Friends,
First, my recipe:
- 2 liters of lowfat milk
- 250 ml cream (35% fat)
- 20 drops of rennet
- around 50 ml of buttermilk
- salt
- rind of a 250 gram piece of brie, very finely mixed in with the milk
(I should mention that I have also used raw milk, as well as real Penicillium Candida and I experienced similar 'problems' as described below)
I warm the milk to 30 C, add rennet & buttermilk, leave to curd for about an hour. Cut curd, slow warm to 32 degrees. Slowly 'cook' the curd for 15 minutes or so. Drain the curd for several hours or a whole night, finally sprinkle salt on the outside.
Then, the cheese moves to a plastic box in my cellar which is about 12-15 C. I leave the lid slighly ajar and thereby achieve approximately 90% humidity in the box (I checked). I turn every day.
After about a week or so, the cheese is fully covered in mold.
Then, the problems begin.
Problem 1: Before the second week is over I start to smell ammonia. This seems awefully fast. When I cut the cheese at this time it has a thick layer of mold, about 3 or 4 millimeters of very soft cheese and still a large 'hard' core. So its no where near done
Problem 2: The cheese seems to 'collapse' or 'shrink' (for a lack of better words). The outside mold layer is quite thick and wrinkly. Not smooth at all as Camemberts normally are. This happens every time.
So why does my cheese start smelling like its done, when its not. And second: why cant I get a smooth Camembert?