# mozzarella starter/culture question



## MamaDee (May 10, 2006)

I bought a packet of thermophilic starter/culture from Hoeggers to make mozzarella cheese.

What's the difference between making the mother culture to use or just using the powder right out of the packet--besides, I'm guessing, it might last longer if you make the mother culture. Is there any difference in the final product?

I broke my glass top stove using a ridged bottom canner and so I don't have any way to boil a jar of milk 30 minutes to make a mother culture.

Also...in my recipie for using the straight powder, it calls for 2 ounces of starter. Anyone know how much 2 ounces is? It doesn't even say on the packet how many total ounces are in it, so I can't figure it out from that. Is there a conversion for dry ingredients from ounces to tablespoons or some such thing?

Dee


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

You can't really do a 1 for 1 alteration with a starter culture......
Look at using a dvi recipe and try it with the amount listed for that....the starter cultures are not to very dissimilar. Making a mother culture you'd portion it out and freeze it and then pull amounts needed to use as a culture.


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## MamaDee (May 10, 2006)

You can't really do a 1 for 1 alteration with a starter culture......
Look at using a dvi recipe and try it with the amount listed for that....the starter cultures are not to very dissimilar. Making a mother culture you'd portion it out and freeze it and then pull amounts needed to use as a culture.
>>>>


But can't you just use the straight powder from the packet? It says 2 ounces--not talking about the mother culture, but straight from packet.

Dee


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

That's what I meant..I said look for a recipe that uses dvi...use the amount of powdered mother culture that it calls for...not sure how much milk you are using so I can't give any thoughts to how much you should use. I'd guess not more than 1/2 a tsp for a batch of a few gallons.


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## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

for future reference, I use yogurt for the thermophilic starter. I always have a culture of buttermilk and yogurt going during the milking season and I use those for all my cheese cultures. I mostly use the buttermilk as a cheese culture, but I use the yogurt for the mozzarellas. I can make mozz whenever I want because the yogurt is always ready.


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

I've never used a culture for my mozz... I use citric acid and rennet and thats it. 

what does the culture add to it?


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## Bricore (Sep 8, 2007)

goatsareus said:


> for future reference, I use yogurt for the thermophilic starter. I always have a culture of buttermilk and yogurt going during the milking season and I use those for all my cheese cultures. I mostly use the buttermilk as a cheese culture, but I use the yogurt for the mozzarellas. I can make mozz whenever I want because the yogurt is always ready.


I never used yogurt but to make more yogurt. I didn't know you could use it to make mozzarella too. I normal just use my starter and citric acid but I'd like to try it with yogurt instead.

I'd love to know more details on how you do it if you wouldn't mind?

Please?

Thanks,

Dora Renee' Wilkerson


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## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

Bricore said:


> I never used yogurt but to make more yogurt. I didn't know you could use it to make mozzarella too. I normal just use my starter and citric acid but I'd like to try it with yogurt instead.
> 
> I'd love to know more details on how you do it if you wouldn't mind?
> 
> ...


LOL, I hope to get back with you tommorrow on this one...I look at three recipes and then wing it! I'll try to make a batch of mozz soon and keep notes


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## Bricore (Sep 8, 2007)

goatsareus said:


> LOL, I hope to get back with you tommorrow on this one...I look at three recipes and then wing it! I'll try to make a batch of mozz soon and keep notes


Oh, thank-you! I would love to be able to do it that way. I can't wait to try it.

Thanks again,

Dora Renee' Wilkerson


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

darbyfamily said:


> I've never used a culture for my mozz... I use citric acid and rennet and thats it.
> 
> what does the culture add to it?


A simple comparison could be....

Like the difference between making biscuits with bisquick and making them from scratch.
Using a culture adds more depth to the flavors in your cheese.


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## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

okay kids, I made a mozz and few days ago and took notes...then I had trouble loggin on to HT:grump:..but here goes


How I make Mozzarella Cheese



Ingredients:



2 gallons whole, raw goats milk

1/8th t. lipase/1/4 C. water (mix with water Â½ hour before adding to milk)

2 t. citric acid

4 ounces (1/2 Cup) yogurt (Thermophilic culture)

Â½ t. liquid rennet/1/4 Cup cool water



Directions:



Soften the 1/8th t. lipase in Â¼ C. cool water, set aside

Pour 2 gallons cold milk into a large pot

Sprinkle over the cold milk, 2 t. citric acid, stir

Place pot with milk into a larger pot to make a double boiler. Make sure there is enough water in the larger pot to reach higher than the level of milk in the smaller pot.

Slowly warm the milk to 90*F. I keep thermometers in both the water and the milk. In the milk I use a floating dairy thermometer and use it as a stirrer throughout the cheese making process.

When the milk reaches 90*F, turn off the heat source and stir in the lipase, and the Â½ Cup yogurt and stir again.

Then add the Â½ t. liquid rennet that was added to Â¼ Cup cool water, slowly stir again, for about 10 seconds.

Let milk sit until a clean break can be achieved. This time will vary, maybe 15 minutes, so test for a clean break.

Cut curds into 1/2â to 1 inch cubes and let rest for 15 minutes.

Drain curds and whey into a cheesecloth lined colander over a large pot to catch the whey.

Hang and drain for 1 hour or until it stops dripping.

Heat whey to 170*F. I usually pour off about half the whey for this procedure.

Take curds out of cheesecloth and slice into 1 inch slices and place cheeses slices in the 170*F whey. Add 2 T. kosher salt to the whey. At this point, I put on heavy duty rubber gloves and dig in. Gather curds into a ball and pull and pull and pull. Pull until the cheese is shiny.

Place in a bowl and refrigerate. Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze if desired. I got a 1# 13 ounce mozz this time.

Usually I do not try to make a secondary cheese with the left over whey. Many of the cheeses I make do not work for this anyway, you can not get a ricotta from the leftover whey. You need a sufficiently renneted cheese for this to work, and the above recipe will work. I donât do it because the yield is so low. I just pour the whey down the drain. I make cheeses from about 4 gallons of milk each week, concentrating on chevre, ricottas and mozzarella.


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