Cheese Making

May 18, 2009

Yes, I prevailed…or I should say, the mozzarella prevailed!  A successful batch, although I was a doubting Thomas until the very end.  It didnot make a large curd like the one at Leener’s, but looked more like cottage cheese or ricotta.  I mashed, twisted, drained, heated, mashed twisted and drained some more…I don’t think this milk had any choice but to turn into mozzarella, because it was gonna turn or I was gonna die trying!  I was so busy trying to force it into mozzarella, I could not keep up with all the details, but here is the form any way:

Mozzarella 5-16-09

And here’s another picture:

Beautiful, huh?

May 16, 2009

The Monterey Jack cheese that starting aging on March 4 was cut open today.   It’s been 9 1/2 weeks, so just over the 2 month recommendation.  Unfortunately, mold had developed underneath the wax:

which indicates it was probably too moist.  Plus, it was not turned as often as it should have been.

When I cut the mold off, it looked fine inside:

but it does have a bitter taste to it.  Too acidic, maybe?  This was the very first hard cheese I tried, and since  this one and the subsequent  farmhouse cheddars, I’ve learned a couple of things:

1.  Rinse thermometers, spoons, etc. in cold water to remove milk solids, then let them sit in water with a tiny amount of bleach while waiting to stir again (suggested in The Cheese  Lover’s Cookbook and Guide)

2.  Carefully watch the initial heating!  It does not take long at all for a gallon of milk to get to 88 degrees.  I overshot this number a couple of times, and temperature variance makes a huge difference.

3.  Pressing cheese in an art form that takes some practice.

I will continue on this journey, certain that my persistence will prevail!

April 19, 2009

Tried a Mozzarella from Making Artisan Cheese. I used goat milk instead of cows milk, and it came out dry instead of moist and chewy.  I used it more as a ricotta than a mozzarella because it tasted okay- it was just dry.  This recipe was very different from the ones in Home Cheese Making.  Since I haven’t had any success with mozzarella, I am too nervous to try the one requiring 4 gallons of goat milk in Home Cheese Making.

A man (I couldn’t find his name anywhere on his blog) over at Zen and the Art of Cheese-making said he had good luck with this recipe at Leener’s.  If this one doesn’t work, I’m gonna have to be like Paula Lambert, owner of the Mozzarella Company, “I have tried and tried to make it at home, but I have failed each and every time.”  (Page 67 of The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook and Guide)

April 17, 2009

I finally got around to the Chevre today.  It is fabulous…I see why some people fall in love with goat milk cheese.  It was a super easy cheese, too.  Just heat a gallon of goat milk to 86 degrees, add Chevre (from cheesemaking.com), let it sit overnight, drain for several hours, and wow!  Super amazing- possibly addictive.  Tonight, I will try Darrin’s Lemon Goat Cheese Tart from The Cheeselovers Cookbook and Guide. I’ll let you know..

More certain than ever that goats are in my future…

April 14, 2009

We removed the wax and tried some of the Farmhouse Cheddar Saturday.  The outside was nice and smooth, but the inside was not as tightly pressed.   It tasted fine, but a stronger taste than expected.  Good for a basic shredded cheese in casseroles.

The goat’s milk was pasteurized a few days ago, so I hope to start Chevre in the morning.

April 7, 2009

Got some goat milk!!!!  Chevre, here I come!

March 29, 2009

I’m a little concerned about the Monterrey Jack cheese.  There seems to be a few dark spots under the wax.  And it will not be ripened until the first week in May.  It either had too much moisture or wasn’t turned enough the first couple of weeks.  I did forget a few times…especially after we got the chicks…

Still no luck finding goat milk so far.

March 17, 2009

Got a couple of new books today, Making Artisan Cheese: 50 Fine Cheeses That You Can Make in Your Own Kitchen by Tim Smith and after a quick review, I love it! This book has the beautiful pictures missing in Home Cheese Making, but the instructions appear clear. It’s uncluttered, and has sidebars with good tips and suggestions. Also received The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook & Guide by Paula Lambert. I bought this one for the information for storing cheese, and the 150 recipes.  I’m happy with this one, too, because most of the recipes don’t seem so far fetched that they will be useless.  One even calls for Velveeta!  I think I have all the cheese books I’ll be needing for a while.  I’ll update after I’ve tried a few recipes.

Farmhouse Cheddar Record Form:

farmhouse-3-10-09

March 16, 2009

Cheese success?

Curds are pretty dry.

Cheese is ready for wax.

Hmmm, uneven pressure maybe?

March 9, 2009

Spongy Cheese = failure

Caused by bacteria or incorrect wrapping in the press.

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March 8, 2009

Made Farmhouse Cheddar today from powdered milk and whipping cream.  I developed a form similar to the one in Home Cheese Making which details the process for today’s cheese:

farmhouse-mar-09

This form and the pictures should provide a nice history of my progress in cheese making!

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March 6, 2009

I hope to make more cheese tomorrow, and use my new Cheesypress!

The Monterey Jack cheese that was made last week went according to plan-I think. The curds and whey separated, although it took longer than the 45 minutes Home Cheese Making suggested. But, the rennet and other cheese supplies have been sitting around unused for at least a couple of years–but they still work if you are patient. Keeping the temperature perfect still requires some effort (It was heated to 100 degrees, instead of 90 a couple of times), but it is getting better. Since the type of cheese you have depends largely on the temperature, it is possible something other than Monterey Jack will be waiting for us in a couple of months. Will we know the difference? Probably not, but there will be a taste test with the real thing when mine is properly aged.

I hope to find goat milk soon for both soft and hard cheeses. In the meantime, I bought some powdered milk and cream, and I’ll try something like these recipes. Incidently, the cheese press just ordered was from Schmidling’s site. It’s called the Cheesypress. It was about half the price of other presses, but seemed like a good starter press. No one at this house has the energy to build a press right now, so why reinvent the wheel? I’ll let you know how it goes.