Cantal #1

[John@PC]

I planned and looked forward to this make because I wanted a really good test of the criss-cross press.  It's 5 gal. but unfortunately I chose to use a 8" dia. mold which was too big to achieve the correct form factor .  About midway through pressing I started seeing the tell-tale signs of butterfat (oil) loss and decided to cut pressing short after 24 hr. as I knew the milled curds wouldn't knit once the oil got between them and didn't want to lose any more fat.  This was my 164'th cheese and I've only had one to have the butterfat loss issue.  I want to research more on the forum and look over the make log to see what caused it, but if you have any ideas let me know.

I used Ricki Carrol's recipe and from what I could judge during the make all went well.   I cobbled together the cultures from what I had on hand so hope it comes close.  Even though this was a "swing and miss" cheese I went ahead and did a video.   Apologies for the gravely voice - applications for a narrator are available .

By the way I did vacuum bag this cheese after a week because of the cracks.  We'll see if it's decent a year from now.

The make log is first attachment.

[shaneb]

That looks fantastic John. How does your plastic pan go with the direct heat from the griddle below? Is there some protection between the two? Have a cheese from me.

Shane

[John@PC]

Thanks Shane. A silicon pad like a Silpad gives enough buffer as long as there is liquid in the pan, and you keep liquid temps below 130F.  I would recommend you stay below 350F as a safety factor but with the silicone and liquid the bottom surface of the pan will stay below the temperature polycarbonate starts to soften (300F or so).  To get best heat transfer you need a PC pan that has a flat bottom.  Cambro and Carlisle are the two manufactures of these and if you choose to go this route make sure you get the Cambro (Camwear) pan as it does have a flat bottom (both the 1/2 size and full size pans are flat).

[shaneb]

Thanks John. It will probably be hard for me to source one of those polycarbonate pans in Australia. I had been looking at stainless steel GN1/1 pans with a 200mm depth and a bain marie, however most bain marie's don't seem to handle that depth of pan. Do you think that the stainless pan with silpad in between (or would that not be required?) will work? It would certainly be a much cheaper option for me.

Shane