While the craft of home cheesemaking gains in popularity, most books on the subject gloss over the fundamentals. Mastering Basic Cheesemaking is a complete hands-on guide to making cheese and other fermented dairy products from scratch, geared toward helping the novice cheesemaker get started in their home kitchens.

This fully illustrated practical guide covers topics such as:

• Understanding your ingredients, tools and techniques
• Whipping up "instant cheeses" such as ricotta and paneer while learning basic milk chemistry
• Progressing to fermented dairy products such as kefir, yogurt and sour cream
• Using bacteria and coagulant to create spreadable and tender cheeses like quark, chevre, cream cheese and American style cottage cheese

Graduating to curdled, aged and ripened cheese--mozzarella, feta, cheddar, gouda, and parmesan.