Making Cheese

[Pahka]

I've often wondered if certain things I love will be available after TEOTWAWKI. I know I'll miss a lot of things that are currently available. So I set out to find ways to try to make things I'd really rather not live without. One of those items is cheese.

Yes, I know I can preserve it with wax and other things, but what happens when my small supply runs out? Cheesemaking has been around long before the advent of electricity and refrigeration, so I figured it's a skill and I just need to learn how to do it. To that end I decided to spend some time researching the different techniques and came up with the following. To give credit to the authors and to provide the resources for additional information I've included the links to the original sources.

One thing that has surprised me is how easy things like cottage cheese are to make. Fresh mozzarella only takes about an hour and a half! So, here is a basic tutorial including a few recipes and what you'll need to make it. One of the big items needed is rennet, which I have found available at my local Fry's grocery store.

I apologize for the formatting - unfortunately all the step-by-step photos did not pull through. If anyone wants it as a Word document please send me a message and I'll forward it to you. This is a basic starting point, and more information is available on the topic with a simple web search.

A friend and I have made the mozzarella and are looking forward to making more. If anyone in the Mesa area wants to be included send me a message and we'll let you know when we're doing it again.
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MAKING CHEESE AT HOME

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http://schmidling.com/making.htm

Making cheese at home is a craft whose time has come. With today's technology, communications and new attitudes about doing things creative, it is about where homebrewing was twenty years ago, viz., about to explode.

The cheese in the photo was my first attempt and the best cheese I ever tasted. While it's easy to forget what great cheeses taste like and easy to glorify one's own efforts, the point is, making cheese at home is just another of life's learning processes.

While not a slapdash project nor immune to disasters, simple cheeses are no more difficult to make than bread. Cottage cheese can be made with equipment and raw materials found in any kitchen. More advanced cheeses require some additional equipment and raw materials but it can all be learned by anyone willing to make the effort.

BARE BONES

The following recipe represents the ultimate in simplicity in cheese making. It will produce a delicious cottage cheese that resembles ricotta and is excellent fresh or used in cooking Italian dishes such as lasagna. We recommend that beginners start with a cottage cheese to get the feel for the basics and for the instant gratification of being able to enjoy the product immediately.

Ingredients:

1 gallon 2% milk
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt

1. Heat the milk to 190F. You will need a thermometer for other cheeses but you can get by here turning off the heat just before the milk begins to boil.
2. Add the vinegar and allow the mixture to cool.
3. When cool, pour the mixture, (which now consists of curds and whey as in Miss Muffet food) into a colander and drain off the whey.
4. Pour the curds into a bowl and sprinkle on the salt and mix well. You may wish to use less salt or more. It is simply a matter of taste which is the next step. You can add a little cream for a silky texture.

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COMMENTS:

What we have just made is really cheese but short circuits the process in several ways. The vinegar provides the acid that causes the milk to curdle and produces the acid flavor. The traditional method of producing the acid is to use a culture of acid producing bacteria. This is more complicated and takes longer but as it is alive, the cheese will continue to improve in flavor with age. This is of little consequence in a cheese made for immediate consumption. More on cultures later.

We have also made small curd cottage cheese because we left out another ingredient called rennet. This is an enzyme the produces a harder curd. It was originally made from calf stomach but is now synthesized and available in liquid or tablet form. I believe the cottage cheese sold in supermarkets as large and small curd is a fiction because the ingredients on the label for the two products are exactly the same. More on rennet later.

Because both the bacteria and rennet can be destroyed by temperature, the traditional process requires several ripening steps at lower temperatures and a curd cooking step at a higher temperature. Because vinegar is inactive, we went immediately to the cooking stage and saved a lot of time.

Finally, the difference between soft cheese and hard cheese is that the latter requires pressing the drained curds in a cheese press, drying the pressed cheese and then aging for several months.

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CHEESE MILK

The most important ingredient in cheese, is of course, the milk. Cheese can be made from just about any kind of milk including, cow, goat, sheep, mare and camels. It is the lucky home cheesemaker who even has access to fresh cow's milk, let alone the other exotic types. We will presume that the cheesemaker is limited to what can be purchased in the local supermarket. If fresh milk is available, consider yourself lucky and proceed in the same manner.

