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| Imran Saleh |
Imran Saleh is bringing a little bit of Italy to Lahore
We have posted 2 articles about Imran since we first met him (via e-mail) last winter – one in February and one in March.
At that time, Imran surprised us when he told us how popular pizza is in Pakistan. Imran himself has a commercial sized pizza oven in his kitchen which he built 10 years ago. It can hold 6 large pizzas!
Imran’s dream is to create a cheese culture in Pakistan and he seems to be realizing that dream. He has trained 4 students to make cheese so far and he has a waiting list. His cheeses are sold at his local supermarket and through his ad on the website OLX.
When we interviewed Imran for the previous articles, he was using buffalo milk for his Mozzarella. Now he is getting raw Australian cow’s milk from a nearby farm. He told us that, in his opinion, the milk he is using now makes a better cheese.
This week, Imran’s dry version of his Mozzarella will go on the market for the first time. He describes it as a Provolone-style Mozzarella with little or no aging required. He developed it because he felt that his Mozzarella had a tendency to burn in the pizza oven. The dry version has a lower yield but a better shelf life. He generously shared his new recipe with us:
Imran Saleh’s Dry Mozzarella
After adding the thermophilic culture and allowing it to ripen for 60 minutes (at 90F), I add the required microbial rennet, dissolved in water.
I give it 40 minutes to make a firm gel before cutting and cooking.
While cooking the curds, I slowly raise the temperature up to 113F.
I cook the curds 15 minutes more than usual – 40 minutes, with a fast spin for the last 2 minutes (this is to extract as much whey as possible).
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| The wire on the right is a digital thermometer. |
The rest of the procedure is the same as Jim Wallace has explained in his Mozzarella Made With a Bacteria Culture.
After draining the curds, when 5.3 Ph is achieved, I put them in lined molds with a little weight to press for 3 to 4 hours.
I then remove them from the molds and freeze them for the hot water bath later or just slice them and work them into Mozzarella right away.
The result is a dry Mozzarella. I age it for a week prior to use. It works amazingly on pizza, is very easy to grate, has much elasticity after baking and no burning issues.
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| Imran’s eldest son, Junaid has learned the art of cheese making from his father. |
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| This is Imran’s current make room. He is building a new one upstairs in his home. |
Phone: #03334649134
