HI Brie
The following are my make notes from my last Camembert/Brie, 2 weeks ago. The recipe is compiled from several sources but has (mostly) been successful. It makes 2 cheeses of 9cm diam. and 3.5 cm thick.
- 3L of pasteurised, un-homogenised Jersey milk, brought to 32C.
- Cultures sprinkled on top (3/16 tsp of Epicurean MM100 + 3/32 tsp PC) and left for 2 minutes before stirring in.
- Left to ripen for 45 min.
- 0.9 ml Calcium chloride, dissolved in approx 20 ml of water, stirred in and then left for a further 5 min.
- 1.0 ml of rennet (140IMCU animal rennet) dissolved in approx 20 ml of water and stirred in.
- Flocculation time was 9 minutes. Multiplication factor of 5 gave a coagulation time of 45 min.
- Cut curd to 25 mm cubes and rested 5 min.
- Stirred gently for 10 min and then rested another 5.
- Curds transferred to cloth lined moulds. Left ot drain under own weight for 24 hours, flipping at 15 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr, 3hr, 4hr, 6hr, 11hr and 24hr. As it has been pretty cold recently, I put them in a box with a container of warm water. The temp. started at 24C and dropped to 18C by the end.
- Unmoulded and weighed the cheeses (240 and 250g). Rubbed 1/2 tsp dry salt into one side of each cheese, left them for 1/2 hr, flipped them and rubbed a further 1/2 tsp salt per cheese into the other side.
- Transferred the cheese into a ripening box, on a rack, with the lid cracked to prevent the humidity from getting too high. Stored at 13C for 2 weeks, turning twice daily. Removed excess liquid from the box as necessary.
- Wrapped in cellophane and transferred to the fridge at about 3C.
I am expecting to leave these for another 4-5 weeks by which time they will be well ripened. They will probably be quite good, although still mostly firm in about 2 weeks. (I'm a fan of the Nuage Blanc too and find them a great cheese right through from fresh and firm to well-ripened and soft.)
The photograph was taken yesterday at wrapping.