"Ditzy Goat CHEESE Recipes" Samssimonsays/Blazing Acres

[samssimonsays]

It may not have been "correct" but we aged ours in our crisper and fridge... after we waxed the ones that required aging. I tried vacuum sealing them but they got moldy anyways.... the wax, as long as you don't have air bubbles did great!

I also have a how to make cheese wax recipe

 

[samssimonsays]

Colby Cheese

Equipment you will need:
Large thick bottomed pot
Laboratory thermometer
Long handled spoon
Colander
cheesecloth
cheese press
Bamboo cheese mat
Wax (optional)

This is how I made it:
Ingredients
2 gallons of fresh goats milk
50 drops annatto coloring
1 pkt Mesophillic starter
1/4 tsp vegetable rennett
Saturated salt brine
Sanitize your equipment.

Pour milk into a thick bottomed pot and add the coloring. Bring the temperature to 90 degrees. remove it from the heat. Add the starter. Sprinkle it on the top of the milk and then wait 2 minutes for it to rehydrate. Then stir it into the milk very well with an up and down motion making sure that every square inch of the milk has been agitated with the starter. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

Check temperature. It should still be at about 90 degrees. Dilute the Rennett in 1/4 cup of cool water. Then mix this solution into the milk. Replace the lid and allow to set another 45 minutes.

When your curd is set so that you get a clean break. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes with a long thin knife. Wash your hands and arms well and reach into the curds and pull up the bottom ones to make sure they are cut small. They can be smaller than 1/2 inch but no bigger. Cut them smaller if you need to. Do not crush, squeeze or mash the curds.

Cutting the curd

Cook the curd. You must bring the temperature very slowly up to 104 degrees. I set my electric stove all the way down on low. You want to raise the temperature over the course of about 45 minutes. Then remove the pot from the heat, cover and let rest 15 more minutes. Make sure you stir the curds every few minutes so that they do not stick together. If you forget you will have one huge mass of curd! They should fall to the bottom of the pot.

Cooked curds

After you have cooked your curds pour the whey off carefully down to the level of the curds. Then replace with the same amount of water. The cooler the water the moister your cheese will be. I used 100degree water as I wanted a cheese with the same texture as store bought cheddar. Mix it well with your clean hands so that all of the curds are well rinsed.

Line a colander with cheesecloth. then pour the off the water and then pour the curds into the colander. Let it sit and drain for about 15 minutes.

Line your cheese press with a clean cheese cloth and place the curds into the press. Press at 10lbs for 15 minutes.

Press with a 10lb weight on top

After about 15 minutes remove the cheese from the press, turn it over, redress with cheese cloth and place back into the press.Press it at 20lbs for 30lbs then remove flip and redress

Back into the press at 40lbs for 2 hours

Remove flip and redress (get the routine)
Back into the press at 50lbs overnight.
In the morning remove the wheel of cheese from the press and carefully peel off the cheese cloth. Then put the wheel into about a gallon of saturated salt brine. (About 2lbs of canning salt to 1 gallon of water. Do NOT use iodized salt)

The cheese will float.

Just flip it over every couple hours.. You can let the cheese float in the brine for 8-24 hours depending on taste. I let mine soak for 8 hours and it was not salty enough for me.
Then place a bamboo cheese mat on a plate and place your cheese on that to dry off. This will take a day or two.

Now at this point you can either choose to eat it or wax it and age it. It will taste wonderful at this point but the cheese will still squeak when you chew it.

After about a week of aging the squeak will go away.
Or you can wax it at this point and age it for as long as you wish. The longer you age it the sharper it will be. If you eat it about a week after you make it then the taste will be like that of store bought Colby. The longer you wait the more like Cheddar it tastes.

 

[TexasLisa]

Texas has cooler weather????

 

[samssimonsays]

Belper Knolle

1. Heating and Acidifying the Milk:
If using pasteurized milk, add about 1/8-1/4 tsp of Calcium Chloride at this point. Begin by heating the milk to 86F (30C). You do this by placing the milk in a pot or sink of very warm water. If you do this in a pot on the stove, make sure you heat the milk slowly and stir it well as it heats. You can use a thermometer but this is so close to our body temperature that when the milk feels neither cool nor warm it is close enough.

