Kayleigh's Pizza

It's quite remarkable, really.  First thing she does is milk the cow.  Every morning Kayleigh gets up and out the door with her brother Vincent and they work together to milk "Galaxy", our family cow.  She's a beauty, that Jersey cow, and she gives us several gallons a day of the most delicious milk imaginable.  

Kayleigh takes three gallons of the milk and turns it into about two and a half pounds of mozzarella cheese in forty-five minutes...
It's incredible, really.   

Later, she'll whip up a batch of pizza dough, top it with sauce, the homemade mozzarella, add pepperoni to one and Hawaiian toppings to the other, and we'll all enjoy our Saturday "family night" pizza-and-games celebration, courtesy of Galaxy and our really, really amazing 15-year-old daughter!

Speedy Mozzarella

3 gallons of fresh milk

3/4 tablet of rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water

1-1/2 Tbsp. citric acid powder dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water

1)  In a large stockpot, bring milk to about 55 degrees F., stir in the citric acid water.  You can check the acidity with pH test paper strips to ensure your target pH is in the range of 5.2 to 5.5.  This is helpful to ensure the right acidity to get the cheese to stretch, and especially if your milk is naturally souring in which case you can use less citric acid.

2)  Heat on a very low flame to 85 degrees.

3)  Stir in rennet water with 20 strokes then stop stirring to let the curd set, while continue heating very slowly up to 105-110 degrees.  Turn off heat and let sit until curd forms, about 15 minutes.

4)  Scoop the curds out of the whey and drain in a cheese-cloth lined colander.

5)  Transfer curds to a glass bowl and microwave 1-2 minutes at a time.  Wear clean food-safe rubber gloves and knead and stretch the curd until smooth and stretchy, reheating if necessary.

6)  Add kosher salt to taste, about 1 Tbsp., as you work the cheese into a ball.

7)  Wrap in plastic and keep refrigerated until ready to eat.
 

(For more cheese-making instruction and supplies, 
please consult our friends at www.thebeveragepeople.com)

Pizza Crust

Kayleigh uses a basic recipe adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
1 package active dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp.)
1 cup warm water (120-130 degrees F.)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1-1/4 cups of the flour, yeast and salt.  Add the warm water and oil.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally.  Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.  Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (about 6-8 minutes.)  Divide dough in half, cover and let rest for 10 minutes in a warm area.

Pizza Sauce

Kayleigh uses canned tomato sauce and adds Italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, etc.) garlic and pepper.

Kayleigh's Pizza
Roll out and stretch each half of the dough onto greased, perforated 16" pizza pans.  Top with pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and a variety of toppings.  Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crispy, rotating the pizzas on top and bottom rack positions halfway through the baking time.  
Yield: Two thin crust family-sized pizzas...Just perfect, since there's no take-out or pizza-delivery-service way out here in these hills.

It's delicious, REALLY!