Making fresh mozzarella

We had some wonderful friends join us in the kitchen this evening to make some mozzarella cheese. We had the pleasure of attending a mutual friend's 60th birthday celebration the day prior at a local dairy that also has a restaurant featuring farm to table freshness.  In the dairy's store we managed to obtain some raw milk that was bottled that morning. After a day of work we were excited to get together to make some fresh cheese using local milk. 

Organic, grass fed Swiss dairy cows gave us the perfect milk

We start by heating it to 90 degrees with citric acid. 

We dissolved rennet in water. 

We added the rennet when it reached the proper temp.  

After it sits for 8 minutes it has the texture if a soft Jell-o. 

We cut the curds into 1" cubes. 

Stir and heat to 110 degrees. 

We strained the curds then begin squeezing out excess moisture. 

Once it's whey is removed we began the process of pulling it. 

In the end we are left with lovely mozzarella braids. We pour the whey ( otherwise known as buttermilk) back into clean jars for use as a chicken marinade or in biscuits.