I felt the need for some chees that I wouldn't have to wait too long for. Usually that means Caerphilly but I wanted to try something new and settled on Caciotta.
I started yesterday using the recipe from the New England Cheesemaking recipe as follows:
6 litres Fleurieu whole milk. P = 3.3%, F = 3.8%
1/5 tsp (1.0 ml, 1 rounded tad) thermophilic starter
1.7 ml rennet in 30ml water (should be 1.5; increased due to the age of the rennet)
1.5ml CaCl2 in 30ml water
Warmed the milk to 37o C.
Add the starter, rehydrated for 2 minutes, stirred and left for 41 min.
Stirred in the CaCl2 and rest for 6 min.
Stirred in the rennet for 2 min, covered and left until I got a clean break at 35 min. (Target = 20 min. Obviously I need some fresh rennet.)
Cut the curd vertically to 20mm . Rested 5 min and cut horizontally.
Stirred very slowly for 5 min. Raised the temp. to 39C over 10 min and continued to stir at that temperature for another 10 min.
Removed the whey to the level of the curds and stirred gently. Transfer the curd to a cloth lined mould.
Moved to a warm environment (33-38C)
Turn the cheese in the mould at 15 min and turn in the cloth after another 20 min.
Left for a further 1.5 hours, turning every 20 min. Removed the cloth for the last 40min.
Removed to room temp until evening. Transferred to 13C overnight.
Today I brined them for 1¼ hours. They are now safely back in the cave.
This was interesting in that it was quite different to other cheeses I have made. It was also quite a simple cheese to make.