Moulding
Placing curd into moulds or hoops so it drains into the size and shape of the finished cheese.
Also: hooping, filling the moulds, moulage
Moulding is the stage at which loose curd becomes a cheese with a shape. Curd is ladled, scooped or pumped into moulds and left to drain, turned so both faces even out, and sometimes pressed. For soft cheeses such as Camembert, the curd is ladled by hand in layers over several hours, and the delicacy of this work, moulé à la louche, is often named on the label. Hard cheeses are packed into moulds lined with cloth and pressed under weight. Moulds can be wooden, metal, plastic, cloth or woven baskets; Bandel cheese and topli nu paneer take their shapes and surface patterns from small cane baskets.