With your slotted ladle, begin lifting the curds from the pot into the rounds you prepared, one after the other.
Between each layer, grind a thin sprinkle of pepper into the rounds, then add the next layer keeping the rounds even as you go.
Continue alternating layers of curd and pepper.
You can press a regular ladle down into the curds to help drain off whey as well, or you can manually drain rounds using the flipping technique in the next step and holding over the sink as whey drains. Be very careful to maintain pressure on both ends when using this technique.
Once you’ve filled and drained as much as you can in an hour, let sit on your draining mat for 6 hours.