homemade mozzarella cheese

yesterday, i made mozzarella cheese for the first time.

i've been wanting to make it for awhile now and finally got up the nerve to try it.  i watched this video and followed his recipe from the book "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cheese Making."

here are some of my important supplies needed...calcium chloride, citric acid, rennet table and flaked salt.

a gallon of milk heating on the stove.

waiting for the temperature to rise.

after it reach the right temperature, it was removed from the burner and had a rest with the lid on for 20 minutes.

i used a slotted spoon and strainer to remove the curds from the whey.

then it goes in the microwave a couple of times, to heat the curds and expel more of the whey.

finally, i stretched the cheese to allow it to cool evenly...sorry, no picture of that, my hands were a bit busy to pick up the camera.

the final product...fresh, warm cheese.

i used the fresh cheese to make caprese salad.

it wasn't hard at all and tasted delicious!