Introduction: Homemade Mozzarella Cheese From Milk Powder

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About: Hello and Welcome to In the Kitchen With Matt. I am your host Matt Taylor. My goal for the show is to teach you how to cook really good food at home for cheap. Eating out everyday can get expensive, but it doe…

In this Instructable, I will show you how to make homemade mozzarella cheese from milk powder. This powdered milk mozzarella cheese recipe only requires 5 ingredients. I also use classic cheesemaking ingredients like citric acid and rennet. Making mozzarella cheese from scratch at home is fairly easy to do, and one of the easiest cheeses to make. If I can do it, you can do it. Let's get started!

If you would like to learn how to make mozzarella cheese with just 2 ingredients, milk and vinegar check out this Instructable.

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Follow the steps below or watch the video tutorial or do both. :)

Step 1: Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • Half Gallon of water, use filtered if you have it (1892 mL) plus 1/4 cup water for the rennet and 1/4 cup water for the citric acid
  • 3 cups milk powder (375 g)
  • 1/2 of a rennet tablet
  • 1 tsp of citric acid powder
  • 6 Tbsp butter

Tools:

  • Large pot
  • Slotted spoon
  • Cheesecloth (optional)
  • Collander (optional)
  • Paper Towel
  • Sheet Pan or Baking pan
  • Thermometer

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Step 2: Make the Milk

Begin by making the milk. Add the water to a large pot then take the milk powder, and slowly incorporate it into the water. I really recommend using filtered water, unless your tap water tastes good.

Use a slotted spoon or other spoon and slowly stir. Don't agitate or stir too hard, it will create too many bubbles that you don't want.

If you like you can make the milk the night before and let it sit in the fridge before using it.

Step 3: Melt the Butter

Since I am using non-fat dry milk powder I need to add some fat into the milk. Take the butter and melt it just until barely melted in the microwave or in a pot on the stovetop.

Then take about a cup of the milk and heat it up until it is around 110F (43C) it doesn't have to be exact. The main thing is you don't want to pour the melted butter into cold milk. So heat the cup of milk up first.

Combine the two and either whisk it really well for 1 minute or put it in a blender and blend it for a minute.

Step 4: Add the "buttered Milk" to the Main Milk

Now slowly pour and add the buttered milk into the main pot of milk. Again, don't stir super quickly and agitate it too much, this will create unwanted bubbles.

Step 5: Heat the Milk

Heat the pot of milk slowly over medium-low heat until it reaches right around 90F (32 C). Stir gently so the milk heats up evenly. Use a thermometer to check the temp.

Step 6: Mix and Cover

Once the milk has heated up, remove the pot from the burner and turn the heat off.

Add 1/4 cup of filtered water or good tap water to a small bowl and then add the citric acid to it. Stir until dissolved. Add the citric acid to the pot of warm milk. Gently stir for about 30 seconds. You will begin to see curds form.

Then smash up the half tablet of rennet in a bowl with the back of a spoon, or use a mortar and pestle if you have it. Add that rennet powder to a bowl with 1/4 cup of water, just like you did with the citric acid.

Mix it until it dissolves, then pour it into the pot of milk. Again, gently stir for about 30 seconds.

Cover the pot, and allow it to sit for 30 minutes up to 2 hours. You really need to give the curds time to develop. The time doesn't have to be exact either. So this works perfectly if you need to leave to run errands.

Step 7: Cut the Curd

Once the curd has had time to develop, remove the lid and use a long knife, I always use my bread knife and cut the curd into 1/2 to 1-inch cubes.

This process is different than what I showed in the 2-ingredient mozzarella cheese demonstration and is the classic way of making cheese. You can follow this same process with raw milk or whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized) instead of using powdered milk and butter.

Step 8: Heat the Curd

Time to heat up that curd.

Place the pot back on the burner and set the heat to medium-low. Instead of stirring the curd, rotate the pot which will move the curd around.

Heat the curd until it reaches between 110 and 115 F (43 to 46).

Step 9: Separate the Curds From the Whey

Once the curds have heated up to the proper temp, remove the pot from the burner. Time to separate the curds from the whey. The yellowish liquid you see is whey.

Use a slotted spoon and scoop out the curd. Place it in a colander lined with cheesecloth. Also, make sure to have a sheet pan or roasting/baking pan under the colander to catch the whey that drains out.

Now fold up the corners of the cheesecloth and squeeze the curds, this will release the whey. Do this a few times until you get most of the whey out. At first, the volume of the curds will be heavy and feel very soft. As you squeeze the volume will decrease and the curds will get firmer.

Pour the curds into a microwave-safe bowl.

Step 10: Heat, Stretch, Drain, Shape

Now for the really fun part, or at least I think it is the fun part. We need to heat and shape and stretch the cheese. This is what will turn the curd into cheese and give it that classic mozzarella texture.

Place the pot of curd in the microwave and heat for 1 minute on high. This should bring the temp to right around 160 to 165F (71 to 73 C).

You will see a pool of whey around the cheese. This is good. Use a spoon and press the cheese on the side of the bowl releasing more whey, then dump the whey out.

Smash the cheese and stretch it in the bowl, it will probably be too hot to handle at first. Then using clean hands or wear gloves, knead and stretch the cheese. You will wind up doing this for 3 to 5 minutes. You may need to put it back in the microwave as it cools down because the cheese will get harder as it cools.

Finally add in a bit of cheese salt, flaky sea salt, or crushed kosher salt. Then knead the cheese again so the salt gets mixed in.

Shape the cheese into a ball, it should look nice and smooth and a little shiny. There you go, you just made homemade mozzarella cheese from milk powder.

Step 11: Cool and Serve

Place the cheese ball completely covered in a bowl of cool water for about 10 minutes. After that add some ice to the bowl to further chill the cheese for another 10 minutes.

Wrap it with plastic wrap and then place it in a sandwich bag or Tupperware and store in the fridge to use later. It will taste a little better the next day. But you can also eat it now if you like.

Slice that cheese and eat it! Or it will shred easily if really cold or frozen. Enjoy!

You can print the recipe here if you want.

Step 12: Video Tutorial