StretchLearn Course

Make your first clean fresh cheese, then press and age a real wheel

Milk, cultures, rennet, curd, pressing, and aging, all anchored to numbers you can repeat batch after batch.

Beginner9 hr 20 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Learn to make sound, flavourful cheese at home using the same control over acidity, temperature, and moisture that commercial dairies rely on, scaled to a kitchen stockpot. You will work with whole milk, cream, and cultured buttermilk, and learn to choose and pasteurise milk, build acidity with mesophilic and thermophilic starters, set a clean curd with the right dose of rennet, cut and cook to control moisture, then press, salt, and age a wheel. Every step is anchored to measurable targets such as temperature, set time, pH, and flocculation so you can repeat your successes.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Select and gently pasteurise milk and identify why ultra-pasteurised milk fails to set a curd

Build acidity with the correct mesophilic or thermophilic starter culture for a given cheese style

Calculate a rennet dose and use the flocculation method to time a clean, firm curd set

Cut and cook curd to a target size and temperature to control final moisture and texture

Press, salt, and drain a cheese using brine or dry salting to the correct firmness

Wax, vacuum, or bandage a wheel and age it at controlled temperature and humidity while diagnosing faults

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Getting Started: Milk, Equipment, and Sanitation

Set up an affordable kitchen dairy, choose and pasteurise the right milk, and learn the sanitation discipline that separates good cheese from spoiled curd.

3 lessons

Choosing Milk and Why Ultra-Pasteurised Milk Will Not SetContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Gentle Pasteurisation and the Cheese Kitchen KitContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Sanitation: The Quiet Predictor of SuccessContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Cultures and Rennet: Acidity and the Set

Understand starter cultures as the engine of flavour and acidity, and learn to dose and time rennet so it forms a clean, firm curd.

3 lessons

Starter Cultures: Mesophilic, Thermophilic, and AcidityContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Rennet: Types, Dose, and Calcium ChlorideContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Timing the Set with the Flocculation MethodContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: From Curd to Cheese: Cutting, Cooking, and Fresh Cheeses

Make your first fresh cheeses, then learn to cut and cook a renneted curd to control the moisture and texture of a pressed cheese.

3 lessons

Your First Fresh Cheeses: Ricotta and ChevreContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Cutting the Curd to Control MoistureContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Cooking and Stirring the CurdContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Pressing, Salting, and Aging a Wheel

Drain, press, and salt a cheese to the right firmness, then wax or bandage it and age it while diagnosing the faults beginners hit.

3 lessons

Draining, Pressing, and Knitting the WheelContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Salting: Brine and Dry SaltingContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Aging the Wheel and Diagnosing FaultsContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

home cheese makingfermentationstarter culturesrennetcurd cuttingpressing and drainingfresh cheeseaging cheese