Adventures in cooking: Cheese Making!

Love cheese as much as I do?  Wanna try making it at home?  Well, friends, you can.   For reals.  Ryan bought me this fantastic kit that you can order online.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/167-Ricki-s-Basic-Cheese-Making-Kit.html

The kit contains rennet tablets ( rennet is an enzyme needed to make cheese), citric acid, cheese salt, a thermometer, and cheese cloth.  From this kit you can make fresh mozzarella and ricotta.  You can order additional supplies to make chevre, assorted soft & hard cheeses and yogurt.

  The milk you use is really important.  The first time I tried to make cheese, I used organic milk that was labeled "pasteurized" but turns out it was probably "ultra"  because it didn't work.  The curds wouldn't set up.  Most milk is "ultra" even if it's not labeled as so. Raw milk is ideal.  If you can't get raw you must use milk that HAS NOT been ultra pasteurized such as Clover Farms which can be bought at Whole Foods.


To make the cheese you dissolve 1/4 rennet tablet in 1/4 cup filtered water. Mix citric acid (1 1/4 teaspoon) and 1 cup cold filtered water.
Pour a gallon of milk in a pot and add the citric acid mixture while stirring and heating the milk to 90 degrees. Take the milk off the burner and add the rennet and stir for 30 seconds.

Cover the pot and just let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

When you take the lid off, it should be firm and the curds should form a custard like appearance.  Cut the curds with a knife and place the pot back on the stove.
(If the curds didn't set up and the milk is still liquid and didn't form a curd, it's probably because the milk is ultra pasteurized and just won't work. )

You are heating the curds again.  This time to 105 degrees which takes 3-5 minutes.
While heating, stir the curds slowly (it should look almost like ricotta cheese)
Once you have reached 105 take the pot off the heat and keep stirring for another 3 minutes or so.

Now here is where I have screwed up. The book doesn't mention using the cheese cloth but it is essential.  Dump the pot into a colander so the whey goes "a whey" ( sorry, I couldn't resist ;)  and the curds are left.  You want them dry with no whey or liquid left.  Put the curds in the cheese cloth and strain all the liquid out.  You pretty much have a ball of cheese.....almost there.............
Heat a pot of water to about 180 degrees, just under a simmer.  Put the cheese ball into a bowl and pour the heated water over it.  Ps, wear gloves ( I wear three pairs)  water is hot!

Knead the ball until it becomes stretchable.  If it doesn't stretch, the water  isn't hot enough.  The water is essentially melting the curds.  Do it again and continue stretching.

It should look like taffy and become shiny.  Add salt or herbs to the cheese and form into a ball.  Then place in an ice water beth so the cheese keeps its shape and doesn't get grainy.  Store in some water. Done. Cheese.