Hi Tom,
A shame about your press breaking. Still, with gouda you can "press under whey" to get a decent knit. This is where you put the curds in your mould (cloth lined), then put the mould in a pot of warm whey just covering the curds. Then, press. You don't need to use as much pressure (2-3 PSI should do it really well). Once you've done that (and flipped/redressed the cheese a few times in the process - say flip every 20 minutes for 3 or 4 flips) then you can press overnight. Keep the curds warm during pressing, at least initially, and you should get a decent knit.
Anyway, as for the salting, there are 3 basic methods for getting salt into the cheese.
1) mill and add salt (as in the cheddar types - but be aware some chedder type recipes will brine, or dry salt, - these are "rules" but techniques, which you can learn and practice and decide which one works best for you and the cheese you like)
2) brining (as you've done with the gouda, and this is common for gouda and some other washed curd cheeses)
3) dry salting. This is where you rub salt on the outside of the cheese. It draws moisture out of the cheese , this forms a brine, and then this gets drawn back into the cheese. This is common with some of the mould ripened cheeses (like brie and cam), but it is done with others (I think some of the swiss cheeses are done this way, for example).
There are far more experienced and knowledgeable people on this board who may correct me on some of this, and who may have other comments or details. This is just what I've picked up through my own observations, but there's still so much to see.
- Jeff