What is a Make Sheet?
A make sheet is a worksheet for making cheese. It is not required for cheesemaking, but it can be a great tool. A make sheet is more than a recipe, it is a worksheet you use to track your cheesemaking experience from start to finish. It includes information about when you made a cheese, the type of milk you used, what you did (vs. what the recipe said to do), and how you liked the result.
Fresh cheeses, like ricotta, are made and eaten right away. But many cheeses have two steps. First they are made and then they are aged. Cheesemakers refer to the day in the kitchen as the make. This is the day when you heat your milk, add culture and rennet, and form your cheese. It may include steps such as cooking and cutting the curd, pressing the cheese, and brining or dry salting. The time between the make and eating the cheese is called the affinage (French for finishing). A make sheet helps you track what you did for the make, the affinage, or both!
I use make sheets to record the milk, culture, and rennet I used. My make sheet has a section for the recipe I referenced (online, which page in which book, or a combination) sections for how I salted and finished the cheese (natural rind or waxed?), and one for my comments on how well I liked the result (too salty! needs to age longer! too ripe!).
A make sheet is a great way to keep track of variations on a recipe. Maybe this time I added a pint of fresh cream, or used fresh lemon instead of apple cider to make my mozzarrella. Download my make sheet here.make_sheet
Happy Cheesemaking!
Submitted by Becca Heins
