Making
Cheese
Following this recipe for the
cheese is my recipe for "Milwaukee Cheesecake" along with some
background on how I got into this cheese.
Baker's cheese is made from
skimed milk so it is a natural for powdered milk. This is the procedure for
about a pound of cheese from a gallon of milk.
1. Mix up a gallon of milk from
powder. I used one gallon of water and 388 gr powdered milk. Alternatively, use
a gallon of 1% milk.
2. Heat to 90F and add 1/8 tsp
EZAL culture or whatever you use as equivalent.
3. A few drops of rennet in 1/4
cup water is added to milk.
4. Let sit for 8 hrs if you can
keep the temp at about 90F or overnight at room temp. Actual target is pH of
4.5 if you have a way to measure it.
5. Pour curds and whey into
cheesecloth lined colander and then hang up to drain for 15 minutes.
6. Press bag lightly between
boards and drain until "moist but not wet". This takes about 2 hrs.
The cheese can then be
refrigerated till needed. It is also, one of the few cheeses that freeze well.
The
difference between Brie and Camembert as found in typical American cheese shops
is mainly a matter of shape and size. Brie is a large wheel and Camembert is
3-4 inches. Traditionally, Brie would also have a red smear coating of B.
linnens but it is strictly an option here.
This one gallon batch will make
two; 4" cheeses about 1.5" thick when ripe. You can use whatever
mesophylic starter you normally use and you need at least one of the camembert
cultures.
1 Gallon Homo Milk
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride
Heat to 90F then add:
1/8 tsp of EZAL Meso culture
1/8 tsp of P. camembert
1/8 tsp of G. camembert
One drop of B. linnens
Ripen for one hour, then add:
1/8 tsp rennet then rest for 2
hrs.
Cut gently and dip the curds
into perforated molds about 4" diameter and 8" high, resting on a small
plate. A one gallon batch will fill two such molds.
Every few hours, put another
plate on top and flip the moulds. In time, they will shrink down to less than
2" thick. By the next day, they should slide freely in the mold and retain
their shape when the mold is lifted off.
Measure out 1/4 cup of salt
onto a small plate and set a cheese in the salt. Turn the cheese over and put
the clean side in the salt. Roll the edges in the salt and then wipe off excess
salt and set the cheese on a draining matt and do the same to the other cheese.
Handle the cheese gently at this point or it will fall apart and you have a
mess. Continue this procedure until most of the salt has been rubbed into the
two cheeses.
You now put the cheeses on a
plastic or bamboo draining matt cut to fit into a plastic shoebox. Put the lid
on the box and leave about a half inch opening and keep in a cool place.
Ideally, around 55F and 85% humidity. The shoebox will maintain the humidity as
described.
In a week or so they will start
to grow the surface mold and after about 10 days will look like white furry
hockey pucks. At this point you remove them from this environment and wrap them
in foil and put in the fridge for about 20 more days. From here on, you can
taste the cheese as it ripens to determine the best time schedule for your
taste. By 60 days it will be a shell with white soupe inside so you have to
sample it every week or so until you find what works best for you.
We described the
basic process for Cheddar on the Cheese making Page but several other steps are
required for true Cheddar cheese. In particular, instead of just letting the
curds drain and ripen before pressing, they are allowed to form a matt which is
sliced into slabs. These slabs are stacked and flipped during the acidifying
process and then broken into lumps for pressing. This process is called "cheddaring".
I will describe the process for
two types of Cheddar here. The standard Cheddar is a hard cheese that needs at
least 6 months to ripen and is best just eaten by itself. For sandwiches,
slicing and melting, a softer version is preferred and this is
a "washed cheddar". The process is the same except for the
washing step just before pressing.
The following is for a 4 gallon
batch. Cut everything in half for two gallons.
3.5 gallons water
1810 grams (one box) powdered skim milk
4 pints whipping cream
1. Heat water to 170F, mix in the powder and
after all the lumps are out, add the cream.
I usually do this the night before and just let it sit on the stove and cool
over night. A fan helps in hot weather.
2. Adjust milk to 86F, then
add:
2 tsp calcium chloride
1/4 tsp color (optional)
1/2 tsp EZAL M101 lactic culture or 1/2 cup prepared culture
3. Ripen for 45 minutes at 86F or until pH
drops a measurable amount (.02 units)
4. Adjust temp for 86F then add 2 tsp liquid
rennet or equivalent tablets. Stir thoroughly for no more than two minutes.
Cover kettle and allow curd to set for 30 to 60 minutes until firm enough to
cut.
5. Cut curd with whisk and let rest for 10
minutes.
6. Add heat very slowly to heat curd to 101F
over about 30 minutes. Stir very gently and break up big lumps.
7. Maintain 101F for 75 minutes or pH 6.10,
stirring regularly. This point is called wheyoff and is an
important benchmark in the process.
8. Let curd rest without stirring for about 5
minutes, the carefully pour off the whey. When most of the whey is off, set the
kettle on its side to drain into the sink till runoff stops. Then stand the
kettle in the sink with warm water (120F) for about 15 minutes to form a firm
curd matt.
9. Lay the matt on a clean surface and cut it
into slabs about 1-1/2 inch thick. Lay these on the bottom of the kettle and
put the kettle back into the sink of warm water. About every 15 minutes,
re-arrange them by flipping and stacking them so the get presses by their own
weight to about half the original thickness. Continue this for 90 minutes or pH
5.3.
10. The next step is known as milling
and represents another benchmark in the cheese process. The slabs are
broken up into small pieces (walnut sized) and salted which drastically slows
the acid production and essentially ends the make.
11. If the softer cheddar is desired, cover
the milled curds for cold tap water for 15 minutes, then drain again.
