[Trillium]

Here's a great step by step method with photos:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_5_gallons/CHEESE_5gal_00.htm

another that doesn't use the hard to find rennet tablets:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cheese-at-Home

and this one discusses the type of milk you can use:
http://schmidling.com/making.htm

When you get really good at this Ice, we all expect blocks of cheese in the mail

[Ice]

So I'll have to find milk that is more ert Oscar Too?

Snowed in today and more to come tomorrow, I might just get started by summer.  Can't wait though I love a foodie project.

[millymolymandy]

Iv'e made cheese and am going to have a serious session in the summer when Rosie my cow goes outside. Kate thear has a really good book on dairying and cheese making, really easy to follow with lots of recipes, also ascot smallholding supplies are a great source for buying rennet, and starter and any equipment you may need. Soft cheese is easier to make than hard, but  the hard cheese is worth the effort, but it takes a bit of practice to get it right, I still am mystified by the process, but am getting better all the time.

[Ice]

Thanks triple M.  I had a look at Ascott Smallholding and should be able to get everything from there.  I have a book arriving soon, not sure who wrote it.

I'm still confused about the pasteurized milk issue.  From what I can gather it seems that unpasteurized is best, pasteurized is ok but not great and ultra pasteurized is useless.

What do you think?

[millymolymandy]

Thanks triple M.  I had a look at Ascott Smallholding and should be able to get everything from there.  I have a book arriving soon, not sure who wrote it.

I'm still confused about the pasteurized milk issue.  From what I can gather it seems that unpasteurized is best, pasteurized is ok but not great and ultra pasteurized is useless.

What do you think?

I use haved used milk straight from the cow and I have pasteurized it myself, it seems to work both ways, you have to be squeeky clean all the way through the process.I have a 3 year old grand daughter, so I am pasteurising the milk for that reason really just to be on the safe side. I have also read that you shouldn't make cheese if you have recently made bread as the yeast can react with the starter and cause bad cheese, so thats something to bear in mind.Rita Ash also has a good book on cheesemaking, but I found Katies book easier to follow.Good luck we will have to compare notes.

[Ice]

Yes, it would be good to compare notes.  I'll probably get it all together and make some in a week or so.

[millymolymandy]

Yes let me know how you get on, I'm waiting until summer, as Rosie is in the shed with all the other cows, you just have to walk through them and you smell of poo and silo  so I think the milk would be tainted if I tried now, but I'm impatient to get started.

[Ice]

smell of poo and silo 

Is that a new Avon fragrance?

[millymolymandy]

smell of poo and silo 

Is that a new Avon fragrance?

 

[Oscar Too]

Oh no, I want to start now.....bringing back memories of my childhood.

[Ice]

Oh no, I want to start now.....bringing back memories of my childhood

Then do it.  We only pass this way once we might as well try everything.

[Poolfield2]

I've found a section on the recipe bit of the site all about chees making but I am not clever enough to give you a link but it's there honest. However I haven't found the youghurt recipes and I was looking for those, preferably a method that doesn't involve going and buying another gadget

[Ice]

I had a look at the recipe bit and didn't find anything.  I'll have another look though as it's been a really useful resource for me.

Repeat the mantra Pooly.....NO MORE GADGETS.

[mumofstig]

For Poolfield

Homemade yogurt from Hugh F W
You don't have to add the dried milk powder, but it helps to thicken the yogurt. Makes 500ml.

500ml whole milk
25g dried milk powder
3 tbsp live, plain, whole milk yogurt

Put the milk in a saucepan and whisk in the dried milk powder. Place over a medium heat until the milk steams and bubbles appear around the edge. Pour into a warmed mixing bowl and leave to cool until a thermometer reads 46C (or, in the absence of a thermometer, dip in a scrupulously clean finger and if you can keep it there for 20 seconds without causing undue pain, it'll be about right).
Whisk in the live yogurt, then cover the bowl with a lid or clingfilm, wrap it in a clean towel and put it somewhere warm - an airing cupboard or above a radiator, say. Alternatively, pour it into a warmed, wide-mouthed Thermos flask.
Check the yogurt after six to eight hours, or leave it overnight. If it's thickened and looks set, pour it into a clean, airtight container and refrigerate. Homemade yogurt isn't as thick as commercial brands, so if you prefer a thicker yogurt, strain it through a muslin-lined sieve set over a bowl in the fridge for a few hours.

[Val H]

For Ice making cheese
It's in the Information Section on Allotment Foods not the recipe part.