Making Homemade Cheese

Homemade cheese is something I never thought I would be doing or that I could do without a lot more things which I don't already have in my kitchen.  However, I was happy to find a couple of cheese recipes which do not require anything out of the ordinary.  This recipe for a simple cheese comes from a cookbook I recently purchased called Home Made by Yvette van Boven.  I was excited to read through this book as I love to make things from scratch.  Her photos and procedures are easy to follow and several of them have step by step procedures like the one for making the cheese.

The recipe is simple....4 cups milk and 4 cups buttermilk. Plus a few drops of lemon juice and a teaspoon salt.

 This is what is looks like as you heat the milk, buttermilk and lemon juice.  You can see the edges starting to separate into whey and curds.  Once they have separated you have curds.

 

 These are the curds which are left behind.  They are better known as ricotto cheese.  To continue to a block form, add the teaspoon salt and stir.  This is now lightly salted fresh cheese.

To actually make the form you will need a can with both ends cut off and cheese cloth.  You place the curds into the cheesecloth and place a weight on the can (with a plate below).  Keep the weight in place for about 12 hours and you will end up with a small block of cheese.  You can even see the pattern from the cheesecloth on the cheese.

 It makes about 8 ounces of fresh cheese.  I served it with the artisan bread that I have been making consistently now for a year.  It went vary well with the sesame version of it.  Enjoy!