This recipe works for any kind of milk--I primarily use my own fresh goats' milk, but have made it quite successfully with cow's milk from the grocery, as well as raw cow's milk from a local farmer. I usually make 5 gallons of milk into cheese at a time (I use a 5 gallon Volrath stainless steel pot with a thick aluminum pad on the bottom for heat dispersal. From this much milk, I produce a 5-6 pound wheel of cheese). However, I recommend smaller batches until you master the process.

INGREDIENTS TO TURN ONE GALLON OF MILK INTO ONE POUND OF CHEESE

one gallon freshest milk
1/4 cup buttermilk (or ½ cup yogurt)
1/4 tablet rennet ("Junket" rennet tablets come in a package of 8 tablets (6.5 g), by Redco Foods, Inc., P.O. Box 879, Windsor, CT  06095 (formerly the Salada Foods Division) (Here is the back of the rennet package.)
salt

thermometer, reading  -10 to 110^oC (0 to 225^oF) (I prefer centigrade, but have included Fahrenheit numbers as well)
wooden mixing spoon or whisk
Stainless steel or enameled pot, 4-6 qt, with lid, sterilized. ¹
8" strainer (You may use a colander, though the whey does not flow through as fast as a strainer.)
large handkerchief, sterilized by boiling
pressing frame (4" x 5" can, about 20 oz, with ends removed, save one end)

1. The evening before you plan to make cheese, warm 1 gallon of the freshest milk to 20^oC (68^oF) in the sterilized pot. Blend in ¼ cup buttermilk or ½ cup yogurt as starter. Cover with the sterilized lid. (The function of this inoculation with bacterial starter is to lower the pH so that the rennet will be able to act on the casein.
2. Let sit at room temperature (R.T.) overnight.
3. The next morning, warm milk up to 30^oC (take care not to burn it). Meanwhile, dissolve ¼ tablet of Rennet in ¼ cup cold water.
4. Add dissolved rennet to warmed milk, stir to mix. Cover, let sit undisturbed for at least 35 minutes.
5. Test for completed action of rennet ("clean break"): Probe a clean finger into (hopefully) gelled milk and lift. If the gel is firm enough to break cleanly as the finger is lifted, go to next step. If not firm enough, let sit until clean break is obtained. (Do not stir.) This may take as long as 1-2 hours. Be patient, do NOT disturb the milk.
6. Once a clean break is achieved, cut the curd with a long knife: begin at edge of pot, cut straight down to bottom. Cut repeatedly parallel to first cut, but increasing the angle of the knife until reaching other side of pot. Rotate the pot 90 degrees, cut as before. Rotate and cut two more times, yielding ½ inch cubes of curd.
7. Place pot over a low fire, stir curd with cleaned bare hand by reaching down to bottom, gently lifting and stirring. Cut larger curds as they appear. Do not mash or squeeze. If you wish some soft cottage cheese, remove a portion of the curd at this step before you raise the temperature.  Continue stirring for 15 min (Curds will clump together otherwise.) Heat curds to 35^oC (95^oF) for soft curd cheese, or as high as 39^oC (102^oF) for very firm cheese. The temperature makes a great deal of difference in the consistency of the curd/cheese.
8. Stir and maintain desired temperature until curd has contracted to consistency of firm scrambled eggs. Remove from stove. The curds should sink in whey. Decant off when through a strainer (you may line the strainer with clean cloth if the curd is very fine grained). Save the whey for ricotta if you like. Place curds in a large bowl. (If the curds float, you have a gas-producing contaminant in your starter. It does not necessarily ruin the cheese, indeed, you might WANT bubbles in your finished cheese. But you will have a little more difficulty separating the curds from the whey if the curds float.)
9. Sprinkle two tsp salt over curds, working with hands to mix. Pour off accumulated whey. (The salt is necessary so that the cheese will not spoil as it cures. I tried it without salt and it rotted. However, unsalted, uncured cheese may be frozen until use.)
10. Use sterile large white handkerchief to line a smooth-sided 4" x 5" tin can from which both ends have been removed. Place still-warm curds in the cloth, cover curd with the corners of the cloth, lie the cut-out end of the can on top, and place heavy weight to press down. Let sit for 12 hours or so.
11. The next AM, remove from press, remove cloth, rub outside of cheese with salt and rewrap with fresh handkerchief (do not replace in press). Place wrapped cheese on a rack in the refrigerator. Replace "bandage" daily (as long as it continues to become wet). When a dry yellowish rind forms (about one to two weeks), dip in melted wax, store in refrigerator for about a month (if you can wait that long) or longer for sharper cheese.

 

 
 
 
 
 

¹(Avoid aluminum pots, the acid will dissolve them) Sterilize the pot just before use by placing ½ inch of water in the bottom, covering, and bring it to a rolling boil for five minutes. Pour out the water, replace sterile lid, keep sterilized pot covered until you are ready to add the milk.)

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