When you line your mould with cheesecloth before putting the curd in for pressing, you have excess cloth draped over the sides of the mould. Do you pull this excess up and fold it in on top of the curd before pressing or do you leave it hanging over the sides and let the follower come in direct contact with the curd when you press?
Do you cover your follower with plastic wrap to avoid contamination?
Thank you

I fold it over the top of the cheese. Over the Follower at first then direct on the cheese during final press when flipped.I dont thingk its that important unless u have problems with the follower sticking to the cheese and hard to separate, causing damage to the surface.

I pull the cloth as evenly as poss. up the sides of the mould and place the follower directly on the cheese for the first pressing , then when I turn the cheese I pull half the cloth up one side of the mould and lay the other half flat over the end of the cheese and up the same side as the first half, then I put the follower on the cloth and tease all the spare up the gap between the follower and the mould. The places where the cloth reverses gradually approach each other until the cloth is emerging around most of the circumference of the follower. This way you avoid unsightly seam lines on the end of your cheese. Any burrs caused by cheese being extruded between the mould and follower are best trimmed off when you turn the cheese as they never really re-incorporate into the cheese if you don’t and again leave an unsightly seam-line.

nice idea

Yup, this is were a bigger wheel is nicer since the cloth does not crimp on the edges. I like my 9” pan, Like to have it higher but it has served its purpose well

see this pic

Looks like it torn ??

if u can see two clothes first above the second as u said above

I cut the cheesecloth to fit perfectly. A circle in the bottom and at the top and then a strip around the edge. After trying the method with a load of excess and folds that nearly ripped my cheese open, this method is perfect for me and makes it much more enjoyable to redress etc. at start of pressing. Plus it gives a completely smooth cheese with less crevices for any bacteria to hide in xxx

i have to sizes, one for the initial pressing (bigger) and second one smaller for last few re-dressing

Geordie-Girl, arnt u then getting allot of leakage? The idea of one piece is to make sure everything is strained, yes in small batches seams probably would be a problem, thats were a nice container with lots of holes in it works well like I have in my pics when i first started out.

Hi, a problem with straining? in what way? it strains for an hour in a cheescloth bag and then goes into the mold to be pressed, I don’t understand how having the cheesecloth made to fit would cause a problem with straining, when its during pressing that this is used? its perfect and creates a much more attractive cheese i.e. smooth xxx