Goat milk burrata cheese

I've discovered something pretty delicious and can't believe I've never heard of it before.  About a week ago I was visiting a friend of a friend and she had a taste of my homemade mozzarella.  She said it was good but I could tell she wanted something different.  While in NY she had had a mozzarella cheese that was harder on the outside and then very creamy and soft on the inside.  I told her I had never seen a recipe for mozzarella like that.

Today I received a cheese newsletter with a recipe for burrata.  I'm pretty sure this is the cheese this woman was talking about.  What it is is cheese stuffed with cheese.  Can you think of anything better?  For those of you who make mozzarella I'm going to include the recipe so you can try it.  It's so simple.  I basically used Ricki Carroll's 30 mozzarella recipe for the first part of it.

Ingredients

1 gallon raw goat's milk
2 Tbl. of heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp. citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
1/8 tsp. rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
1 tsp. of non iodized salt

First I removed 2 tablespoons of cream from the top of my milk and put it aside.  I was able to get that much because the milk had been sitting for 3 days.  With cow's milk you would have lots more cream separate.  Pour the milk into a stainless steel pan and bring the temperature to 55 degrees.  Add citric acid and stir until the temperature reaches 90 degrees.  Remove from heat and add the rennet.  Stir up and down and around for 30 seconds then cover and wait 5 to 7 minutes till the curd separates from the whey.  Return to the heat and bring temperature to 105.  With your hands remove the curd from the pan and squeeze to get as much whey out as you can.

Now here's where the recipe is different than the basic mozzarella.  Remove 1/3 of the curds and place in another bowl or colander.

Break into tiny pieces  Add the cream and 1/2 tsp. of the salt and stir to a creamy consistency.  Set aside.  Place the rest of the cheese in a glass bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds.  Massage the curds, removing more whey.  Microwave for 45 more seconds and massage some more.  Add the other 1/2 tsp. salt then microwave for 45 more seconds. Wearing rubber gloves, stretch the cheese until uniform and shiny.  Separate the cheese into 3 pieces.  Flatten and stretch into a flat round.  Place 1/3 of the cheese/cream filling inside and pinch edges together.

I microwaved the 3 pouches for 30 seconds to kind of meld them and warm the filling a little.  You can either eat them warm or refrigerate them for a later date.  I recommend eating them fresh.

It was also good with tomatoes, basil and a little balsamic vinegar.  I'd like to try wrapping it in pizza dough, baking it and drizzling pesto over it.  Mmmmmm.