Make your own Mozzarella (aka Pizza Friday!)

I think it's pretty safe to say that Pizza Friday is a standard in the U.S. I remember having several during my childhood and there's just something about it that I love. MW and I enjoy a similar tradition during the summer months when our garden is flourishing and the daylight seems to last forever: Make your own mozzarella and pizza night!

Making mozzarella isn't that difficult, though it helps to have another person on hand. MW is the prime cheese maker and I serve as soux chef. Just know that fresh mozzarella is MUCH different than typical prepackaged mozzarella (like string cheese). It is softer and more moist than string cheese. You can buy fresh mozzarella at most stores to try before you make your own.

Here's what you'll need:
thermometer
1 Gallon Milk (not ultra-pasteurized) - we buy this from the Reynolda Farm Market, which has local dairy
1 1/4 cup cool water (chlorine-free)
1 1/2 tsp citric acid
1/4 rennet table (or 1/4 tsp if liquid rennet)
1 tsp cheese salt (optional, but highly recommended. you can also add in herbs too)

*note: MW bought a cheese making kit which included the citric acid, rennet, and cheese salt. The one we have is Ricki's Mozzarella & Ricotta Kit (Found Here). I would highly recommend it! The directions I have written out are mainly from this Cheese Kit, which are very well written and includes pictures.

How to enjoy your own mozzarella:
1. Dissolve rennet into a 1/4 cup cool water. Stir and set aside.
2. Mix 1 1/2 tsps citric acid into 1 cup cool water until dissolved.

3. Pour 1 gallon of milk into your pot and stir vigorously while adding the citric acid. 

4. Heat the milk to 90 degrees (F) while stirring slowly. (Use medium low heat!)

5. Remove the pot from the burner and slowly stir in the rennet solution with an up and down motion for about 30 seconds. 

6. Cover the pot and leave it alone for about 5 minutes.

7. Check the curd. It should be a soft, pillow of white an inch or so thick on top of the whey. Do this by lightly pressing your hand down near the edge of the pot to reveal the whey underneath. 

(sorry for the blur, but you get the idea)

8. If your curd is too soft or if the whey underneath looks milky, let it set for a few more minutes before continuing. If it didn't form a curd, you failed :(

9. Cut the curd with a knife that reaches to the bottom of your pot in a checkerboard pattern

10. If you have so far succeeded, place the pot back on the stove and heat to 105 degrees (F) while slowly moving the curds around with a spoon (metal slotted spoon is best)

11. We use a microwave method from here to get it to cheese form, so I will describe that method only. 

12. Take off the burner once you reach 105 degrees and continue slowly stirring for about 2-5 minutes. Try not to break up too many of the curd cubes. Keeping them in tact will make it easier to drain them out. 

13. Ladle your curds into a large microwaveable bowl and drain off as much of the whey as you can without pressing the curds too much.  

14. Once the majority of the curds are out, place the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute. (It helps to wear rubber gloves because this part gets HOT).

15. Remove and drain off the whey. Place back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and drain again. The cheese must be 135 degrees (F) to stretch properly, so check it and if it's not there yet, microwave it again. 

16. Place the curds onto a cutting board or other flat surface. Add in the cheese salt (optional, or herbs).

17. Begin to stretch the cheese by pulling it like taffy until it is smooth and shiny. The more you work it, the harder it will be. 

18. Once it is nice and firm and taffy-like, form it into a ball (or log, braid, or bite size bits) and put it into an ice water bath. This will preserve its nice, shiny texture and help to maintain the shape as you prep it for the fridge. 

19. After a few seconds, pull it out, pat it dry with paper towel and wrap it up tight in plastic wrap and put directly into the fridge. 

20. One of our favorite things to do is to make a roll with pesto and turkey pepperoni:

(it is as delicious as it looks)

Our other favorite thing to do with it is to use it on our homemade pizza!

I use the whey to make a simple crust with wheat flour, yeast, salt, and olive oil. I roll it out and place it on a pan with some olive oil and cornmeal. Then we add our pesto as the base, a little sprinkling of shredded cheese, turkey pepperoni, and garden veggies! MW even concocts a delicious spread for the crust consisting of olive oil, garlic, grating cheese, and herbs which he then paints along the edge and it is a TOTAL game changer! Amazing. We bake it almost fully and then add our homemade mozzarella. Since it is homemade, it is super moist and we don't want that to seep out and into the pizza, so baking it just enough to melt it is perfect. Bake at 400 degrees (F) for 25 total minutes. We usually add the mozzarella with about 10 minutes left to bake. 

It definitely makes for a long night when we do it all in the same night, but it's so completely worth it. Making something completely on your own is such a good feeling. Top it off with a nice homebrew and you have a happy MW:

*Exciting post coming tomorrow!!

First Summer Pesto!

Now that I'm caught up on life, it's time to get caught up on posts! Our garden is doing so well (even though we abandoned it for two long weekends in a row). We finally had some time on Friday to make our first batch of summer pesto.

Before MW, I had never had pesto. Pesto originates from Genoa in Northern Italy and MW, having an Italian family, grew up with homemade pesto with tortellini. I was leery of eating a green sauce when he first introduced me, but after my first bite I was in love. It is so savory and full of flavor that you need only to coat your pasta with it. We actually started our summer garden for the purpose of making homemade pesto, and of course it has exploded since then. Basil is still the most abundant plant in our garden and this year we plan to crank out several batches of pesto (perhaps to get us through the winter?). This is one of my favorite easy to make meals when paired with a package of fresh tortellini.

