Powdered Milk and Cheese Making-

We had a fun class on Thursday talking about the uses of powdered milk and sampling different brands and varieties of it.  We then proceeded to make cheese.  First we made cottage cheese out of powdered milk, then we made mozarella cheese out of the powdered milk.  Rod Larkin's turned out the best!!  We think because his hands were stronger.  Thats our excuse anyway.  Virginia Stone told us of her method to make yogurt from powdered milk with just 5 minutes of effort.  Everyone got their own bunch of curds and made some cheese themself.  It was fun!!  Sorry you missed it if you were not there.  You really did miss out!!
How to make cheese:

Equipment you will need:


Equipment: 1. At least an 8 quart pot either enameled or stainless steel. (Do not use aluminum, cast iron or other reactive pots) 2. Thermometer. (A candy thermometer will probably work but a good digital thermometer is much better for accuracy.) 3. A couple measuring cups or something to dissolve the Citric Acid and Rennet in. 4. A big strainer to strain the Curds fro…

 First things First
1. Pour 1 teaspoon Citric Acid into 1/4 cup unchlorinated water and stir. Crush the Rennet tablet and pour it into the other cup of unchlorinated water. The Citric Acid should be dissolved by the time you have to use it. Most of the Rennet will be dissolved but there will still be some residue left. 2. If you haven't done so already, pour milk into your pot. Make sur…

Pour in the Citric Acid.
1. Pour the dissolved Citric Acid in the milk and stir for 1 minute. 2. Sprinkle the other teaspoon of Citric Acid in the milk and sir for another minute. You will probably see the milk start to curdle very shortly. Heat milk to 88-90 degrees F. Stirring occasionally.

This is not an error. You are not trying to pasteurize the milk. If you get it too hot or too cold, the Rennet will not make curds. Use a low heat so it doesn't go past the 88-90 degrees. It should take about 10-15 minutes.

At 88-90 degrees turn off the heat and stir in the Rennet solution for 15-20 seconds.

Cover the pot with the lid and LEAVE IT SET UNDISTURBED FOR AT LEAST 15-20 MINUTES until you can get a clean break. I usually let mine set for 15-30 minutes. Time is not critical here as long as you get the clean break.

Wait for a clean break.
This is what a clean break looks like. When you poke your finger into it and move for an inch or so and lift it out, the Curd and Whey should separate shortly. If it is still liquidy (Is that a real word?) and sticks to your finger let it set a while longer.

Cut the Curd.

Cut the Curds into 1/2 inch cubes from top to bottom as shown. Then do the same thing at a 45 degree angle.

Let the Curds set undisturbed for 5-10 minutes. Just let them sit there.

Apply low heat and heat to 108 degrees.

Apply low heat and stir the curds occasionally to keep them separated until they reach 108 degrees. This will take about 15 minutes. The Curds will shrink and start to sink as the Whey is expelled from them.

Turn off the heat.

Turn off the heat and continue stirring every few minutes for an additional 20 minutes. The Curds will keep shrinking.
 
After you have the curds you can make cottage cheese with them by separating the curds from the whey and adding cream to the curds.  Or to make mozarella cheese you press the whey out by setting the curds between two plates with a heavy object on top removing whey as necessary.  When the whey is gone, add 1 teas. salt and begin to fold the salt into the curds.  Continue to do this until the curds form a smooth shiney ball.....you have mozarella cheese!!!!
 
More info..... other methods
 
How to make cheese at home easily


Learn how to make cheese at home quickly and with little effort. Get the best milk you can find, lemons, and you can start making your all-natural fresh cheese.

Delicious and versatile, this white cheese recipe is the simplest way of cheese making at home. To give you a rough idea, the consistency you get reminds you of cottage cheese, Indian chenna/panir, Italian fresh ricotta or Catalan brossat.

The beauty of it is that to learn how to make cheese at home you don't need any special equipment or ingredients. So, here's how to make cheese...



Equipment for making cheese at home

• A large pan not aluminum.

