For the Month of December, we are asked to make Farmhouse Cheddar. This is a beautiful rustic cheddar. Using a stirred curd method, this recipe takes a lot of time out of the cheese process. This cheese only needs to be aged a short time, one month is the recommended aging.
Santize every thing. Here is what I needed for making this cheese.
I am doubling the batch, as I had 4 gallons of milk needing used. Warm the milk slowly over about ten minutes to 86 deg. I am warming it here.
Adding a culture to your milk will help with the curding process and flavor. We were to use Meso II, I could not order this from the place I choose to order my from. The place I ordered from suggested I order this, as he said it will give cheese so much better flavor & I agree with him! WOW I noticed right away this is an awesome direct set culture. It is called RA22, made in France.
Sprinkle direct set culture on your milk. Let it set for 5 min & then stir, using an up & down motion.
I love pictures when you can see things moving, even though it is a still photo.
Let this rest for one hour. I put a towel around it, to hold the temperature.
I bought annatto colorant to make the cheese yellow. You stir this into water to dilute it.
Stir into the milk.
Next stir the rennet into water to dilute the rennet. Stir this into your milk. Let set for 45 minutes, until there is a clean break.
Here is the clean break.
Cut the curd into 1/2 inch pieces....again, I am told that where we live it way to dry for this...so I cut my curd into 2 inch grid & make a couple swipes sideways with the knife.
This is after I let it set for 5 minutes. It helps the curds to shrink a bit. You can see the whey that is separating.
Stirring the curds, as I am warming this slowly over 40 minutes to bring the temperature from 86 deg. to 102 deg.
Now stirring the curds for 20 min holding at 102 deg., this will allow the curds to firm up.
Holding the temperature at 102 deg. undisturbed for 30 minutes they will sink to the bottom of the pot. Next, ladle off the whey until the cheese is exposed.
Stir continually for 20 minutes, until the curds matt together & cling to each other when pressed in your hand. I didn't think it was long enough.
I didn't think that was enough so I continued to stir for another 15 minutes.
Still stirring & boy did my arm start aching from stirring & stirring...I thought about an auto cheese stirrer...ha ha ha h NOT TELLING LARRY! Cause he would find one & buy it for me! This is after 40 minutes of stirring. I said it is good enough...even though they really did not matt together...they started to get a little stretchy...like mozzarella.
Ladle this into a cheese cloth colander. Let this set for 5 minutes to drain. I put the colander into the big pot & put the lid on it to keep it warm & keep moisture in it. Then sprinkle with salt & mix in quickly, breaking up the curds.
Working quickly, put this in a tomme mould lined with cheese cloth. I did a double batch of cheese, so I used a tomme & a cheese press.
Add 8 pounds of for one hour, redress & press at 10 pounds of pressure for 12 hours.
Here is my cheese press with the other half of the curd.
This is after pressing for one hour. Flip & redress.
This is after pressing 8 hours. See the difference in the cheese! It is BEAUTIFUL!
This is so beautiful I have to... just have to show you the one from the press too.
Okay, in the brine solution for the day in a room that is 55 deg.
I will be adding more pictures tonight & tomorrow & a picture in about a month from now, as that is how long it has to age.
I will be adding more pictures tonight & tomorrow & a picture in about a month from now, as that is how long it has to age.
Last night I took my cheese out of the brine solution & seen it was cracked all over. I was so disheartened, I thought...it is the word cheddar that made this happen....I WANT TO MAKE CHEDDAR & have it work!
This is the other one....I made two at once....this is why I am involved in this cheesepalooza! for the HELP! Heather Squires, my friend from Nova Scotia, has worked in cheese factories all over the world, she told me cheese factories buy cheese pieces & repress it. So she advised me to put this in the press & press again.
I put the cheese back in the press & put it in a pot that was in the sink of hot water...I put a couple towels over it all to help hold in the heat. I flipped it 1 1/2 hours later & it was not enough, so I left it in the press 12 more hours.
This is what it came out like. You can still see little cracks, but not as bad. I left this out on a cheese mat for a couple hours & then I covered it lightly with saran wrap....cause I am concerned with the cracks. I decided to take a sample of this to our weaving & spinning guild. When I sliced the cheese it is all crumbly. It has an amazing cheddar flavor though! I am really impressed with it!
I know there were errors in this recipe, for one, the temperature at one point was wrong. They asked us to be to rough with the curds during the cheddar process. I also think they asked us to press this with not a heavy enough weight. The last grave mistake is brining this cheese before you allow it to skin. I am disappointed with the out come of this cheese.
I made this cheese again. I did not heat the curds to 102 deg this time. I heated the curds to 98 deg. I also did not stir the curds for 20 min non stop stirring. I stirred them every 15 min gently. I salted the curds before I pressed this. I put the press in a pot & covered the whole thing as I pressed this. I also pressed this at 15 pounds for 20 min, then 30 pounds for 20 min, then 30 pounds for 2 hours then 40 pounds for 16 hours. When I removed it from the press it looked great. I let it air dry in a room about 70 deg...that is what the temp was when in the press. I looked at it a couple house later & it was cracked! I WONT GIVE UP! Try, try again! I sure would like to know how I can make this work!
This is a close up shot of the cheese. I since coated the cheese with olive oil & covered it with a flour sack towel.
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