We are only beginning our Cheesemaking journey, but the first time I used whole Dairyland milk (all we can get in Princeton), it took over 2 hours before we had a clean break and could cut the curds.... Ricki from New England Cheese has a "helpful hint" in her small book that comes with her Cheese Making Kit, where she suggests using Skim or low fat Milk and adding a pint of 36% heavy cream.... We have tried a couple of blends, and have settled on using 8 litres of 2% Milk plus 1 litre of 18% Coffee Cream.... That gives a milk with a butterfat of 3.8%, and the cream wants to float on top, like a cream-line milk, so you need to top stir after adding the rennet.... Now that we are doing that, recipes work the way they are supposed to....
BTW, we tried using Skim Milk and 33% Whipping Cream, same proportions, which gives a butterfat content of 3.7%, but there are additions (gelatins) to the Whipping Cream to make it thicker.... It didn't cause a problem, but I just didn't like that idea, so I changed to the 2% plus Coffee Cream instead.... If we need a low fat milk (eg. for Edam), we can use Skim Milk plus the Coffee Cream, same proportions, and get 2% B.F....
Bob