Hi,
It's been awhile since I've had a caerphilly, so it was time to make another. This is following a recipe I found in an old newspaper (from 1907). I've had good luck with it, except the first time I tried it when I used too much culture. This time, I've tried putting some creme fraiche in some UHT skim milk and letting it sit over night. The milk didn't thicken like when I add a few grains of culture, but it did have a slight tangy taste, so I'm assuming the culture was active. My intention was to use the creme fraiche ice cubes as the starter, but as I'm not entirely convinced it's working just yet, I added it as an additional. Of course, I now seem to think that creme fraiche and buttermilk are made with very similar cultures, so it could just be silly to bother with doing this.
Anyway, the make has gone well. Things are now stacked up for the over night press. Will add photos and final dimensions and weights in the morning.
- Jeff
Why oh why is my y not working?
Traditional Caerphilly (Modified for Home Cheese maker) Feb 2, 2014.
11 Litres Homebrand Standard (3.3g fat/100ml 3.1 protein)
100 ml Cream (35 g fat/100 ml; 2.2 protein) final p:f 0.89:1
2 ice cubes meso (buttermilk)
2 ice cubes crème fraiche (not sure if this is active)
¼ tsp CalCl (50%)
7.2 ml Renco Rennet (65 IMCU)
2.5 tbls salt + extra for rind rubbing during flipping.
1) Add starter and CaCl2 and warm milk to 30 C and remove from heat and wrap in towels (30.1 C)
2) Ripen 30 minutes (time 7:20 – 7:54 ; temp 30.1 – 29.6)
3) Add rennet (time 7:54:30 – Floc Time : 8:06:00 = 11m 30sec 4x mult = 46m 00sec Cut time = 8:40:30)
4) Cut into 2.5 cm cubes (8:40:30 – 8:47)
5) Stir and slowly raise temp back to 30 C (start temp 29.2 C - 30.6 C; time 8:47 - 8:54)
6) Maintain temp and stir 1 hour (8:54 - 9:54; until curd is slightly firm; note, longer stirring at this stage can reduce the time to drain later; temp at end : 30.5 C)
7) Let settle for 10 minutes (9:54 - 10:04)
8) Remove whey (10:04 - 10:17)
9) Put curd in cloth in pot and drain. Twist 5 times (count the 1st one at the start) over an hour to tighten it (every 12 minutes), but not too tight – whatever that means. Prop up one side of the pot and put curds on the high side (so the whey drains away from the curds). Remove whey when you tighten the cloth. (??:?? – ??:?? – ??:?? – ??:?? – ??:??)
or (as done this time) wrap in cloth bag, place a board/follower on top with a 2 litre jug of water as a weight. Flip every 20 minutes (at 10:37 and 10:57)
10) Mill to small bits (squeezed between the fingers like a potato masher; 11:?? - ??:??)17
11) Add salt (2.5 tbls)
12) Place in cloth bound moulds, press in with hands
13) place under light pressure (~1 PSI; 15 kg on 6.25” mould) 10 minutes (11:25 - 11:35)
14) Flip, rub with salt, redress and press ~1.5 PSI (20 kg on 6.25” mould) 20 minutes (11:35 - 12:00 – didn’t salt this flip, too open)
15) Flip, rub with salt, redress and press ~1.8 psi (25 kg on 6.25” mould) 20 minutes (12:05 - 12:25 : Just realized I forgot to add the 5kg, so that was at 20 kg)
16) Flip, rub with salt, redress and press ~2.15 psi (30 kg on 6.25” mould) overnight (12:32 - 6:15 am – didn’t salt this flip as the salt from 15 was still there as I used 1 tsp)
17) Out of the press it was 1414g, and 15.7 x 6.2 = 1200 cm3 for 1.18 g/cm3. Knit was excellent.
Made ricotta (raised to 93 C, add ¼ cup cider vinegar, waited 30 minutes or so, scooped and drained. Got 350 g, added 4g salt, 1-2% by weight).
Air dry 3-5 days and move to cave and age 3 weeks, flipping twice daily (80-85% humidity, 10-12 C).
Thursday, Feb 5, 2014 (evening): Moved to cave. 1312g, 15.7 x 6.1 = 1.11 g/cm3
