Artisan Bread and Cheese: The First Cheese

Made the first cheese today!  It was a simple paneer or farmer's cheese.  Took about 10 minutes!

Ingredients:

• Raw Milk
• Salt
• Vinegar or lemon juice

All I had to do was pour the milk in a pot on the stove.  Heat it on medium-high.  Stirring it constantly, I let it boil slightly (not a rolling bubble, but just until it got frothy around the edges of the pot). When that happened I turned off the heat.  Put about 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar in and gently stirred as the milk curdled for about 5-10 minutes.  Then I lined a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth.  Poured the contents of the pot through the colander.  Hung the cheese in the cloth to let it drain for a few minutes.  And voila!  Cheese!

I'm going to make paneer saag with it (cheese and spinach).  So excited!  Here are some pictures!  Hope you're as awed as I am at this simple, yet amazing chemistry!