Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

Make your own Homemade Mozzarella Cheese from 4 ingredients and in 30 minutes. This is so much better than store-bought!

It’s not pizza without cheese! I have always wanted to make homemade cheese but I was a little intimated. This is so EASY and super fun family activity.

You will wonder why you haven’t done it before. I can taste a difference from the store-bought cheese and homemade. It is fresher, you won’t taste the plastic taste from the wrap, and you can make it cheaper than what you can buy it in the store.

Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

Ingredients:

1-gallon whole milk, cold (use whole milk, it does make a difference)
1 1/2 teaspoons Citric acid
2 tablets of Junket rennet
1 to 2 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

• Add citric acid in 1 cup of cold water and let dissolve. Pour a gallon of whole milk in a large stockpot, and then add the citric acid water to the milk.
• Heat slowly to 90F on medium heat.
• Dissolve rennet in 1/4 cup of cool water. Remove pot from the heat and stir in rennet, using an up and down motion for 30 seconds and then stop motion with a spoon.  Cover pot and leave for 5 minutes.
• Check the curd, it will look like custard and the whey will be clear. If you can’t push down on the curd-like pillow, it needs to sit a little longer. Put the lid back on and give it 5 more minutes.
• When ready, cut a checkerboard into the curd, using a spatula. crisscross.
• Place pot back on the stove and heat to 105F while stirring slowly.
• Take the pan off the burner and continue to stir slowly for 2 to 5 minutes. Transfer the curd to a colander that is sitting in a bowl, using a slotted spoon.
• Drain the liquid from the curd while gently pressing down to squeeze out the juices. You will have to press down several times.
• Using a microwave bowl, microwave on high for 1 minute and then pour off the juice.
• Knead the cheese and reheat for 30 seconds and repeat, until it is almost too hot to handle.
• Remove the curd from the bowl and continue to knead and stretch, and return to the microwave if the cheese isn’t stretching.
• Keep stretching until the consistency looks right.
• Now knead it back into a ball, mixing in 1 to 2 teaspoons of salt. Keep kneading until it is smooth and shiny.

Here’s your cheese for your pizza!

Do you need the recipe for the pizza crust? Just click on “crust”.
Here is the recipe for the marinara sauce, just click on the sauce!