My First Attempt at Cheese-Making
Mar. 8, 2011 7:29 pm
Updated: Mar. 12, 2011 9:03 am
Tonight, I made mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese for the first time! It was pretty easy and I'm fairly pleased with the results. Prior to ordering supplies, I had reviewed
The Home Creamery by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. The book gave a suitable overview of dairy terms. It covered the basics of cultured dairy products and moved on to soft, unripened cheeses.
I had also purchased And That's How You Make Cheese! by Shane Sokol. On the plus side, this book explains cheese-making in very easy to understand terms. It did give me confidence to think I could easily turn my kitchen into a happy Home
Creamery! On the minus side....if I ever meet the editor of this book, someone will need to give me an alibi. All I can say is it feels like no one proof-read the manuscript prior to the book being published. The typos are to the point that I'm unsure whether
I trust the recipes. 
I found a site called Leeners that had a good assortment of supplies for a reasonable price. They also had a kit that included many of the items that I had on my "purchase" list and included a mold. Perhaps
I can try a pressed cheese this weekend!
My mozzarella turned out tasty though I think I will add a bit more salt to the finished product next time. I pulled it like taffy so that it developed more of a stringy texture than allowing it to stay more soft. With the whey, I made ricotta, which was so
simple to make that it was almost embarrassing.
I loved making these cheeses. So much fun! I also loved being able to decide what went into the cheese that I made for my home. I may need to use up my spinach with some manicotti tomorrow!