NOTE: You can try this with Goat milk as well, or even add a bit of cream for a richer base cheese, which might be tasty if you want to make this as an early eating cheese.

Once the milk is at your start temperature the culture can be added. To prevent the powder from caking and sinking in clumps sprinkle the powder over the surface of the milk and then allow about 2 minutes for the powder to re-hydrate before stirring it in.

NOTE: Some people prefer to add culture at room temperature and this works just fine, but this allows time for any unwanted bacteria in the milk to become players in the fermentation game.

We like to start this at 86F (the bacterias optimum working temperature) and then just allow the resting milk to coast to room temperature as it acidifies and forms the curd.

2. Developing the Curd:
Now, allow the milk to sit quietly on the counter at room temperature (68-74F) for 12-14 hours. The milk will drop in temperature during this time to that of the room. During the winter it would be best to keep the pot covered with towels or a blanket to keep from getting cool. The best time to do this is in the evening, because the curds will be ready to drain in the morning and can be draining while you are busy doing other things or at work.

As the bacteria in the culture works, the milk sugar (lactose) is converted into lactic acid which increases the acidity of the milk and eventually causes the milk to form the curd.

The rennet included in the culture pack also helps to coagulate the milk. The milk will thicken into a gel after a few hours but really needs more time to become firm. The finished curd will begin to show whey rising to the surface. When this solidified mass shrinks slightly, visibly pulling away from the edges of the container, the curds are ready to be drained. The curd at this point will look like a big block floating in clear whey and perhaps even developing cracks in its surface.

3. Draining the Curds to Release the Whey:
Our next task will be to separate the solids (curds, soon to become cheese) and liquid whey.

We will begin by lining our sanitized colander with the cheese cloth in preparation for draining. If you would like to save the whey for cooking or other uses simply drain it all into another pot.

You are now ready to transfer the curds to the draining cloth. Note the firmness of the curd in the photos below. Simply ladle the curds into the cloth and allow the whey to drain off.

Once the curds drain for a short time the cloth can be gathered, tied securely and hung for the final drainage. This can be done for several hours and even overnight, depending on how dry you want the final cheese.

Make just dry enough that the curds will still hold together and form into a ball. If too wet the cheese is too sticky when molding and will tend to slump after molding. If it is too dry it will be a problem staying together.

To make sure the curd has dried uniformly I also find that it is helpful to open the cloth and mix the curds together at least once or twice during the draining.

4. Adding the Salt and Spice:
Now the fun begins! Once the curd has dried sufficiently, it is time to blend the salt and garlic into the curds.

I use 2-3 medium cloves of garlic chopped into small pieces. I add this to my mortar along with 1.5 tsp of the Himalayan Pink Salt, then using the pestle, I reduce this to a uniform paste (The salt helps in smooshing the garlic pieces).

The drained curd will have a moist dough like look to it.

Transfer the curd into a bowl along with the salt/garlic paste, then using the back of a large spoon, begin mashing the curds and paste uniformly. Allow this to sit while you prepare the black pepper coat.

5. Preparing the Coat:
Before you form the cheese, grind the toasted peppercorns to a medium fine size. I find that a coffee mill reserved for spices works best but you could also do this in the mortar and pestle.

Spread this out evenly on a cookie sheet (or onto your counter top if you don't mind the mess).

6. Forming the Cheese:
Now that everything is mashed and blended, the cheese can be formed simply by taking a small hand full of this mix and form it into a ball just as you would a snowball. Yes, it's messy!

The one gallon batch should make about 5-6 of these slightly larger than golf ball sized cheeses. The final coat is simply a matter of rolling the cheese around in the ground pepper surface you have prepared.

The cheese will be quite tender at this point due to high moisture, so handle carefully as you transfer to the drying mats.

Drying the Cheese:
The cheese now needs to be dried down before it is placed in the cave. I do this in a room at about 50-60F and a moisture of 65-70% moisture. I also use a fan set at low/medium speed to increase the rate of moisture release.

The object here is to produce a nice firm and dry crust. This will become a lighter color as it dries. The pepper will also keep this drying surface free of molds.

5. Aging:
Finally the cheese can go to the cave with about 52-56F and 75-80% moisture. This higher moisture will now help in the aging of this cheese as it continues to dry to the center and achieve a uniform moisture that will be perfect for use as thin shavings.

