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ele
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby
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 Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 9:08 am Post subject: |
 
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okay I've been attempting to make cheese but I think I may have got it a bit wrong....
I heated up 1 pint of milk till warm, put it in a glass bowl
Added a spoon bio yoghurt
Added 10 drops of vegeren, stirred it well
It set and then I put it in the fridge overnight (<--was that wrong?)
I now have a bowl of stuff that looks like set yoghurt...
If I understand it I need to attempt to cut it, heat it to 38 deg and then drain it through a muslin lined colander, right? 
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mark
Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 1484
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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yeah thats rights - the curds do look a bit like set yoghurt floating on whey underneath at first cut them and you wil se lighter liquid - wil shrink a bit as you heat it - and separate mnore clearly
it really changes as you strain it - you are on the way |
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ele
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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| mark wrote: |
yeah thats rights - the curds do look a bit like set yoghurt floating on whey underneath at first cut them and you wil se lighter liquid - wil shrink a bit as you heat it - and separate mnore clearly
it really changes as you strain it - you are on the way |
Thanks Mark, I was really surprised that when I put a knife to it, it did cut, and now it's warming (I put the bowl in another bowl of warm water) there is definite whey... this is quite exciting 
Does anyone eat their whey in a smoothie or in a recipe of some sorts? I know it's supposed to be quite nutritious, not sure about tasty though |
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ele
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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Forgot to ask when is the best stage to add salt? |
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mark
Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 1484
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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i didn't salt mine - but i guess i would add when squishing into mould or countainer
that's when i added garlic and herbs |
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Pilsbury
Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 2265
Location: East london/Essex
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| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 05 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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where can i finrd rennet? people say they got it in the supermarket but i have asked at tesco, asda and sainsburys and everonr look at me as if i was mad. one even offered to show me to the cheese section  |
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mark
Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 1484
Location: Derby
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sallyb
Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Posts: 6
Location: folkestone,kent
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 05 11:20 am Post subject: |
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I always buy my rennet in Waitrose. Most branches seem to have it. |
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 05 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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I've made some cheese...
Not difficult, so far, but its way too early to tell if its actually any good.
Main surprise was just how *little* cheese came from all that milk.
Temperature measurement and control is the *essential*.
I have an LCD thermometer, with a sensitivity of less than 1C. (A nice Christmas present.)
IMHO such a thing is *needed* for a beginner.
Temperature variation between 32C and 39C makes a heck of a difference to the toughness of the curd. Its a bit critical.
I filled a roasting pan with water, slipped in a saucer and put the pan on the saucer. The water bath worked well to steady the temperature. However *lots* of hand stirring of the curds was needed. You can *feel* these slight temperature differences and what they do to the texture of the curd...
Milk: Waitrose semi-skimmed pasteurised, reduced to clear 6 pints for 30p (so I thought "try cheesemaking now")
Starter/Acidifier: Yeo Valley Organic live yoghurt. 1/2 small tub to 4 3/4 pints (a pan-full).
Rennet: Vegeren (best before... end Nov 05? !!)
Mixed yoghurt with milk left overnight in coolish kitchen.
Warmed to 32C, rennet added with (balloon) whisking, left alone for over 2 hours. Lovely "clean break".
Very satisfying to cut the curds.
Warmed back to 32C. Some curd removed and strained for curd cheese. This was drained overnight, then mashed with a fork to mix in some salt and finely chopped parsley. It was good this morning, should be better by now.
I got adventurous with the rest. Heated to about 36C. Strained, salted, then packed into a J-cloth inside an offcut of drainpipe. A snug fitting jam jar made a piston (or follower) and a collection of upturned bowls provided a couple of kg pressure for overnight forming.
It unmolded nicely, and quite neatly.
I trimmed it. The trimmings tasted rather nice, if very mild. Sort of wensleydale-ish with a slightly more rubbery texture!
I've salted the outside (fairly lightly), wrapped it in a fresh cloth and bunged it in the fridge.
Hopefully, I'll get some sort of ripening of a rind in a week or so, and then the plan is to seal it into candlewax and hide it in the back of the fridge till Christmas...
Getting seriously ambitious, I've done another batch today. Mixing in a teaspoonful of blue cheese (mashed into cold water) with the curds at the salting stage. Plan is to spike it and leave it in the garage and see what happens...