• A colander

• A wooden spoon

• A cheese cloth or muslin cloth

• A bit of kitchen twine or string

• A large bowl to put the colander in – optional

Ingredients for this cheese making recipe

Yields about 3/4 pound of fresh homemade cheese

• 1/2 gallon (2 l) whole milk – use organic milk if possible

• 4 to 5 tablespoons lemon juice – freshly pressed

How to make cheese instructions

1. Pour the milk in a large pan that allows room for boiling. Heat it to a rolling boil over medium heat. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking.
2. Meanwhile, squeeze the lemon juice.
3. When the milk boils, remove it from he heat. Immediately but slowly add the lemon juice to the milk.
4. While you add the lemon juice, gently move the wooden spoon through the hot milk in one direction. After some seconds, you should see the milk splitting into lumps of curd and watery whey. These curds are your homemade cheese.
5. Cover the pan and set aside for 2 hours. This allows the curds to settle properly. If you are in a hurry reduce the time to 30 minutes.
6. When the curds have settled, line a colander with a cheese cloth or muslin. If your cheese cloth looks very thin, cover the colander with two or more layers.
7. Place the colander in the sink, or a large bowl if you intend to collect the whey. Slowly pour the curdled milk into the colander.
8. When all the liquid is drained off, gather the corners of the cheesecloth together to form a bag. Tie this sack containing the cheese curds with a kitchen twine or any other piece of string.
9. Hang the bag with the cheese curds over the sink or a bowl to let any remaining liquid whey to drip off. A kitchen cabinet knob is generally suitable to suspend the bag with the fresh homemade cheese.
10. Leave for 3 hours, and your homemade cheese is ready for eating or refrigerating. It keeps well and appetizing in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Quicker way—

Take 1 gal of milk, heat gently, don’t let it boil. When about 88 degrees add lemon juice. Stir gently. When curds are formed, remove from heat and let set for 20 min. Drain as much as possible. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Fold salt into cheese for about 2 minutes or until cheese is smooth and shiny. You just made mozzarella cheese.

How to make Yogurt from powdered Milk

I've made yogurt at home about a dozen times now, and it's pretty easy, fun and economical. And there's something gratifying about making a cultured food product of your own, without preservatives, thickeners and other additives that most store-bought yogurts have. This what you'll need:

• a medium-large cooler
• 2-3 glass or plastic quart-sized containers (like pitchers, empty soda bottles, etc.)
• a kitchen thermometer
• about a dozen glass or ceramic cups for the yogurt
• 1/2 gallon - 1 gallon milk (lowfat to whole; I personally haven't had much luck with nonfat)
• small container of unsweetened, unflavored yogurt with live cultures-- for a more consistent result, you might want to try a commercially-available starter.
• powdered milk, if you want your yogurt thicker - with a good starter.

1. Heat the milk

The for two reasons:
1. It kills any other bacteria that might be in the milk that would compete against the bacteria that convert milk to yogurt.

2. It changes the milk protein in a way that allows it to culture and firm up.milk needs to be heated to about 170-180F (76-82C).

Keep stirring the milk and do not let it go past 180F. If it scorches, your yogurt will taste bad.
2. Sterilize the containers
I use boiling water from an electric kettle to sterilize my (cleaned) containers. Add the boiling water, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and then pour out the hot water.
3. Cool the milk and inoculate

Once the milk reaches 170-180F (76-82C), turn off the burner and continue to stir it as it cools. You only need to stir it for another 2-3 minutes, to prevent any of the milk from scorching at the bottom of your pot.

Once it reaches 105-110F (40-43C), mix up your plain yogurt in its container until it's liquid, and add it to the pot of warm milk. Stir it for a couple of minutes for the yogurt to milk. This will spread the bacteria (Lactobacillus, Bifidus, and other bacteria, depending on your source) throughout the milk and allow it to start to grow.
4. Pour into containers

Pour the inoculated milk into the containers.

5. Load into cooler and put in heat sources

Put all the containers into the cooler, along with the pitchers full of hot water from the tap. The heat from those containers will keep the containers warm. The heat should be maintained and stable throughout the process, so try to avoid opening the container at all until the end of the process. The fermentation takes anywhere from 4-8 hours (about 6 is ideal).

If the cooler/kitchen was a bit cool before you put everything in, you might want to quickly take those containers out at about the 1-2 hour point and refresh with hot water. But keep the cooler closed as much as possible, to avoid letting the temperature of the yogurt containers from dropping.

Also, avoid jostling the cooler, even if you have to open it up to refresh the hot water. It needs stillness to firm up.

6. Check yogurt to see if done

After about 6-8 hours (or a bit longer, if the temperature in your cooler is below 100F/39C), the yogurt should be firm. Test by gently turning it to see if it keeps its shape.

There will be some slightly yellowish, viscous liquid on the top. This is whey. You can either pour it off, or just mix it into the yogurt when you eat it.


Let me know how these methods work for you. Please let us know if you have other ways also.  Thanks and Enjoy!!