Making Cheese part 1

I want a goat, preferably a Nubian dairy goat, possibly a dwarf variety. Why do I want a goat? For the milk of course. And what else can you do with milk but make cheese. Sadly, my circumstances won't let me have said goat and goat's milk is expensive and usually ultra-pasturized (which means the protien is denatured and no good for most cheese making) so I am opting with cow.

Since this is my first foray into cheesemaking I decided on a simple recipe. This cheese is like a "farmer's cheese" which i can only guess is culinary speak for "simple cheese", the cheese I made is more like Indian Paneer cheese according to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmer_cheese).

It was surprisingly simple. Slowly heat milk while stirring very slowly to 175 degrees, turn off heat and immediately add lemon juice or white vinegar. You should see the milk start to curddle within 30 seconds. Let the heated milk sit untouched for 10 minutes then place in cheesecloth inside a cullinder to drain and hang with some string for 30 minutes. Presto-chango, you have cheese. Add the salt and put in the fridge overnight to let the taste develop.

I made the cheese with both the lemon juice and the vinegar, with the vinegar I added dill to half of the cheese. The cheese that I made was decently good, it tasted reminiscent of a drier and saltier cottage. I ate it with a french baguette and balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

In the future I think that this unripened soft and mild cheese would taste good if it were mixed with fruit, I am thinking blackberries or maybe blueberries.

What do you guys think? How can I spice this up or make interesting alterations?

Ingredients that I bought:

- 1 gallon whole vitamin D milk
- 1 quart cultured lowfat buttermilk
- 8 tsp of white vinegar or lemon juice
- 3 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 yard cheesecloth


If you want to see someone perform the steps of this recipe check out : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBPYopcoeqs