Hi Ann,
For the milk, I really have zero choice, I have to use grocery store milk. It's 3.25% pasteurized and homogenized. Unless you own a cow or know someone with a farm, you're stuck, like me! It's a local company so it's the freshest I can get. There is conflicting opinion/advice about using Calcium Chloride to help with the effects of pasteurization and homogenization. I've tried with and without, neither made much of a difference in the end.
My Cheddars and my Dry Jack all worked perfectly with the milk I have, and so did my Quick Mozzarella...but the traditional style has something against me lol!
The culture I use is Thermophilic direct set and the recipe I used the last time was from Gianaclis Caldwell's blog:
Traditional Mozza Recipe but I've also used the New England Cheese Making Company's
Cultured Mozza Recipe.
I do have buttermilk culture and I have some yogurt culture on the way. The yogurt culture is labeled "sweet yogurt culture".
If you have any advice, I'm listening!
Rain