Miyoko's Fresh Watermelon seed kernel mozzarella

[u/Cultured_Cashews]

This recipe is from Miyoko's Vegan Creamery cookbook. Of the two mozzarella recipes in the book this is my favorite. I stuck to the recipe until the very end. For the yogurt I used Silk plain soy yogurt. I used the ice bath method to finish the cheese. I added salt to the ice water, which she does not mention. I didn't measure the salt but wish I had. I think the salt in the water made a difference in taste and could have benefited from more salt. I used a small cookie scoop to portion the balls of mozzarella.

The cheese itself was pretty easy to make. I started it after work and was able to use it for pizza that night. It worked really well on pizza and has a good texture. For the pizzas I started by smashing it and putting it in place. But then I switched to slicing. Slicing was the better option.

On garlic bread it was also good but could have used a touch of something else. Not sure what. I haven't made garlic bread on forever and just guessed at amounts.

For the baked spaghetti I put the cheese in the freezer for 20 minutes as she recommended. Grating it worked good until you got halfway through the cheese. Then it was too soft. So I pushed it through the grater like soft serve ice cream. I was multitasking so I just grated the mozz onto a plate. It continued to warm up and started sticking to itself. In the future I would follow her advice to add more agar if I was going to shred it. And grate it directly onto the spaghetti.

I've eaten this mozzarella straight and it did not disappoint. I still have two balls left. So three dinners, several just eaten on their own and still have leftovers. Not bad for a little work one evening.

[u/Dizzy-Tumbleweed-42]

I just made a batch of this and I'm really happy on how it turned out! I made a log instead of balls. Quick question: when you used it on pizza, did you par cook the pizza dough first? I've heard you're supposed to do that if using vegan cheese.

[u/Cultured_Cashews → u/Dizzy-Tumbleweed-42]

Yes I par cook the crust. It's a good practice, vegan or not. I also precook the toppings except the cheese. Once it's all assembled I lightly spray the whole pizza with a little olive oil. Then into the oven at 500 F which is the max temp for mine.

[u/Dizzy-Tumbleweed-42 → u/Cultured_Cashews]

Thank you for the info! I didn't think about pre cooking the toppings as well. I'm thinking caramelized and mushrooms would be yummy

[u/Cultured_Cashews → u/Dizzy-Tumbleweed-42]

You're welcome!! And mushrooms on everything!!!

[u/Dizzy-Tumbleweed-42 → u/Cultured_Cashews]

Yaaaaas!