There are two characteristics of commercial milk that conspire to make life difficult for the cheesemaker. First of all, it is Pasteurized and the native flora and fauna are killed. This is not necessarily bad but simply puts a limit on the ultimate flavor potential of the cheese. However, this limit we can live with and as mentioned elsewhere, is a good compromise in favor of safety.

The really serious problem with store milk is that it is homogenized. This is a process that breaks up the fat globules to such a small size that they are forever in suspension and never again separate as in fresh milk. The bad news is that it does something else to the fat that interferes with making good quality cheese. The effect is to produce a wax-like texture that sticks to the teeth and hinders flavor development. The fix is to use the lowest fat milk available and replace the needed fat with whipping cream. Although the whipping cream is also homogenized, the fat to casein ratio seems to prevent the fat from producing the texture defect.

I have experimented with various milks and have actually achieved the best results using powdered skim milk combined with whipping cream. Following the directions on the box and adding 1 pint cream per gallon of milk produces a cheese as good or better than by using fresh whole milk. All the procedures which follow can and should be made using this milk. The only cheese that seems to actually perform better with homo milk is Stilton.

For more info and the latest developments in my quest for the perfect CHEESE MILK

CHEESE STARTER

Starter is to cheese what yeast is to wine and beer. It is a living colony of microscopic organisms that give the cheese its characteristic flavor. One basic difference is that yeast is a fungus and cheese starter is usually a bacterium. However, that's not to say that fungi have no place in cheese. The blue stuff in blue cheese, for example, is a fungus.

Fresh whole milk contains the necessary bacteria to produce cheese but for several reasons, it is best to use a prepared starter and not trust to chance. Fresh milk contains lots of other flora and fauna that may or may not be useful to cheese making or even dangerous to life. It is best practice to Pasturize the milk to kill everything and inoculate it with a known culture of the proper organism. When using supermarket milk, we have no choice as it will have been Pasteurized.

Wine makers are in exactly the same position. Every grape comes with the natural yeast to produce the natural wine but rather than risk a batch to whatever else might be lurking on the grape, the must is treated to inhibit all natural organisms and is then inoculated with a yeast culture. Not doing this is precisely why home made wine has such a bad reputation. It's either great or undrinkable.

Many recipes and books suggest using cultured buttermilk as a starter and if one is anxious to get started, it is readily available. However, one can never be sure just what the culture is and a real cheese starter is more likely to produce high quality cheese.

The entry level cheeser should purchase what is known as a mesophilic starter from any supplier of cheese making supplies. A search of the web will provide several sources. This comes as a dried powder in a small packet like yeast. The most convenient form is what is known as DVI or Direct Vat Inoculation. This is added directly to the milk and no pre-culturing is required.

SANITATION

I must digress here to a subject of utmost importance to the making of any fermented product. Simply put, sanitation is everything. From the end of Pasteurization till eating, nothing should be allowed to contact the cheese that has not been properly sanitized. Beginners should take this advice to the extreme and old time fermenters know what corners can be cut. Anything that can, should have water boiled in it or vice versa. If it can't be boiled, it should be soaked in a bleach solution of about 1 oz per gal of water. This stuff must be rinsed ad nauseam to get rid of the bleach so the advantage of stainless is manifest. Tools and other small stainless items can be simply passed through the flame of a stove.

BACK TO THE STARTER

If you choose to use a culturable starter, use the following procedure. If you use DVI culture, you can skip this section.

Prepare the starter as follows:
Boil half a cup of water in a covered saucepan for about 5 minutes to sanitize it. Pour out the water and pour in 2 cups of any kind of milk. Bring this to near boil and turn off the heat. It is now Pasteurized, the quick way. When the bottom of the pan is cool to the touch (room temp) add the starter from the packet and stir with a sanitized spoon. Stir again in a few hours and set aside for about 24 hours or until the mixture has the consistency of very soft yogurt. At this point, stir again with sanitized spoon and pour into a sanitized ice cube tray and freeze. As soon as it is frozen, put the cubes into a sanitized zip lock bag and store in the freezer.

The day before you plan to make cheese, drop a cube into a cup of milk prepared the same as above and the next day you will have a cup of starter ready for your recipe. The amount required is usually specified in the recipe but it is always less than a cup.

