Update: Mozarella Madness

So we made mozzarella. And here's the CRAZY part: It actually worked!

As previously noted, we geared up for this by making some other, less labor intensive dairy products, like yogurt and cream cheese. But this weekend we decided we were finally ready.

So we went out and got some milk, which sounds easy, but is a significant part of the process as it's necessary to get milk that is not-ultra pasteurized. But we found some nice local, organic, non-ultra-pasteurized milk and brought it home. And then we heated it. To a very exact temperature.

 

And then we added the "magic" powder. And then we put the lid on and waited. And, incredibly, everything got really thick and the curd separated from the whey. And we cut the curd like this: 

 And then we heated it up again, until this WACKINESS started to happen:

 

 And it eventually all stuck together like this:

 And we could stretch it out, which you're supposed to do. Something about the proteins.

 But it's actually really hot, so sometimes you drop it.

 And then we got smart and used a spoon.

 And after tons of streching and reheating and more stretching and more reheating, it looks like this:

 Which you immediately slice up, put on pizza (with dough made from whey!) and enjoy:

Impressive, right? Apparently not if you're a dog;