Cheese making leads to pizza…naturally

Ever made cheese before? Because you should!

The lovely Batt Girl is a well experienced cheesemaker so she, Frau, and I decided to not only make cheese, but then use it for pizza! The only things we didn’t make (or grow) on this pizza were the sauce, the mushrooms, and the tomatoes (and only because they’re not quite in season).

Read on for recipes and step by step photos…

Ingredients

RICOTTA:
1 gallon of pasteurized milk (NOT ultra-pasteurized)
1 1/2 tsp citric acid (either powdered or in lemon juice form)
Cheese salt or regular salt to taste

MOZZARELLA:
1 gallon pasteurized milk (NOT pasteurized)
1 1/2 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1 cup of water
1/4 tap rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup water
Cheese salt to taste

DOUGH:
1 cup warm whey (from mozzarella)
3 – 3 1/2 cups flour (wheat flour works just fine)
1 tbsp rapid rising yeast
1 tsp salt
Oil & Cornmeal for the baking pan(s)

TOPPINGS:
whatever your little hearts desire = ) We used tomato sauce sans sugar and garlic because of various allergies, organic tomatoes, mushrooms, homegrown basil and oregano from the Frau, our homemade cheeses, fresh ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper.

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Directions

RICOTTA:

• Pour the 1 gallon of milk into a large pot.

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• Add citric acid.
  

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• Heat to 195F over medium high heat on an electric stove, high on a gas stove. Keep stirring to prevent scorching.

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• Once it’s reached the temperature, ladle into a cheesecloth lined colander in the sink. Make sure most of the liquid has disappeared before adding another batch.
• Tie the ends of the cheesecloth together to make a little pouch and hang for about 30 minutes (not longer as your cheese will get too dry!).

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• It's ready for use!

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MOZZARELLA:

• Pour 1 gallon of milk into a large pot. Have a strainer/colander ready over another large pot of water (heat this pot to 185F). The colander should fit easily into the pot. We actually switched to a smaller strainer after this picture.
• Dissolve citric acid and rennet in their respective amounts of water.
• Add citric acid after a few minutes. Heat milk to 90.
• Remove from heat and let sit for 3-5 minutes. Cut the mozzarella in diagonals.
• Reheat to 110F.
• Ladle into your strainer, but over the sink for the moment.
• KEEP 2 cups of the whey!! (You only need 1 cup for the dough but if you like thick crust pizza you may want to make a double recipe).

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• This is the fun part, put on some rubber gloves. Dunk the strainer with the cheese into the 185F degree water and pull up. Take out the cheese and stretch it around.
• Continue dunking and stretching until the cheese has a sheen to it and is stretchy (as mozzarella should be!).
• Salt to taste and eat a piece…or two…YUMMY!!!
• Put the ball of mozzarella in an ice bath for 10 minutes.

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DOUGH

• Mix 2 cups of flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl.
• Add the 1 cup whey and mix together.
• Add enough flour so that the mixture becomes firmer and easily knead-able.
• Knead on a lightly floured surface for 3 – 4 minutes.
• Cover with a damp cloth (we used the ricotta’s cheesecloth) and let sit/rise for 10 minutes (Yes! That’s all!).
• Oil your baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. To roll out your dough, I recommend covering your cutting board in cornmeal as well and roll it out nice and thin.

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ASSEMBLY:

• Smear some sauce on your dough and start to cover with toppings!
• NOTE: The mozzarella should not be in the oven for the entire baking time. Add it in the last 5 – 10 minutes.
• Bake at 400F for 20 – 30 minutes.

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YUM YUM YUM! Homemade and organic goodness in the form of pizza. And the knowledge you made your own cheese! Congratulations, you’ve become a pretty badass version of Martha Stewart. = )