Eating burrata is one of life’s great pleasures! Making it . . .
To start, warm 1 gallon of fresh milk to 90°F (never ultra-pasteurized!). Turn off the heat and add 1/8 teaspoon thermophilic starter culture and 1/8 teaspoon lipase powder, dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water. Let ripen for one hour.
Add 4 drops liquid rennet, dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water and stir briskly.
After you add the rennent the curd will start to set up.
Look for a clean break in the milk.
Once you have a clean break, cut the curds and let them cook until they just lose their softness.
After a resting period, carefully ladle the curds into cheesecloth and make a batch of ricotta from the leftover whey.
The curds are tied up in the cheesecloth and left to hang in the refrigerator overnight.
Making the ricotta from the whey.
The drained mozzarella curd after a night in the fridge. You need to wrap this up and let the proper acidity develop for a few days.
The curd ready to be worked. It will be dipped in a hot brine and stretched until it reaches the consistency of taffy (no picture of this stage as it is difficult to take photos with molten hot cheese curd in your hands!)
After the curds are “worked” they are set in cold water and then spend a little time in the whey brine to finish.
The newly formed mozzarella balls that will be hand shredded and combined with the ricotta and lightly whipped cream to form the center of the burrata.
More mozzarella curd is stretched and shaped into a disc. It is filled with the burrata filling, pinched tight and tied off. Ready to serve . . .
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