Obtain some fresh milk. Goat's milk is perfect for Gouda. A nanny goat can give over a gallon every day. It's probably better to make cheese with pasteurized milk from the store. (See Warning below.)
Add a suitable culture to acidify the milk. You can use freeze-dried DVI (direct vat inoculated) cultures, because they are amazingly convenient and easy to use, and there are different kinds for different cheeses.
Let the milk sit quietly. Let the milk "ripen" for 15 minutes (for other cheese, this takes an hour).
Add rennet. Rennet contains enzymes that coagulate the milk. It is extracted from the fourth stomach of a calf. You could alternatively use vegetarian rennet. The rennet is slowly going to thicken the milk.
Cut the curds at the right time. Cut too soon, and the curds are too soft, and if you wait too long, the curds are going to be too tough. This is one of the handy things about taking a cheese-making class. Someone can show you exactly when to do it, and how to tell when it's ready!
Heat up the curds by adding hot water in a couple of steps (see recipe below). You stir the whole time. Stir gently. You have to be gentle with goat curds, because they are very, very fragile.
Drain the whey. Once the curds have firmed up, then it's time to drain the whey. Remove the mold with curds from the whey and place in a press with 9 lbs. of weight for 30 min. Remove from press, turn the cheese, rewrap, and press at 16 lbs. for 30 min. Remove from press, turn the cheese, rewrap, and press at 25 lbs. for 30 min. Remove from press, turn the cheese, rewrap, and press at 25 lbs. for 6-8 hrs. (For drier, long-aging cheese, this can be increased to 50 lbs and pressed overnight). Remove weight and cloth, and allow the cheese to rest overnight in the mold at 50 F.
Use a simple weight of a gallon of water to yield about 8+ lbs. for the initial weight and something like a 25-pound block of granite for the final weight. This will yield enough pressure to consolidate the curds for the finished cheese salting.
Place the cheese in saturated brine for 18 - 24 hrs the next morning. (3-4 hrs. per lb. of final yield).
Remove from brine.
Wax or prepare natural rinds when cheese is dry to the touch (3-7 days). Traditionally the Boerenkaas was a natural rind cheese. The barns were cleaned out in the spring when the cows went on pasture for the summer and the cheese was aged on shelves where the cows had been. The rinds were simply kept clean by brushing and turning on a regular basis.
Age your Gouda. For aging requirements, targets are 56–64 °F (13–18 °C). and 80-85% relative humidity. Some small internal holes ("eyes") may develop during aging. The higher the temperature during drying and aging, the greater chances for the eye development.The cheese will be ripe in 60 days to 6 months. For drier cheeses, 12 months to 4+ years.
Elapsed time for the Gouda process: Add culture 0 min. Ripen milk, 30 min. Rennet, 40 min. Cut Curds, 75 min. Cook Curds, 1h 30m. Stir, 2h. Press Under Whey, 2h 15m. Press,8-10 hr. Remove from press and dry overnight,10-12 hr. Brine, 24h.
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