SO, it's been a busy weekend. Bread, cheese, jam--all done! PIC HEAVY

[Shakespeare]

First, some 5-minute bread (because we wanted some to nosh on while Spongebob continues to do his thing):

Yeast and water...



Big bucket o'dough:



Small blob cut away from the bigger blob this morning:



And finally, a nice loaf with a rather fine crumb. Won't be my favorite recipe, but certainly nice to have on hand for spur-of-the moment bread.







After I mixed up the bucket of dough last night, I started my first-ever batch of mozzarella. Mise en place:



Everything slowly warming:



Houston, we have curd:



The final product (a little firmer than I wanted, but not bad for a first effort--and it's delicious!):




And this afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the first of the California strawberry crop.

4 pints of berries:



4 pints of berries cleaned and into the pot:



And some crushing:



Now for the sugar:



A long cook-down and a little pectin:



10 jelly jars full:



And I had to taste just a little:




And now....I'm pooped. :hi:

[Lucinda]

1. Beautiful photos! I want berries! By the way...

The Ain5 gets better the longer you let it sit in the fridge.

And your mozzarella looks awesome!

I have serious day envy. :)

[NMDemDist2]

2. dang

:wow:

just wow, it all looks so delicious and you make it sound easy :shrug:

[Shakespeare]

10. It really wasn't that hard!

5-minute bread, and 30-minute mozzarella. I think the jam took more time to make than the other two. :hi:

[troubleinwinter]

3. Glorious photos!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for those!

Would you describe a bit about making the mozzarella? That is a total new one on me! The cheese looks lovely.

[Shakespeare]

7. It's Ricki Carrolll's 30-minute mozzarella recipe (link within).

It really wasn't difficult at all; I had the rennet and other cheese-making ingredients on hand (I'd ordered them a few months back, but only just got around to trying the recipe).

http://www.cheesemaking.com/includes/modules/jWallace/ChsPgs/1Mozz/Index.html

I also have her book on home cheesemaking, and want to try a lot of the other recipes, too, now that I've taken the plunge with mozzarella.

[troubleinwinter]

12. Thank you! That is fascinating!!

[Native]

18. You are so cool! I can't ever imagine being able to say -

"Oh, I just happened to have the rennet on hand, so what the heck . . . "

much less, "I decided to take the plunge with mozzarella."

[Inchworm]

4. oh my.. are you tied up?

I'd love to spend time with you!!!

:woohoo:

Beautiful!

:yourock:

[Inchworm]

14. Note: don't come to the cooking group while on the big buzz

I have no idea what I was trying to say here... but I do loves me some strawberries! :D

:blush:

[grasswire]

5. what kind of milk did you use?

Raw?

[Shakespeare]

8. Whole milk from the grocery store.

The only kind of milk you can't use (because apparently it won't set/develop a curd) is ultra-pasturized. Plain old pasturized is fine, and raw is okay, too. I could've gotten some from the farmers' market yesterday, but we live a couple of blocks from the Kodak Theatre, and were pretty much blocked in by closed streets (for the Oscars), so I just went with store-bought. It worked just fine!

[Vinca]

6. Great photos! Could we have more info on making the mozzarella?

I never really thought about making cheese, but since we make our own yogurt all the time, how difficult could cheese be?

[Shakespeare]

9. It really wasn't difficult at all.

I used the 30-minute mozzarella recipe, but there are tons of recipes online:

http://www.cheesemaking.com/includes/modules/jWallace/ChsPgs/1Mozz/Index.html

[Vinca]

13. Thanks for the link. I will definitely give this a try.

[hippywife]

11. Looks really great!

And I bet you were pooped! That's alot of work. Bravo on the cheese. I've only gotten so far as making cream cheese which involves so little work for me since I'm already making yogurt. When I feel like being a total masochist, I'll add firmer cheese to the repertoire.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor. :hi:

[yellerpup]

15. Are you working on a cookbook?

You should be! Everything looks delicious!

[Shakespeare]

16. Ha! No, I was just on a "make stuff" kick this weekend.

I can't wait to try the cheese recipe again. Very gratifying to make that myself.

[yellerpup]

17. You deserve to feel gratified for your cooking accomplishments.

All the photos of all your "back to basic" creations are just great. Thanks for sharing. :hi: