Goat Cheese - Make:

Goat Cheese

Time Required!: Two days

Print this Project

By Dale Dougherty

Dale Dougherty

DALE DOUGHERTY is the leading advocate of the Maker Movement. He founded Make: Magazine 2005, which first used the term “makers” to describe people who enjoyed “hands-on” work and play. He started Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, and this event has spread to nearly 200 locations in 40 countries, with over 1.5M attendees annually. He is President of Make:Community, which produces Make: and Maker Faire.

In 2011 Dougherty was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” through an initiative that honors Americans who are “doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.” At the 2014 White House Maker Faire he was introduced by President Obama as an American innovator making significant contributions to the fields of education and business. He believes that the Maker Movement has the potential to transform the educational experience of students and introduce them to the practice of innovation through play and tinkering.

Dougherty is the author of “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement Is Changing our Jobs, Schools and Minds” with Adriane Conrad. He is co-author of "Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities" with Peter Hirshberg and Marcia Kadanoff.

View more articles by Dale Dougherty

@dalepd

December 18th, 2012April 2nd, 2015

Take me to the Steps

To make fresh goat cheese, start with goat milk which can be bought from the store. Then, after warming the milk, add a cheese culture and mix in rennet. Rennet is what causes the curds to form and separate from the whey. In this recipe, it takes 12 hours for the curd to form a clean break. You can strain the curd into molds to drain or you can put it into a bag of cheesecloth and hang it over the sink.

This cheese is not aged, although it sits out to dry for 48 hours. Chevre has a nice fresh taste and a soft, spreadable texture. You can mix in herbs or simply sprinkle them on the outside of the cheese.

Cheesemaking Supplies

You’ll need some specialized supplies for cheesemaking, which you can find easily online. A local brewery supply store in my area carries cheesemaking equipment as well as the essential ingredients including the cultures and rennet. Rennet in liquid form seems to be preferred to rennet tablets and vegetarian rennet is preferred to animal rennet (from a lamb’s stomach).

Project Steps

Organize all the supplies.

Pour the goat milk into a pot sitting in a sink of hot water.

Alternatively, you can heat the milk on the stove if you watch it closely.

Raise the temperature of the milk gradually to 86 degrees F.

Add 1/8 tsp of M4001 culture on the surface of the milk and stir gently.

Let sit for three minutes.

Dissolve 1/8 teaspoon calcium chloride in a tablespoon of water.

Add to milk and stir.

Dissolve 1/8 tsp rennet in water.

Add to milk and stir.

Cover pan.

Let stand at room temperature (around 72 degrees F.) for about 12 hours.

The curd will have separated from the whey.

Ladle the curds into molds on a draining rack with a catch basin.

The curds can be poured into small individual molds, a larger mold or into a cheesecloth bag.

Drain for 12 hours, pouring off the whey as it collects.

The curds should continue to drain for an additional 12 hours.

The volume of curds will decrease by at least one-half.

Unmold the cheese, which will still be wet but now forms into a shape.

If using a larger mold or cheesecloth, you can place the cheese in a glass bowl and blend it together with a fork.

Lightly sprinkle salt on all sides.

Allow to dry on a cheese mat or rack for another 24 hours.

Then refrigerate.

Tagged cheese featured fermentation

Dale Dougherty

DALE DOUGHERTY is the leading advocate of the Maker Movement. He founded Make: Magazine 2005, which first used the term “makers” to describe people who enjoyed “hands-on” work and play. He started Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, and this event has spread to nearly 200 locations in 40 countries, with over 1.5M attendees annually. He is President of Make:Community, which produces Make: and Maker Faire.

In 2011 Dougherty was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” through an initiative that honors Americans who are “doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.” At the 2014 White House Maker Faire he was introduced by President Obama as an American innovator making significant contributions to the fields of education and business. He believes that the Maker Movement has the potential to transform the educational experience of students and introduce them to the practice of innovation through play and tinkering.

Dougherty is the author of “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement Is Changing our Jobs, Schools and Minds” with Adriane Conrad. He is co-author of "Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities" with Peter Hirshberg and Marcia Kadanoff.

FEEDBACK