a clean break in the curds by inserting a knife or your finger into the curds. If the curds break cleanly, move on to the next step. Otherwise let them rest for another 10 minutes or until the curd breaks cleanly.
Cutting The Curds
- Cut the curds into 1 inch pieces with a knife vertically and allow them to “heal” for 5 minutes.
- Cut the curds with a knife horizontally so they are in a grid-like pattern and allow them to “heal” for another 5 minutes.
- Gently stir the curds by hand, breaking up any chunks as needed so that all of the curds are about 1 inch square. Stir until the curds start to feel less soft. (See video)
- Add the cover to the pot and allow the curds to “culture” for 3 hours. (If you are using citric acid instead of clabber, start checking the curd to see if it will stretch after 30 minutes.)
Testing The Stretch Of Your Cheese
- Heat some water to boiling and pour into a small bowl or cup.
- Take a small chunk of the curds from the bottom of the pot and place it into the hot water. Allow to sit for 30 seconds.
- Remove the cheese from the cup and slowly dip it in and out of the water to see if it will start to stretch. You’re looking for it to stretch to the roof without breaking off. If it doesn’t stretch to the roof, allow the cheese to set for 1 more hour before checking the stretch again.
Stretching The Cheese
- Once the cheese stretches to the roof, remove as much whey from the pot as you can, and add boiling water. Allow the curds to set in the hot water for a few minutes to come to temperature. You can also turn the burner of your stove on medium-low heat. You want to heat them until they stretch, which is usually between 130 and 140 degrees.
- Stir the curds using your spoon occasionally as you heat them, being careful not to overwork them.
You have several options for shaping your cheese
- Make string cheese by pulling a rope of cheese out of the pot and putting it straight into a bowl of cold water so it will hold it’s shape.
- Form the curds into a smooth ball of cheese, similar to how you would shape a hamburger bun, but tucking the edges under gently. This gives you a nice glossy top on the ball of mozzarella
- Using your spoon gently stretch the cheese into a ball, being careful not to overwork it. I often get the whole batch of cheese out of the pot and into a bowl and then gently shape it into a large ball.
There are several options for salting your cheese
- For the string cheese and mozzarella balls, or any small blocks of cheese, I recommend you just surface salt them by sprinkling a small amount of salt on the top and bottom of the cheese. Do not add small chunks of cheese to the salt brine because it will be way too salty.
- For the large block of cheese, surface salt the top by sprinkling just a little bit of cheese on the top and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Then flip the cheese over and surface salt the bottom the same way. Mix up the salt brine ingredients and add the large block of cheese to the salt brine. Allow it to set in the brine for approximately 2 hours per pound of cheese. Remove from the brine and allow it to dry in the refrigerator before slicing or shredding.
- If you don't want to mess with making the brine or you have small to medium chunks of cheese, you can just sprinkle salt on the cheese while it's still hot. Fold it over itself and sprinkle some more cheese on it. This gradually incorporates salt into the cheese, without having to mix up the brine.
- Shred or slice and use on pizza, over pasta, or in salads.
- Mozzarella cheese can be refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to one week or frozen for up to 6 months. I hope you try making your own mozzarella cheese, and enjoy it as much as I
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have a clabber culture, but still want to make mozzarella cheese, you can acidify it by adding 1 ½ teaspoons of citric acid per gallon of milk. Follow all the same steps in this recipe, except it doesn’t need to culture after it is coagulated by the rennet. You can move right into heating and stretching it.
- The best cheese is made from fresh milk, so the fresher your milk the better
- Pasteurized milk from the local grocery store works just fine for making mozzarella cheese.
- Use the leftover whey in baking, to water plants, feed animals or put it on your compost pile. You can also just dump it down your drain if you have way to much and don’t need it.
- Mozzarella can be made with skimmed milk, so you can use all of your cream for making homemade butter.
- You can make as big of a batch of mozzarella cheese all at the same time as you’d like. Feel free to double, triple or even quadruple the recipe.
- It’s important to allow the curds to heal after you cut them. Stirring too soon can cause too much moisture to escape out of the curds, making them more tough and rubbery.
