Guest Post by Kent: Mozzarella Class Recap

Over the weekend, we celebrated our anniversary by heading to Ann Arbor, Michigan.  It’s is great place to hang out with lots of great shops, restaurants and many other things to do.  One of our favorite places to visit is Zingerman’s Deli.  We stopped there for breakfast on Saturday morning, but also visited the other four Zingerman’s locations:  the Roadhouse, the Coffee Company, the Bakehouse and the Creamery.  We actually did the Tour de Food:  all five locations in 24 hours.  We got a free T-shirt, which made a great and megasimple anniversary present.

OK, I’m joking about the gift, because my real anniversary present to Megan was the Mozzarella Making Class at the Zingerman’s Creamery!  Here’s a recap of what we learned . . .

First, we added rennet and citric acid to a gallon of whole milk and mixed it in a large bowl.  Then we waited . . .

While we waited, our instructor Aubrey gave us a very thorough overview of the cheese making process.  I was very impressed with her knowledge, and she was also really fun to get to know.  After the class she even recommended a great restaurant and then proceeded to call and get us reservations.  That’s Zingerman’s customer service though!

After letting the mixture set for around 15 minutes – to about the consistency of custard – we used a large knife to cut the curd into about 9 sections (right).

Then came a time-consuming process of pouring 180 degree water over a spatula to heat up the curds and then dumping it out after the water had cooled.  The curds are very delicate at this point, so we didn’t want the hot water hitting it directly.

We repeated this process between 5-6 times, until the curds became very solid.

This is what the curds looked like as we heated them up.  The photo below on the right shows what the curds looked when we were finished with the process.

Next we drained the water and gathered the curd together into a single mass.  We gently stretched the mass until it became firm.

Aubrey demonstrated how to form the cheese by folding it and then shaping and squeezing it into a mozzarella ball.

We were able to form about 4 mozzarella balls from our curds.  When finished, we placed the balls into a heavily salted water bath for about 20 minutes.

We finished the class by making some mozzarella from curds (instead of milk like we did above).  The photo below on the left is mozzarella wrapped with myrtle.  You bake it in the oven and the myrtle seasons the cheese.  In the photo on the right, Megan is showing her finished Burrata.  This is mozzarella cheese wrapped around some curds and cream.  The finished Burrata is placed in a bowl and cut width wise into small bite size pieces.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper along with your favorite bread and enjoy.

We had a great time and expect to head back soon for more classes at the Creamery or possibly the Bakehouse. 

You can learn more about the classes at Zingerman’s  here.