Any suggestions for the care/feeding of these things most welcome!
Here's what more than 4 1/2 pints of milk produced... |
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Treacodactyl
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 18569
Location: In the pond with the frogs
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 05 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Do you really think temperature is that critical? I just heat up the milk to 'warm' and add the vegeren, leave for a few hours and then drain overnight in the fridge. Seems to work well for us using full cream milk.
I'm tempted to have a go at making a hard cheese by pressing the curds and adding a little salt. On 'Tales from the Green Valley' they covered their cheese in cloth and wiped it over with salt water once a day to form a nice rind IIRC, I think I may give that a go.
It'll be interesting to hear how your cheeses mature, is there any nasties I should worry about before having a go? |
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 05 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Treacodactyl wrote: |
Do you really think temperature is that critical? I just heat up the milk to 'warm' and add the vegeren, leave for a few hours and then drain overnight in the fridge. Seems to work well for us using full cream milk.
I'm tempted to have a go at making a hard cheese by pressing the curds and adding a little salt.... |
I had no problem at all getting a "clean break" in the curds - even using pasteurised, homogenised semi-skimmed...
TD - one critical bit for a hard cheese is 'cooking' the curds.
They shrink!
Following Dr Fankhauser's advice about "fully manual" stirring at that point, I could feel the extra toughness of the curd in the lower part of the pan (nearer the heat).
I'm sure that once one really knew what one was doing, it would be possible to judge the temperature by the toughness of the curd - but for a beginner it has to be the other way round.
*I* want to know about potential nastiness... !!!
My pressing of the second batch miscued.
Not taking out any soft curd for soft cheese, I had a higher level in my pipe, and my piston skewed and jammed. Result a wet loose cheese. Undaunted, I've reinserted it and set it up again. (Dr Fankhauser explains a blemish on one of his cheeses by mentioning it spent 30 hours in his tin can press - so hopefully all isn't lost.)
I'm hoping that anything harmful would produce something so disgusting that I wouldn't want to eat it - is this so? |
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giraffe
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 272
Location: Nottingham
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 05 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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I've made curd cheese by making yoghurt and then straining it overnight to get the whey out. You don't get much though! |
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 05 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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| ele wrote: |
okay I've been attempting to make cheese but I think I may have got it a bit wrong....
I heated up 1 pint of milk till warm, put it in a glass bowl
Added a spoon bio yoghurt
Added 10 drops of vegeren, stirred it well
It set and then I put it in the fridge overnight (<--was that wrong?)
I now have a bowl of stuff that looks like set yoghurt... |
As a fellow beginner, I gather that playing different tunes here is one way that one makes different types of cheese...
I stirred in my live yoghurt and left the milk at room temperature overnight.
In the morning, I warmed it to 32C before adding the VegeRen - as per its instructions, stirred it in and left well alone for two hours for the curds to set.
The milk has to be slightly acid for the rennet to work - one job for the yoghurt.
But another aspect, I believe, is breeding the yoghurt bugs, so that they can work on the milk to develop what will be the cheese's taste.
I think the idea is to get your chosen bugs to out-breed any nasties that might be in the milk, the pans, or the utensils.
I'm expecting the cheese-house smell to reflect its own colony of micro-flora, and that using the same cave, cellar or whatever, *repeatedly* would help to build up the population of the good guys...
Salting. I added salt after draining the cut curds, and rather gently 'folded' it in. (For the blue, along with my mashed Blue Vinney + water)
I think the temperature the curds reach (toughness), texture of what goes in the press, press time & pressure are all going to influence the final cheese's texture. Even, I gather, the temperature of the curds going under pressure...
Anyone care to describe how they work?
I know "Cheddar" involves re-cutting the curds. But I don't understand exactly when...
Aren't some cheeses pressed, then broken up, additions made and then re-pressed? |
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mark
Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 1484
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 05 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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yoghurt as a starter makes a particular flavour of cheese -
cheese made with unpasturised milk uses the natural bacteria in the milk - but brings health risks!
if you want a particular taste you can buy specialist starters from here!
http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk
they have a good range
they also sell lipoase powder for italian style cheeses
and the moulds for blue cheeses etc!
and almost anything you need for cheesemaking
mark |
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Blue Peter
Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2089
Location: Milton Keynes
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