Hi all,
Yesterday, I attempted Farmhouse Cheddar for the 3rd time. The first two tries had varying results but I felt with this batch, the process went much smoother.
Yet by the photo below, taken at 2:15am this morning when I took it out of the press, you'll see I could use a little advice....
1. What prevents curds from knitting together? did I stir it too much every 5 minutes while increasing temp from 90-100? did I mill the curds too small / too long? or maybe its a pressing problem? (which is my guess)
When I press, there are the curds in the cheesecloth, then 1 layer of cheesecloth, then a small multilayered piece of parchment paper in the center, then the follower. This time, though, we flopped the extra cheesecloth on top of the follower, and pressed down (with the little wooden block) on that. I realize we shouldn't have, not ideal. But would that have affected the pressing that much?
2. The follower by thecheesemaker.com that I acquired with the press has a round-headed screw in the middle of the follower. If I don't put in the parchment paper, the head of the screw leaves an indentation and black mark on the top of the cheese. What is this for? why wouldn't it be flush with the edge of the follower to prevent this? how do I work around it, without making another follower?
3. What causes the center of my cheese to slump in so much? do I need to pack the curds into the press more firmly, or evenly?
Sorry, I am poor at describing things! Hope you all can catch on anyway. I'll attach a photo and my worksheet.
With using a basic recipe, and living in a dairy-loving family with an endless supply of raw Brown Swiss milk in our backyard, this cheese will likely be cut into within a week. Not the way the pros operate, but it works for us
until I can be brave enough to try aging and waxing.
Thanks for your help!
Amy.