What You'll Need:
food processor
3 cups sweet basil (packed)
3/4 cup parsley (packed)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2- 3/4 cup grating cheese (we use the larger amount with pecorino romano)
4 cloves of garlic
~3/4 cup olive oil

1. Chop the washed basil and parsley in a food processor

2. Add pine nuts, garlic, and cheese, chopping/blending between each addition until it is all blended well.

3. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until desired consistency is reached.

4. Freeze or use fresh! This will make about 4 servings, where each serving is enough to lightly coat a 1lb package of fresh tortellini (we usually use the Buitoni whole wheat cheese tortellini).

Last night, I was lucky enough to have an MW creation complete with sauteed shrimp, pepper bacon, garlic, onions, sun-dried tomatoes 

All on a delicious bed of homemade pesto and tortellini. Because we added extras, we only used a 9oz. package of tortellini and nearly used a full jar of pesto to coat everything. It was mind-blowing. 

Honey Wheat Bread

As promised, here is my Honey Wheat Bread recipe. You will love this bread and never want to go back to the store bought stuff again. Having a grilled cheese or BLT on this bread is pure food heaven.


What you'll need to get started:
3 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 (.25 oz) packages of active dry yeast (or about 4 1/2 tsps bulk yeast)
1/3 cup honey
5 cups bread flour
3 tbs butter, melted
1/3 cup honey (again)
1 tbs salt
3.5 cups whole wheat flour
more butter (to spread on top)
9x5 in. pan

What to do:

1. First, activate your yeast. Plop all those tsps of yeast into the 3 cups of warm water and set aside for about 5-10 minutes.
2. Then mix 5 cups of bread flour with the yeast-y water combo and 1/3 cup honey and stir well. Set aside for about 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

3. Mix in 3 tbs melted butter, another 1/3 cup honey, salt and about 2 cups wheat flour. Mix well.
4. Place this mix onto a floured surface and knead, adding more flour until it's only slightly sticky, but not stuck to the table/counter. Once it reaches this point, I like to knead it for a good 10 minutes to really get the gluten going.

5. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Plop it in and the turn it once over to coat it with grease. Cover with a towel and let rise until it has doubled.
6. Punch down (I give it a quick 3 jabs), shape, and cut into your loaves. Using a (greased) 9x5 pan it makes 3 loaves. I prefer to bake them all at once and then freeze the baked bread, but you can freeze the dough and use it later.
7. Let the dough in the pan rise again until the dough has topped the pan by about an inch. It will look like a nice loaf of sandwich bread!

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Then brush the tops with some melted butter and let cool.
9. Once cooled, I wrap mine in plastic wrap and then in foil, if I freeze them.

A few side notes:

This is not a hard recipe at all, but it does take several hours since the bread is left to rise 3 different times. I usually try to do it on a Sunday when I'm doing things around the house. 

The bread rises much quicker if your house is warm(er). So I usually don't have the A/C pumping when I make it. 

LA's Gran Bars

Ok so I lied. Somewhere between clicking "publish post" and grabbing a sweater for the patio, the sky darkened and rain came tumbling down. So instead I made these:

GRANOLA BARS!
So I thought I'd put up my recipe, since I frequently get asked for it.
Good luck!

Here's what you'll need:
2.5 cups Rolled Oats
1/2 cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup sunflower (or sesame or similar) seed
1/4 cup flax seed (not ground!)
1 cup raw almonds (or other nuts)
1/4 cup peanut butter (I use the fresh ground from Fresh Market/ WF)
1/4 cup natural honey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup dried fruit (chopped small)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

First, Mix your oats, nuts, and seeds in a big bowl and spread on a lined baking sheet and set timer for 10 minutes.

While these are toasting, combine the ingredients for your glue (honey, pbutter, brown sugar, sea salt, cinnamon, vanilla) in a small pot. Once your timer goes off, reset it for 5 minutes and then turn the burner on very low. Be sure to mix the glue well or else it will start to burn. 

When the oats mixture is finished, pull it out and pour it back into your big bowl. Add your dried fruit and stir. Then take the glue and pour it over the oats, trying to get every last bit out of the pot. But don't take too long or it will start to stiffen!

Use a big spoon to mix and knead the oats into the glue. You want to make sure every bit is covered to help it all stick together. 

Once it's all mixed, pour it into your lined baking pan. I like to use an 8x8 to make fat, short wedges. I used to use a 9x13 to make thinner bars. Whatever your preference! Use parchment paper to line the pan and create a basket by laying one piece over the other (like a "t"). 

I like to use the liner from the baking sheet (used previously) to press down on the mixture and make it really compact within the pan. The tighter the better for sticking!

When you're all packed in, stick it back in the oven. This is where it gets tricky. Depending on the amount of chewy/crunchy you want and the size pan you use, your baking times will change. 

For an 8x8 I try to bake for about 10 minutes for chewy bars. It may take you a few times to test out what time works best for you. 

Pull it out of the oven and let it sit to cool for a few minutes before you pull it out of the pan or it will lose its shape. When you do pull it out, stick it on a cutting board and let it cool completely before cutting into your desired bars.

Ta da!
Wrap them tight and put them in a big ziplock!