making mozzarella

[ani]

i am in the middle of making mozzarella (and failing). my recipe says to knead it until it is smooth, shiny, and stretchy and that it should only take a few minutes. but i have been working on it for at least 15-20 minutes and it is the texture of ricotta cheese, ie: very tiny curds, soft and crumbly. not at all smooth, shiny or stretchy. what have i done wrong and can i fix it?

[CrazyTATT]

Make sure your water is HOT HOT HOT!

[Pete]

I also add a little vinegar to my water and a good amount of salt.

[ani]

at which point should my water be hot? i began by heating it to 88F then added citric acid. i continued to heat until i think 120F at which point i added rennit and turned off the heat. i let it separate and then scooped out and drained the curds and added salt. i then heated the whey to 175F while i worked the curds and microwaved them 3 times. i continued working the curds and dipping them into the hot whey as they cooled but they never changed texture AT ALL. they were always tiny crumbly curds and stayed the same from beginning to end. it actually turned into better ricotta than when i made ricotta but alas, that was not the goal.

do you add vinegar in addition to citric acid and rennit?

[dano1]

try a different brand milk, not all are equal(you are using whole?). Also as said, the water must be HOT for kneading.

Been a while since i've done it but it comes together pretty quickly.

[CrazyTATT]

you don't want the water to dip below 180-190........Have a bowl of ice water on the side to immerse hands in between pulling the cheese.