What is baker's cheese?

 Baker's cheese is a fresh, soft, somewhat tangy cheese, in the cream-cheese, farmer's-cheese, fromage-frais, queso-fresco family – which is to say, the fresh or unripened cheeses.

Some people will tell you baker's cheese is nothing more than cottage cheese that has been drained of some of its whey. Do not listen to those people. We side with those who say it is a cheese in its own right, made from skim milk (therefore lower in fat), and softer, with a finer grain and more moisture than cottage cheese. (Clearly baker's cheese would have less moisture than cottage cheese if it were simply drained cottage cheese.)

Needless to say, baker's cheese is hard to find. It has generally been available only to foodservice buyers. Only two sources at the Savor Wisconsin Web site sells baker's cheese, and if you can't easily find something like that in Wisconsin, where are you going to turn?

There are those who swear that a cheesecake made with anything other than baker's cheese is not a real cheesecake. Given the difficulty of obtaining baker's cheese, we can't afford to listen to those people.

In Britain, lactic cheese, Colwick cheese, and Cottager's Cheese (not to be mistaken for cottage cheese) are the closest alternates.

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