Dry cottage cheese---also known as dry curd cheese or cheese curds---is cottage cheese without any liquid additives such as milk or cream after the milk is curdled. Finding dry curd cheese isn't always easy in grocery stores, but it is usually available in health food stores or at farmers markets. One option for making dry cottage cheese on your own is to rinse and drain the excess dairy liquid from the cheese curds using a colander. However, you can also use the following recipe to make dry cottage cheese from scratch.
How to Make Dry Cottage Cheese
Pour the gallon of milk into a large pot.
Add the half cup of instant nonfat dry milk.
Cook the mixture on the stove at medium-high, without boiling.
Once the mixture has reached a lukewarm temperature, stir while adding the cup of buttermilk.
Cook at medium-low heat for 12 hours or until several cheese curds have formed.
Once finished, cut the formed curds into half-inch pieces, and raise the temperature between medium-high and high.
Stir and cook for 30 minutes until there is no appearance of moisture.
Scrape out the curds into a cheese cloth-lined colander. Completely drain excess liquid from the curds, and then rinse them in warm water.
Drain and dry the curds once more. Place the curds in a bowl and lightly sprinkle salt over them.
Tips
The curds are salvagable if you boil the mixture, but try to heat it more slowly so that the milk is not scorched much.