Anyone have experience with making their own mozzarella cheese? Just curious if anyone has found this to be a better option cost wise for the quality.
Mozz isn’t hard to make but the results are fantastic. But is it cost effective?
Thoughts??
i second this question! I know some places do it around me, but is it worth it?
I made my own Mozzarella for several years and enjoyed it because I was able to make it as salty or firm as I wished. It is also very versatile as far as braiding it, stuffing it etc. What pricing are you getting on the product now? It should take @ 20-25 minutes to make a batch of Mozzarella from curd and you should get a very high yield so it would depend on how much volume your doing and how much time out of your day you want to spend making it. I have always found that making it myself produced a much higher quality product.
Prices for a whole milk mozz in a 5lb block are $2.75 a lb. I have tested making my own and yes you are right it is pretty simple. I actually made it from scratch, not just curd, and it took me about 45min. I can produce it for about $2.20 a lb. I made some pizzas and tested it on some friends and family and they seemed to really like it. Its just not easy to shred or spread because of how wet/soft it is, but I guess that is the trade off for the fresh stuff.
Jamie, did you shred yours or just pull it from a block and put in your pizzas?
Jamie, you say you should get a “high yield”. What is the average yield that you get from a gallon of milk?
Flames, what yield and milk price are you assuming when determining your pricing? I am also interested in learning how you shred or prepare it for topping pizzas? Any other input on handling procedures is welcome…I think this would make a great PMQ article. Anyone else making a house cheese?
Rider, I yield about a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds per gallon. I can get local whole milk for $2.70 a gallon. My total price per pound is about $2.20 to $2.40. That’s with factoring in the citric acid, salt and liquid veg rennet.
I currently just tear it and put it on. Because of how soft it is I can’t shred it. I would really like some input if anyone is currently doing it because it gets much greater coverage of the pizza when shredded.
So during our busy weeks I would need to be able to have 500-600 gallons of milk in my walk-in? I don’t think we will be going this direction any time soon. Also, milk around here is more than $2.70… add in the labor and this is more expensive than cheese even at the record prices we are seeing. Sound like an interesting way to do fresh mozz for a few specialty items but not for replacing all cheese for us.
Bodge that actually made me laugh. Probably be easier to just keep a cow on hand! In your case would probably be easier to just order cheese curd and pull your own mozz. You can do LARGE amounts at a time. But you are correct if would really on work well for specialties pies. I am considering on doing a whole milk mozz bought from GFS in the block and pull fresh mozz for specialties.
Thanks for the information Flames! Now, where could I fit a cow into my 1000 square feet…probably need to start a different thread for that question!