The final cheese should be ready in 4-6 weeks but will continue to improve in flavor for a few months.

This has a rather intense flavor so I suggest serving as small shavings that can be tasted as is, or used as a garnish, much as you would Parma (or Truffle) for pasta, salads, veggies or what ever you think is good.

The flavor of the pepper can be reduced by brushing the surface before shaving.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Texas has cooler weather????

We had two days of cold this past winter, lol!

 

[samssimonsays]

Gruyere

1. Heating and Acidifying the Milk:
I usually begin this cheese with either 8 or 16 gallons of milk... the larger size making for a longer aging cheese.

The recipe below is for 8 gallons of milk.

Begin by warming the milk to 90F. Once reached add either:

• 1/8 tsp TA060 Thermophilic culture
• or
• 1 packet of C201 Thermophilic culture

Along with the above culture you'll also need to add 1/32 tsp LH100 Helveticus culture and 1/32 tsp Proprionic Acid

Let your milk ripen for 1 hour.

2. Coagulation with Rennet:
Next add 1 tsp. (4.5ml) single strength liquid rennet, stir in gently and let sit quietly for 30 minutes to coagulate.

As the coagulation takes place you can check for a good set by using one of the methods shown below

Note: You'll be looking for a soft curd set for this recipe.

A. Pull the curd back from the edge of the vat with the back of your hand.

B. Press down on the curd to feel for a proper firmness.

C. Use the traditional "splitting of the curd with a finger method."

3. Cutting the Curd and Releasing the Whey:
Before cutting the curd the cooler top layer should be turned over to warm for a few minutes.

The curd will be quite soft so first cut to 1 inch than let rest for minutes.

Next cut the curd to 1/4 inch and follow with a long stir to expel whey before the scalding.

4. Cooking the Curds:
After being cut, the curd is scalded to 114F over the next 30 min.

Once the curd reaches it's scald temperature the stirring continues until proper dryness is reached.

More moisture for a younger, earlier ripening cheese and drier for a longer cave ageing.

Scalding the curds will will create the elastic texture and proper dryness as shown here

5. Draining the Curds
Now the whey should be drained down to the curd level. Once drained a weighted plate can be placed onto of the curds for pre-pressing which will consolidate the curd into a compact mass. For pre-pressing add 8-12 lbs of weight ontop of the plate.

Molding and Pressing:
Following the pre-press, the consolidated curd mass can now be gathered in a cloth and transferred to the waiting form.

Up until this point, very little acidity has been produced by the cultures due to the high temps so far.

From this point on the Thermophilic culture will become active as the cheese cools down and the pH will begin to drop as lactose is converted to lactic acid

For this cheese use 25 lbs of weight and work up to a final weight of 50-100 lbs depending on how long you plan to age the cheese. Less weight will yield a higher final moisture and hence young to medium aging cheese.

The total pressing time will be 18-24 hours. The goal is to end up with a cheese that is quite dry yet elastic to undergo many months of aging.

7. Salting:
Your cheese can now be removed from the mold and placed into a brine solution for 24 hours. Be sure to sprinkle the top of your cheese with some cheese salt, flip it half way through and sprinkle salt over the top once more.

For details on creating a brine solution click here.

Once your cheese has been brined place it into a cheese cave at 54F and 85% RH.

For the next 2-3 days apply a rubbing with dry salt to the surface of your cheese.

8. Aging:
The cheese is now ready to be aged for 30-40 days.

The aging temperature is 54-58F and humidity of 85-87% should be maintained. Any surface mold should be wiped away with a saturated brine solution.

Once the rind forms the cheese should be kept quite moist and washed with a light brine solution 2-3 times a week for 8-14 months. This will help to develop the proper ripening surface.

After a few months you will start to notice a traditional damp rosy rind forming.

Finally, at 8-14 months the cheese will be ready.

 

[TexasLisa]

I know....lost my orange trees.

Where do you get Calcium Chloride?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I lost a lime tree...

http://www.culturesforhealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=calcium+chloride

 

[samssimonsays]

I got a lot of my stuff from New England cheese and then I also got a lot through Amazon.com My husband made me an amazing cheese press though!

 

[TexasLisa]

Ooh, I like that! Kudos to your husband!