Bread Cheese (Juustoleipa)

First things first: this wildly original cheese that you most likely haven’t heard of is actually called juustoleipa and is pronounced hoo-stah-lee-pa in its native Scandinavia. It’s also commonly referred to as “bread cheese,” because of its light crust that’s, well, similar to toasted bread. Bread cheese was originally made from reindeer milk in northern Finland and Sweden. For real! Cows are slightly more common in Wisconsin, so we make this squeaky, buttery, slightly caramelized cheese from cow’s milk. Because juustoleipa has such low acidity, it doesn’t melt when heated. It just beautifully softens, so we love to bake or fry this conversation starter on a griddle, and serve it soft and slightly browned with honey, fruit and tasty brown breads.