Yes, a billion recipes for the very delightful fresh mozzarella. And I like fresh mozzarella very much.
But fresh mozzarella and regular mozzarella (is there a word other than “regular”?) are different beasts. They taste very different, they have very different textures, and most of all, they have very different shelf lives!
So anyone know of recipes for making home made “regular” mozzarella?
Go to Chowhound.com and go to their homecooking section. Ask there. They’ve always been very helpful. Actually, do a search there first. It may have already been answered and have a whole thread of suggestions.
What do you mean by “regular” mozzarella?
Yeah, what’s regular mozzarella? You need a Water Buffalo for some types. You can start with whole milk, whey, or just get curds. I don’t think there’s a generally regarded regular, but the fresh mozzarella style is most common for home-made.
She’s talking about low-moisture mozzarella, you know, the stuff that 95% of Americans think of when they hear “mozzarella.” I assume it needs to be pressed a bit, but that’s all I’ve got. I don’t have an actual recipe.
ETA: Best I could find is here, but on a commercial level.
Sorry, I should say "the stuff most Americans think of when they hear ‘mozzarella’ " without the “you know,” as I’m not necessarily speaking to an American audience. Mea culpa. It’s a drier, meltier form of mozzarella cheese, with a texture similar to something like a young provolone (well, maybe a little bit softer now that I think about it.)
Pizza cheese is drier and saltier. Bacterial action isn’t required to make mozzarella but I believe it’s encouraged in pizza cheese to give it a stiffer texture. And it’s definitely a lot drier than fresh mozzarella to give it a longer shelf life.
Do you mean low-moisture mozzarella, the stuff that’s generally used on nationwide chain pizza?
I thought that it was just fresh mozz that had been salted and aged for some time. You can try just putting freshly made mozzarella in a cool brine (2 pounds non-iodized salt to 1 gallon water) for about an hour and then aging in a cool dry place (45 F).
Just brining the cheese will probably extend its life though, if that’s the primary goal.