Monday, December 31, 2007

I finally did it!

One more accomplishment for 2007. For over 6 months I've had the goal of making a totally handmade, local pizza. I've been making my own dough for a long time, I made my own sauce in August and canned it, but have been held up on making my own cheese. I've tried to make mozarella 2 other times and it wasn't succesful. The first time I ended up with ricotta instead of mozarella, the curds just never formed up. The second time I got the right curds but when the cheese was hot enough to knead and stretch it was too hot for me to handle, so the cheese never really formed right.

So, I got some Playtex rubber gloves and tried again. This time success! It really is easy to make if you have good gloves and use enough rennet to get the curds to form. I used whey in the pizza dough and wow! is that a great addition. I'm going to make some bread with the rest of the whey.

Here is my totally handmade, local pizza before going into the oven. I was even able to grate the mozarella to put on the pizza, I don't like big chunks of cheese on pizza. Here it is cooked, it was delicious!
I'm so excited to have finally accomplished this!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a beautiful (and yummy) accomplishment!!

Wendy said...

Hooray! That is so awesome! I made cheese ... once, and it was a blast, but it's one of those things where I need a half hour to forty-five minutes of uninterrupted time, and I don't typically have that. So, I haven't done it again :).

If you haven't tried making your own yogurt, it's more easy than cheese making, and almost as fun ;).

Christy said...

Yeah, I don't see making cheese as something I'll do often but it was nice to finally succeed at it. I'd like to try a hard cheese sometime, one of those that has to age. I'll have to try yogurt sometime. We don't eat much yogurt but Logan likes it sometimes and he loves anything I make.

frugalmom said...

Too cool. I am jealous. When I can find time without a toddler hanging on me...or the chandelier! then I will try. Till then...your pizza looks heavenly.

linda m said...

That is totally awesome!!!! What an accomplishment. Way to go, Christy! I am very proud of you.

Mom

Deanne said...

Wow, that is wonderful! I never thought about making my own cheese, ever! If I were to make my Italian hubby HOMEMADE MOZZARELLA, he would flip! You keep inspiring. ;)

Christy said...

Deanna - here is the link for the recipe I used to make the mozzarella: http://www.cheesemaking.com/includes/modules/jWallace/ChsPgs/1Mozz/Index.html

It really isn't hard and didn't take too long either. Rubber gloves are a must!

homemoma said...

great work! i just wanted to ask where did you get your recepie. that link did not work for me, gave an error. i have made local cheese type produce but i did not have enough patience to wait for it to harden. it is difficult to make because i cant get my hands on real cow milk but only light milk from stores and those dont give the same result. imo

Christy said...

Try going to www.cheesemaking.org and click where it says 30 minute mozzarella. Whole milk is really important, you need the fat to get cheese.

Paige said...

Wow, that's excellent!