pizza dough made with whey

I have a whole lot of whey left over from the Ricotta I made yesterday, and this pizza dough was one of the recipe suggestions in the booklet.  It was super simple (mix flour, yeast, whey, and oil; knead; let rise 10 minutes; roll out) and really good.  I just used jarred pizza sauce and pre-shredded mozzarella.  Both kids even asked for seconds!

I have a lot more whey in the freezer, so I’ll definitely be making this again.

Pizza dough made with whey, from Ricki’s Mozzarella and Ricotta Kit.

Ricotta

Turns out a gallon of milk can actually make two cheeses, making it considerably more cost-effective.  The above ain’t pretty, but it sure tstes good.  Well, in that semi-tasteless way that ricitta tastes.  Just fresher and better.

It’s made from the whey of the Gouda cheese I also made today.  That has to age, so check back in 3-6 months for my review of that.  A second heating produces a whole new set of curds, and you strain those and get, well, this!

Cheesemaking is very, very cool.  Who knew?  Now I have to think of something really fun to do with this: any suggestions?

Ricotta Cheese, from the 30 Minute Mozzarella & Ricotta Kit, supplied by the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.

Mozzarella Cheese

Who knew that you could actually make cheese, least of all mozzarella?  A web forum that I participate on had a “cheesemaking coop”: it turned out that when we bought in bulk, we got the kits from the New England Cheesemaking Supply COmpany half off.  How could I resist?  So here is the first of hopefully many cheeses.

It’s not much to look at (not sure how to make it smooth, like storebought or even in the pictures, but it tastes delicious, and was surprisingly easy to make.  The recipe booklet says that it takes 1/2 an hour, and it probably took a bit longer than that, but I was also dealing with children.  And that always makes everything take three times as long.

The one little problem?  It took an entire gallon of milk to make this much mozzarella.  Yikes.  So it’s not even like I saved any money.  Well, maybe a little.  Not sure it was worth it though… on the other hand, being able to say “and then I made mozzarella…” is pretty priceless.

Mozzarella Cheese, from the 30 Minute Mozzarella & Ricotta Kit, supplied by the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company

PS, if anyone I know ever wants to try to make cheese, it came with enough [vegetarian] rennet for about 50 batches… and I’m NEVER going to make that much cheese.  So just ask and I can supply you with a few tablets.