Artisan Cheese Making at Home: Techniques & Recipes for Mastering World-Class Cheeses: Techniques & Recipes for Mastering World-Class Cheeses [A Cookbook]

I found this book after a couple of false starts trying to find a book which had enough detail about both the process of making cheese and some of the basic science of what was happening. This book filled that gap perfectly. Lots of information, lots of detailed recipes and helpful troubleshooting advice when things don't turn out as you planned. I have already made some of the cheeses and plan to try many more, a really great resource. Its also a beautiful book with detailed pictures of how some of the hand made cheeses should turn out. If you are really interested in making cheese at home this is the book you need.

I love this book. It takes you through A to Z about cheeses and making them. It certainly explains everything. I just wish that some (not all) American authors could realise that there is a world outside of America and it's very big. They use metric in the most and it would be nice if American authors could write down the amounts, weights, measures in both Imperial and metric, like most authors do in the rest of the world. Her website is a great back up to the book too! It's got everything and supports the book beautifully. Although that too starts off with, "We Americans love our...." Other people outside of the US actually do read the book and go to the site my dear. There is a conversion table at the back of the book though, which is a nice afterthought, but remember that a US Gallon and US Pint are different to a British Pint and British Gallon! It's very important to get everything right when making cheese, or it won't come out well. Check everything very carefully and double check conversions if you live outside of the US. However, you won't go wrong with this excellent book. I have a few books on the subject and this is by far the best I've come across.

This book it lovely. Beautiful photos, lots of really good explanation of processes and ingredients and lots of recipes. The only downside is that is an American book by an American author. All measurements are in cups and gallons, which can be converted. What is a real shame is that the suppliers list is obviously a US one and it would be lovely to have UK suppliers listed. That said it is a book I would recommend for anyone who wants to get into the nitty gritty of making hard cheese at home, it's like returning to the science lab at school!

I loved it.

This is an american book so some of the measurements might need a bit of translating, however it is wonderfully written, and so clear and concise. It is laid out in order of experience so you learn new techniques with each new cheese you make, as you go through the book. That is such a fantastic idea as cheese making can be a bit tricky. This book also puts a lot of importance on cleanliness as cheese can be a breeding ground for the wrong types of bacteria. The first few cheeses are incredibly cheap to make, and as the book goes on you can buy little bits that you need so it never gets stupidly expensive. I bought 3 cheese making books with this one, and this is by far my favourite one.

At first glance this book is AMAZING! It goes into great details about l equipment ingredients, processes, and techniques. The culture chart is really helpful. The book isn't bulging with recipes, but there enough to get you going. It does use imperial measurements, but I can live with that. Or I'll make use of a conversion table. Long story short, buy this book, if you want a solid reference book, to learn to make cheese!

Learning I also have Paul Peacocks book which is very good too - I think you need that one first to get the basics going then I use this to advance. Im combining ideas from both now. Its good to have different perspective too. As a Book It beautiful - great quality pictures, pages, etc.. in this respect it knocks Pauls (still very good book) - into the corner. Pauls is of course priced appropriately and I think of the two - for the beginner its very important. Highly recommended.

A beautiful book, but only useful for North Americans (perhaps only Californians, even)! All of the recipes use homogenized, pasteurized milk rather than raw, and then you have to add back in calcium chloride. All of the temperatures are given in fahrenheit only (no celsius, and my thermometer is celsius only), and there are no recipes for making your own starters, just in case you live someplace where there is no fancy cheese making supply shop, but only a standard farmer's consortium with basic supplies. I started making cheese using Rita Ash's "Cheesemaking Self Sufficiency" book, which is excellent, but pretty basic, and wanted to take my skills further. Although I did get some good ideas from this book (using dried herbs, honey, wine), I found it a bit too "sanitized" (In Ash's book she says to use your clean hands to stir the milk, for example, while this one suggests a whisk), and, if you really had to go out and buy, or mail order, all the equipment the author says you need (which you do not really need!) you'd be better off buying your cheese already made,from a shop.

Nice start to known how to make good cheese and start a journey in new experiments with enough confidence. Very clear and direct text. Reasonable technical information that keep interesting reading without being boring.

I would consider myself an advancing novice cheese maker in that I have been making cheese for many years now, have made many different types of cheese several times (including more difficult ones), yet I feel I have a lot to learn yet before joining the elite ranks of advanced cheese makers. When I bought this book, I was under the asumption that it was targeted toward a beginner cheese maker. I have read all of the introductory material and glanced through nearly all recipes. Please consider my review from this perspective. First thing I will say is that I love this book! I feel it is very well done and hosts some great cheese pictures (Always a huge plus for me)! I knew it was going to be well worth it when I saw that Peter Reinhart (Author of "The Bread Baker's Apprentice", my favorite bread book) wrote the forward. I feel that the instruction is clear and this author has done a great job of thinking about the weird little "common sense" things which tend to get left out of cheese making books. Stuff like recommending that you sanitize you equipment in bleach then dry on a rack on top of a cookie sheet before starting your cheese making session. To some this may be assumed, but if you have never worked food service- proper sanitation may not be second nature to you. Another thing I really appreciate is the author's presentation of equipment and ingredients. All items are explained in good detail. I was very impressed with the fact that she included a chart with many of the most common cheese starter cultures, what they are used for, and which vendors carry them. I will be photo copying this chart and laminating it to keep with my equipment (big +1 there!). The pictures, as I mentioned, are very nice. Now, the recipes. There are a handful of books out there with more cheese recipes than there are in this one. However, this author seems to have gone for depth instead of breadth. That is to say that the recipes chosen (which does not comprise a small list by any means) are very interesting and compelling to try (I cant wait to make the saffron infused manchego!!). In the spirit of this being a learning book, the author has chosen to organize recipes by level of advancement. Simple cheeses such as paneer come first while more challenging ones such as cheddar appear later. I personally really like this in a beginning cheese making book. So in summary, I strongly recommend this book to those new to cheese making. I think this book is very well done. The greatest strength of this book is undoubtedly the organization of the material, the pictures are a nice bonus. This book will now be my standard recommended Beginner-Intermediate book.

I love this book! Perfect for home and work! I Suggested to everyone who want to start home making cheese!!

Sin duda el mejor libro de hacer quesos que he comprado. Bien explicado, por niveles de dificultad, muchas recetas, sencillo de entender, metodico y buenas fotos. Bien

This book covers exactly what I wanted to know about cheese. As a foodie, I wanted to have the bases to make cheese, and also have a good book that would allow to expand my repertoire without resorting to buying a more advanced manual shortly after this one. I was pleased by the airiness of the book, the inspiring and beautiful pictures, and the selection and variety of recipes included. I likes the charts explaining different cultures, and that many processes are illustrated. They start slow with young cheeses, but they also explore cultured butter, yogurt or crème fraîche. Even if those are not cheeses, they use the same ingredients are are related to cheese and I really enjoyed to learn those were easily accessible. When you become more experimented, you can switch to the next chapter, which are intermediate cheeses, exploring stretched-curd, semisoft, firm and hard cheeses. Then after, they get to bloomy-rind and surface-rippened cheeses, washed-rind, smeared-rind and blue cheeses. You will have nothing to envy all those artisan cheese shops, at a much more affordable price, with a bonus of being proud of your achievement. There is a little something for everyone in this book, and they really make everything look easy and manageable. The last chapter covers cooking with cheese. It's kind of short, but there are some classics and some more inventive combos, including some frozen desserts, which I found interesting. Bonus for having a good cheese fondue reference, since most people are lazy and get the packets. Nothing like a really homemade cheese pot !