Throughly clean and sterilize all equipment and surfaces.
Warm milk to 90F. Sprinkle Culture over the surface of the milk and let rehydrate for 5 min. Incorporate Culture into milk with an up and down stirring motion. Cover with lid, and let ripen for 1 hour. If using Cheese Needs cultures, from the Christmas cheesemaking kit, use the MO culture following package directions.
Dilute Calcium Chloride in 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Incorporate into milk. (Only if you are using pasteurized milk)
Dilute Rennet in 1/4 lukewarm water. Incorporate into milk with an up and down stirring motion. Cover pot and let ripen for 30 min - 1 hour.
Check for a clean break. Using a knife, cut curds into 1 inch cubes. Let sit for 5 min between each layer of cuts. This whole cutting process will take 10-15 min. (See Tip 2 on page 64)
Begin stirring your curds. Gently stir continuously while slowly heating your milk to 105F. You want to make this process take about 45 min. At the end of stirring, the curds should be about the size of a navy bean and feel like gum when pressed between your fingers. When squished between your hands, the curds should cling together, but break apart into individual curds when you run your thumb over them.
Allow curds to sit under the whey for 15 min.
Dip off the whey until you see the surface of the curds. Add back in equal amounts of 105F (same temperature) water. Stir for 2 min.
Allow curds to sit under the whey for 15 min.
Dip off the whey, optionally mix with red pepper flakes or other non salted spices and pack your curds into your prepared form. Press at a low pressure (10-15lbs) for 30 min. If your follower is a bucket, make sure that it is filled with nice warm water, this will facilitate your pressing.
After 30 min, remove your cheese from the cheese cloth, flip it over, and redress it in the cheesecloth. Return it to the press and continue to press for 8 more hours at medium pressure (15-20lbs). (Optionally, you may do one more "redressing" after 30 min. This will give you a smoother rind.)
After 8 hours remove your cheese from the press. Your cheese should be approximately 4 lbs, but feel free to weigh it if you feel that it is different.
Using the ratio of 1 tbsp of fine ground salt to 1 lb of cheese, surface salt your cheese. Do this by dipping your cheese in water to wet the surface, and evenly rubbing the surface of your cheese with the designated amount of salt.
-OR-
If the cheese has lots of grooves or cracks in its surface, you may choose to brine salt instead of surface salt. To do this place your cheese in a 18% brine solution ( 5 cups water to 1 cup fine ground salt) for 3 hours per 1 lb of cheese.
Dry on your drying rack for 1-2 days at room temperature, flipping twice a day, until dry to the touch. If your house is very warm, you may choose to dry your cheese in a covered container in the aging area, it may take a few days longer to dry but has less chance of contamination issues.
At this point you may wax your cheese or vacuum seal your cheese. Transfer it to your aging area or the crisper of your refrigerator. The ideal temperature for aging this cheese is 50- 55F but a regular refrigerator will work (it will just age slower). Flip your cheese over once a week. Your cheese will be ready to eat in 6 weeks, but may continue to age well for up to a year.