How to Make Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 liters fresh cow's milk
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• Important tips for recipe success:
• You must use fresh cow's milk for this recipe; powdered or dry milk will not work.
• The milk should be at a specific warm temperature, neither boiling nor overheated.
• The milk temperature should be 38 degrees, meaning warm but not boiling. You can use a thermometer as shown in the accompanying photos.
• Or you can place your finger in the hot milk and count to 10.
• If you can reach 10 and feel that you can no longer tolerate the heat, you have reached the required temperature.
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Method

1. ...Place the milk over medium heat, stirring constantly. Here it is important to heat the milk without bringing it to a boil.
2. When the milk reaches the desired temperature, add the vinegar and lemon juice..
3. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible level because you want to make sure the milk does not burn.
4. You can place a piece of metal or anything else to separate the flame from the milk pot directly (anything similar to the iron ring shown in the accompanying photos).
5. Meanwhile, set aside some water in a deep pot until it reaches a hot temperature..
6. Start stirring the milk mixture with a spoon. Gather the curds that form after adding the vinegar and lemon juice, pushing them to one side of the pot so they come together into a ball.
7. When you have something that looks like a ball of curds formed from the milk, lift it out of the liquid and knead it by hand.
8. Knead the ball several times by hand, lifting and stretching it until you get an elastic mass (you can find the photo in the accompanying photo gallery).
9. Place the elastic cheese mass in the pot of water you heated earlier.
10. Place the cheese mass in the hot water, then lift it out and squeeze it by hand to remove the vinegar and lemon residues from it.. Repeat the process to make sure there is no leftover vinegar or lemon, or vinegar smell.
11. Finally, squeeze the cheese mass well, place it in a special kitchen nylon bag, and put it in the refrigerator until it firms up and sets well.
12. After the mozzarella piece or block has set, grate it or cut it any way you like, then divide it into bags and place them in the freezer until needed.