RENNET
The next item needed for serious cheese is an enzyme called rennet and not much more needs to be said about it other than how it is prepared. It is available from the same suppliers as the starter. The tablet form seems to be the beginner's choice but the liquid is much simpler to use. To prepare the tablet form, dissolve the specified amount in sterile water about an hour before it is needed. I bring a 1/4 cup water to a boil in a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave and let it cool to room temp. Then I drop in the tablet and let it dissolve. I help it along with a sanitized spoon. This is poured into the cheese at the appropriate time. The liquid form is simply measured out according to the recipe. One tablet is equivalent to two tsp of the liquid form.

A SIMPLE "HARD" CHEESE

The next step in our learning process is to make a cheese that lies somewhere between a hard cheddar and a soft cottage cheese, in both end product and ease of making. It actually is what is called "cheese curds" in most supermarkets. It is hard enough for eating as finger food but does not require the use of a cheese press. Furthermore, it can be eaten the same day it is made.

Ingredients

2 gal milk (pwd milk + 2 pints cream)
1/2 renet tablet
1/4 cup prepared mesophylic starter

Pasturize milk for 30 min at 143F

Cool to 86F
Add 1/4 cup of prepared mesophylic starter
Ripen for 60 min at 86F
Add 1/2 rennet tab disolved in 1/4 cup water, stir for one min then cover.
Hold at 86F for 60 min

CUT THE CURD

This requires another digression as we skipped this step in our cottage cheese. Cutting the curd is done by slicing through the curd with a knife long enough to reach the bottom. Start anywhere near the edge of the kettle and make slices about one inch apart all the way across to the other side. Then do the same at right angles. You now have 1 inch "cubes" as long as your kettle is deep. Now slant your knife at about 45 degrees, starting at any edge and work your way across the kettle from several different sides. You should end up with lots of small pieces of curd. At someone's suggestion, I tried a long French whisk instead of the knife and found it to work like a charm. I simply press it to the bottom, give it a half turn, lift it and move to another location. Makes very nice small curds.

The purpose of cutting the curd is to begin the water/whey removal process by increasing the surface area of the curds. Under controlled conditions, it also determines how much acid is produced by controlling the amount of lactose that is allowed to convert to acid.

The byword here and in all further stirring and handling of the curd is gentle. Rough treatment will destroy the adhesion of the curds and produce a mess.

After cutting the curd:
Heat very slowly to 102F, stirring gently to distribute the heat
Hold at 102F for one hour, stirring occasionally to keep the curds separated
Pour into cheesecloth lined colander and drain for about 30 minutes
Return matted curds to kettle and break into bite-sized pieces
Sprinkle on 1 3/4 tbs of salt and mix thoroughly
Place in shallow bowl lined with paper towel and air dry for a day or two,
stirring occasionally and replacing the paper towel as necessary.

We have just made "CHEESE CURDS" which can be eaten at any time and will keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator.

If you would like to go on and make a hard cheese (press required),
continue as follows:

Pour curds into cheesecloth lined mold and fold excess cheese cloth over the top of
the cheese and add the follower. Start pressing at about 10 lbs for 30 min, increase to
30 for about 60 min. Flip the cheese/mold and press at 30 for another 60 min.
Remove the cheese from the press and carefully remove the cheese cloth.
Next we "dress" the cheese with a cheese cloth bandage of one circumference plus a
bit of overlap. The width of the bandage is about 3 inches wider than the height of the cheese.
This is wrapped around the cheese and the edges neatly folded over the top and bottom.
Return the bandaged cheese to the press and press at 50 lbs for 16 hrs. The cheese should be
flipped several times over this period to even out the pressing.

Remove from press, carefully peel off cheesecloth and air dry for several days until it is dry to the touch and a rind has formed.

Wax and age at 55F for a min of 30 days.

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For additional cheese RECIPES

BAKER'S CHEESE..... As the name implies, this cheese is used for baking cheesecake and sweet roll fillings.
BRIE..... The soft mold ripened cheese that is the favorite of yuppies.
CHEDDAR..... The cheese Kraft would like to make but can't afford to do it right.
CREAM CHEESE..... Another one Kraft would like to make but can't afford to do it right.
GOUDA..... This is the nutty round cheese of Holland in the red wax coating.
MOZZARELLA..... The cheese of Pizza.
STILTON ..... A traditional English Blue Cheese.
YOGURT ..... Not really cheese but this is "The World's Greatest Yogurt"

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BAKER'S 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 skimmed 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 take about 2 hrs.
The cheese can then be refrigerated till needed. It is also, one of the few cheeses that freezes well.