12. In either case, we now weigh the cheese
and add 2.5% by weight of salt. It usually works out to about 60 to 70 grams
(3-4 tablespoons) for a 4 gallon batch. Mix the salt into the curds thoroughly
for several minutes.
13. Pack curds into the cheese press and press
lightly for an hour. Flip the cheese and continue pressing and flipping,
gradually increasing the pressure with each flip.
14. After about 5 hours, remove the cheese
from the press and wrap in a cheese cloth bandage that is just a bit longer
than the circumference of the cheese and wide enough to cover the ends. Return
the cheese to the press and press at 50 lbs overnight.
15. Flip the cheese and press for another hour
and do this until the surface of the cheese is smooth and devoid of pits and
cracks.
16. Remove cheese cloth and air dry till the
surface is dry to the touch then wax or rub with olive oil and age at 50F for
at least 60 days for the the washed cheddar and 6
months for the hard.
The procedure is basically that
described in Cheesemaking Made Easy with a few variations that suite my style.
The following is for a 4 gallon
batch. Cut everything in half for two gallons with the exception of the wash
water in step #5.
1. Heat milk to 90F, add 1 cup
meso starter, stir well; add 2 tsp liquid renet, stir for one min.
2. Hold at 90F for 75 minutes
3. Cut curd and rest for 10 min.
4. Raise temp slowly to 100F,
taking about 30 min to get there.
5. While doing #4, heat 6 quarts
of water in a separate kettle to 100F.
6. Ladle off 2 qts of whey and add
2 qts of the 100F water. Repeat two more times at 10 minute intervals. Total
time at 100F should be about 60 min.
7. Pour off the whey and carefully
lay kettle on its side over the edge of the sink and let it drain for about ten
minutes or until it just drips.
8. Break curd into mold sized
chunks and pack into a cheesecloth lined mold.
9. Press at about 20 lbs for 30
min, flip and repeat.
10. Remove cheese from mold,
remove cheesecloth and dress cheese with bandage per instructions above.
11. Press at about 40 lbs for 3
hrs, flipping several times during the interval.
12. Because of the nature of the
beast, you will end up with a log of cheese which does not look much like a classical
13. Dissolve 1.25 lbs of salt in 2
quarts of water in a stainless or plastic pan and float the cheeses in this
brine for 3 hrs.
14. Remove from brine and air dry
at 50F for three weeks.
You can then eat them or red wax
them for that
This cheese
requires thermophylic cultures and powdered milk must be used to get the proper
stretch.
1 Gallon reconstituted powdered
skim milk
1 Pint whipping cream
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride
1/8 tsp S. thermophylus
1/8 tsp L. lactis
1/2 tsp liquid rennet
1 cup salt
Heat milk, cream and calcium
chloride to 90F.
Add cultures and ripen for one hour.
Add 1/2 tsp rennet diluted with 1/4 cup water to milk and stir for no more than
2 minutes.
Let curd set for one hour undisturbed.
Cut curd and rest for 15 minutes, then heat slowly to 100F stirring very gently
only to distribute heat.
Rest at 100F for 15 minutes then drain off whey and set kettle in sink with
warm (100F) water.
Use a turkey baster to remove whey as it forms and once the curd has matted
together, flip it about every 30 minutes and remove whey and maintain water
bath at 100F.
The proper stretch can only be
achieved at a pH of between 5.3 and 5.1. If you have no way of measuring it,
assume it is near enough at 4.5 hrs from the time the culture was added. At
this point, break up the curd mass into walnut sized pieces, put them in a
plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, heat up enough water
to cover the curds to about 170F and place the curds in this water. If all goes
well, the curds will soften up so they can be stirred and kneaded into a
dough-like consistency. Use a pair of large spoons to press individual pieces
together to build up one mass from all the pieces. This lump of cheese can be
pulled and stretched like taffy and once it takes on a sheen, form into a ball
and place in a pan of cold water. The trick is to keep the curds around 135F as
this is the actual temperature that proper stretching
When the ball is cool, mix one cup
of salt with one quart of water and float the cheese in this for about 8 hours.
As an alternate you can add 1% salt by weight to the cheese toward the end of
the kneading process.
The cheese is then stored in the
fridge after air drying for a few hours.
The following recipe/procedure for
making Stilton cheese presumes you have read and understand the basics of
cheesemaking as described on the Cheese Making Page.
It should be noted that it is one
of the few cheeses that does not suffer from the use of homo milk.
Ingredients Required:
2 gallons homo milk
1 pint whipping cream
1 tsp calcium chloride
1/4 cup mesophilic starter culture
1/8 tsp P. roqueforte
1 tsp rennet
2 tbs salt
Heat milk and cream to 88F then
add cultures and rennet and hold at 88F for 90 minutes.
Cut curd with French whisk very
gently and let rest for 30 minutes.
Pour off whey till just over curd
and let rest for 30 minutes.
Dip or pour curds into cheese
cloth lined colander or tub. Form cheese cloth into a bag and hang to drain for
15 minutes.
Press bag of curds between boards
with 10 lb weight for 2 hrs.
Return the curds to the kettle and
break up into walnut sized pieces. Add 2 tbs salt and mix thoroughly.
Put curds into 4" mold and
set aside to drain and compress by its own weight. Invert the mold several
times a day for several days until the cheese slides out and retains it shape.
To ripen the cheese, it should be
in a cool and humid environment. A plastic shoe box with the lid on will
maintain about 95% humidity with the cheese inside. For the first month or so,
it wants to be around 60F.
After surface blueing is obvious,
pierce the cheese from both ends about 20 times with a long needle.
It is delicious at 60 days but just keeps getting better with time.