Why did my mozzarella turn out like ricotta?

I have the same problem and went through 3 different brands of milk, thinking they were UHT. However, after some experimentation I determined what I was doing wrong.

In my case, after cutting the curd, and while the water was heating back up to 105, we were stirring too much.

The key is very slow gentle movement. Just enough to slightly move the curds, and not disturb them.

"Stirring" will cause you to end up with a nice tasting ricotta, but not mozzarella.

According to playing with fire and water, the key is raw milk - not pasteurized at all. The author says that she tried several times to make mozzarella and it always turned out like ricotta, until she switched to raw milk.

It's also very important to let the curds acidify, which essentially means letting it sit around for a while. If you don't do that, the curds won't spin, and if they don't spin and stretch, then you can't make a firm cheese, it'll just stay like jelly. The curds are acidified when they spin (stretch without breaking).

this is similar to my question: how do I make my goat cheese creamy?

I would suspect that bringing the temperature higher than directed would cause your problems. In my case I ended up raising the temperature because my cheese wouldn't separate, which resulted in a crumbly hard cheese, instead of something creamy.

I had the same problem and bought a pH meter at which point I discovered my milk didn't have enough acid so I added 2 t citric acid and problem solved. The milk should get thick like cream prior to putting in rennet. pH should be around 5.2.

As a bit of a science geek, I think the PH meter is a great way to go. All research I've done confirms that you can make mozzarella with all milk types except UHT. I tried to make mozzarella for the first time the other night and it came out like creamy ricotta. I believe it to be my stirring technique and temp. However, there is no way to rule out PH without knowing for sure. So to not have the headaches and be able to consistently make the Caprese Salad I like so much, it's well worth it. Thanks everyone for your help, I'm going to try again soon. :)

Mozzarella cannot be repeatedly made from a recipe since milk differs in pH and protein content from cow to cow. I have been making mozzarella successfully for more than 10 years. I have run hundreds of experiments and can tell you that. Buy a pH meter, that will make your life less stressful and your mozzarella will be consistent.

It's not the pasturization that is the problem, it is the homogination which breaks up the casen molecules in the milk. These molecules are required for the curding proccess and when they are damaged, the milk will not curd. I know some add calcium chloride to the milk which apparently helps the curding proccess, but I have never tried this. I normally use raw milk to make mozzarella, but I have also used pasturized non-homogenized milk with no problem. I saw that someone posted not to stir the curds too much or you will end up with rocotta, this simply is not the case. If the curd is right, it is firm enough to stir with no problems at all. Furthermore, you have to stir occasionally to keep the curds from sticking together.

Another thing I would like to say is that there are two different ways to make mozzarella, which is using citric acid or using cultures. I have done both and I can say that using cultures is more fun and has a much better flavor. I have used different cultures over the years and have found that Kefir cultures has the best flavor. I recently created a instructable on making mozzarella cheese, Click Here to view. If anyone tries my method of making mozzarella cheese has further problems, please E-mail me or post on my blog what kind of problem occurred, and I'll point you in the right direction.

I kept experiencing the Ricotta thing and decided to change the milk I used. Living in a city, far away from any dairies, I went online looking for powdered-raw-milk. Needless to say, there is none. I did find some powdered goat's milk online. I went to the company's website and used their store locator and found a place close that sold the powdered goat's milk. After striking out with cow milk, I thought goat's milk may give me better results.

When I arrived, I found the powdered milk and I also discovered that the store sold raw milk, from both cows and goats.

I would suggest doing an online search for producers of: powdered goat's milk, almond flour, kambucha, etc. and use the "Store Locator" or "Where to Buy" features. Chances are, these products are sold in places that also offer raw milk.

Of course, after using the raw milk, the ricotta texture went away. I now have real mozzarella cheese.