MILWAUKEE CHEESECAKE

I grew up on what we called "Milwaukee Cheesecake" and developed an intense dislike for the gooey sweet, cream cheese cakes that Americans have come to consider cheesecake.
Until about 10 years ago we could still drive up to Milwaukee and get it but they all stopped making it because no one wants it anymore. As it is no longer available anywhere I know of, I have made a career of trying to duplicate it from memory.

The cheese used is basic "baker's cheese" which can easily be made from powdered milk and my latest iteration of the cheesecake recipe and it is about as close to my recollection as I can get now without tasting the real thing again.

The base is fairly heavy cake dough about midway between piecrust and sponge cake. The filling is similar to the cheese fillings still found in some sweet rolls. Moist but not creamy and a bit of an acid tang balanced against the sugar and texture of a very heavy custard. They were typically made in a large baking sheet and sold as squares of any size.

As a point of interest, I went through about 20 cookbooks and found only one recipe for cheese cake that was not based on cream cheese. This indeed is the problem. First of all, cream cheese is neither cheese nor made from cream (not even Philly) these days. It is a chemical concoction that has little to do, even with cows.

The key to real cheesecake is "baker's cheese" and this just is not available in supermarkets. If you can find it, then all you need is a recipe for real cheesecake.

Milwaukee Cheesecake

Crust........
Flour.......................... 1 cup
Butter........................ 3 TBS
Baking Powder.......... 1 tsp
Egg ................... 1
Half and Half............ 6 TBS
Blend all till smooth and pour into greased 8 x 8 baking pan. We use a 9" round springform pan.

Cheese Filling............
Baker's Cheese.............. 1/2 lb
Flour ................... 1 TBS
Half and Half ............ 1/2 cup
Vanilla........................... 1/2 tsp
Egg ..................... one
Sugar............................ 1/4 cup
Salt............................... pinch
Blend it all together and pour over crust. Bake at 350F for about 45 mins.
Bon appetit ...
js

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BRIE/CAMEMBERT

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. The recipe is for the cultures I use but you can substitute whatever mesophylic starter you normally use and you need at least one of the Camembert cultures.

1 Gallon Homogenized 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 molds. 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 mat 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 mat 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 soup inside so you have to sample it every week or so until you find what works best for you.

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CHEDDAR CHEESE

We described the basic process for Cheddar on the Cheesemaking 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 mat 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.

MILK

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 measureable 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 mat.
9. Lay the mat 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 washed cheddar and 6 months for the hard.

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GOUDA CHEESE

Gouda is what is known as a "washed curd cheese" and step #5 (below) is the washing process. The object is to reduce the amount of lactose that is available to the meso bacteria to turn into acid. The result is a mild and smooth cheese that is truly luscious. The only shortcoming is that it does not keep forever as a hard cheddar would.

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 it's 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 Gouda. At this point I cut the log into two or three Gouda sized pieces and if they are rough looking, I press them between plates or cheese boards for an hour or so just to clean up the ends. No weight is needed if you stack them up as the cheese above will provide ample weight.
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 Gouda look".

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MOZZARELLA

This cheese requires thermophylic cultures and powdered milk must be used to get the proper stretch.

Ingredients:

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.

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STILTON

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. Roquefort
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 bluing 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.

jack@schmidling.com

[Rizzo]

This is awesome! Thanks! Making cheese is something that I had on my goal list of things to learn this year. One thing I was concerned with was the milk I had available. Thanks for addressing that.

[Pahka]

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be! We used a gallon of whole milk, some rennet, the calcium chloride, the lactis, the thermophylus and rennet with a lot less salt than the recipe above has. I'll see if I can find the recipe we used. It produced a great fresh mozzarella a little bigger than the size of an orange or small grapefruit. If I'd had a press I could have made the harder mozzarella. So you can figure that for every gallon of milk used you will obtain that amount of cheese. I was told that the fresher the milk (and the more cream it has) the larger amount of cheese is produced. Since we used the whole milk we didn't need to use the heavy cream to supplement it.

I was glad to see some recipes that used powdered milk, as well!