Intermediate Cheesemaking: Beyond chevre

[freemotion]

FD, I started with New England Cheesemaking Supply, and they do have a lot of stuff for the beginner. The Dairy Connection is more geared towards the professional, and their stuff is ultimately cheaper once you know what you need. They have also proven to be much more helpful to me as an individual. The former answered one question and ignored follow-ups. The latter made me feel as important to them as the biggest dairy. Smart business people. Who knows if I will be a big dairy one day, or have influence on someone who ends up being a major customer.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I'll need to check out that site when I get a minute. Two recipes on the other site I MUST try. One soaked in grape skins and wine, one with smoked jalepenos and black peppercorns. Yummo.

If it cools down enough tonight I'll try making cheesecake with some chevre.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I found Pyrex brand cheesecloth, 9 sq ft, for a buck a pkg! It's much better quality than the others that I've paid more for. I'm going to buy a bunch and stock up. I love Real Deals Dollar Store.

 

[Henrietta23]

I have been reading this thread in anticipation of having goats milk eventually. It'll probably be about a year from now
grow baby goats, grow!

I had come across a recipe for making mozzarella that said you could use store milk. I hope to try it sometime soon. The article in Hobby Farm Home also mentioned the www.cheesemaking.com site that RTR mentioned. It looks like the directions on that site are pretty good. Of course you never know until you try to follow them.
They do have quite a few recipes for different cheeses.
They also do sell cheesemaking stuff.

That's where I got my stuff and how I've made mozzarella. It IS very easy! Go for it!

 

[Wildsky]

I found Pyrex brand cheesecloth, 9 sq ft, for a buck a pkg! It's much better quality than the others that I've paid more for. I'm going to buy a bunch and stock up. I love Real Deals Dollar Store.

what a great deal!

 

[freemotion]

CAUTION: Much that is sold in packages as cheesecloth is actually gauze. Cheesecloth for cheesemaking is a type of cotton muslin with a MUCH higher thread count and finish than anything I've seen in packages at JoAnn's, grocery stores, with canning supplies, etc. That is for straining juice from berries and such when making jelly, and if you try to use it to drain cheese, you will end up with your cheese becoming one with your cheesecloth.....Been there, done that! You can substitute fine muslin but not gauze.

We polished off an entire Camembert tonight, with proper ceremony. No red wine, substituted micro-brewery beers.

We had the cheese on thin slices of a crusty European sandwich roll, as a good baguette could not be found and I didn't have time to make French bread today...plus it was too hot! We had the cheese as a starter instead of dessert....homemade ice cream for dessert!

Sigh.....being "poor" sure is wonderful!

 

[big brown horse]

Isnt it?!

Yum Free, that sounds like my dream dinner.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

This cheesecloth is 100% cotton and thick enough to use for chevre with a single thickness. The other I was using 3 thick even for feta.
I've washed and boiled it clean to re-use at least 4 times.

I loves me a bargain!

and YUM on the camembert! I have no idea what it tastes like. But will find out in the near future

 

[freemotion]

It was so stinkin' good I am still giddy!

I was looking at Pyrex cheesecloth online...no clear pics, but I think it is gauze. Meanwhile, I found a place that sells the containers that I got to make some of my bigger molds that I use in my press: http://www.webstaurantstore.com/thi...e-graduated-food-storage-containers-lids.html

The taller ones, I think mine are similar to the 3.5 quart ones shown...nest so perfectly that you can use one as a mold by drilling holes in it, and an undrilled one as a follower. If you also get the 2 quart one you can make smaller cheeses in it (two gallon batch) and the taller follower will work with it.

I use them for chevre and have made big wheels of St Maure with them by filling the follower with room temperature water as a light weight. I have one of the stainless steel chafing pans that I found at a discount store (and use mostly as a lasagna pan) that fits a cake/cookie cooling rack nicely and I can put 3-4 of the molds on the rack in that pan to drain. It holds a lot of whey!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I'll get a picture of the cheap stuff compared to this. Perhaps there's something even better that I have yet to discover, but it works and for a buck I don't feel bad if I throw it away.