Cheese (and related stuff) - Anybody making their own?

[dickymint]

Love the stuff and if I had to choose between meat and cheese then meat would go. So I gave it a go think Mozzarella would be fairly easy.....wrong!! Armed with 4 litres of full fat milk some citric acid and rennet tablets watched loads of Youtube vids and eventually ended up with a couple of balls of stuff. Edible/tasty yes Mozzarella like nope. Just couldn't get it to stretch anywhere near being Mozz..............


Didn't take photos along the way but it ended up thus below. Whilst at it I thought with the whey why not do a simple garlic and basil bread in the machine using a pack of ready mix.....another cock up as (with hindsight) didn't understand the science involved







OOps whent for a kip and came down to this.......



Struggled to even get it out of the tin............




Managed to 'tidy' it up.............




Cheese sliced well..................





But after grilling it behaved more like Halloumi



So back to the drawing board and with more research I've got some full fat low heat un-homogenised Jersey milk being delivered tomorrow - and a 'cheese meter' because as we know "PH - acid matters"

Thoughts, experience, tips appreciated

[Mobile Chicane]

That looks pretty decent. I'd be happy to be served that.

At its most basic, you can make 'cheese' just by adding acid to milk, then straining the curds. Even plant milks work.

[21TonyK]

With mozzarella I found the really high fat content (gold top etc) did not work.

I might have donea thread on it, cant remmeber,.

[dickymint]

Mobile Chicane said:

That looks pretty decent. I'd be happy to be served that.

At its most basic, you can make 'cheese' just by adding acid to milk, then straining the curds. Even plant milks work.

Cheers MC. Wifey loved it but I'm not a fan of Halloumi as it doesn't melt and just 'burns' reminds me of Tofu

[dickymint]

21TonyK said:

With mozzarella I found the really high fat content (gold top etc) did not work.

I might have donea thread on it, cant remmeber,.

I thought initially that the higher the fat content the better as it yields more curd (which it does) but my current understanding is that the important factor for 'stringy' cheese is the milk needs to be "low heat and un-homogenised" most available gold top is in fact homogenised milk with cream added to it. Proper Gold top (like when were kids) the cream would always rise to the top. If you're as old as me then you'd remember you had to take the milk in early in the morning before the Blue Tits pecked their way in and nabbed all the cream

Sainsburys do a brand called Grahams Jersey Gold Top but even then they do an homogenised version and an un-homogenised version which is actually labelled "Cream on Top" which I've ordered - a pound to a pinch of salt they'll turn up with the wrong type and offer it as a substitute!! I've put Wifey on notice not to accept it if they do

This is where I'm at now............

[NDA]

dickymint said:

L
OOps whent for a kip and came down to this.......

I'm sure I've seen a horror film where this happened in the laboratory.

[LooneyTunes]

Do you have a dairy farm near you that sells milk direct to the public? If so that might well be your best source of milk.

A couple of years ago I spent an interesting day making cheese with a small (but well regarded) producer learning how to make the stuff. If you have one near you that offers courses then it might be worth a look.

Haven't made any since but that's mainly because I have an assortment arrive on subscription each month and decided to focus on the bread / honey we produce instead.