Hi from Western CO

[Zara]

Hello all! I found this forum while searching for a coherent Manchego recipe - that will be my next cheese down as soon as I receive the thermo. cultures - and I guess I'll need to rig up some sort of press!  Eek.

I have only been cheesemaking for roughly a year - mostly fresh cheeses and camembert and blues. Mostly from my lovely source of raw goat's milk (I trade cheese for milk) but occasionally I resort to CaCl enhanced storebought milk.

I am also a breadbaker, and I can hardly keep the cheeses or breads in the house for all my friends and neighbors begging them of me. I have been giving the products of my labor away, but lately people are offering to offset the cost of the materials, so to speak, and I am not going to argue with that, as long as I don't become stressed out with the "demand".

Right now I have 2 gal of raw milk in the frig at home just waiting to become camembert.

This is a fab site, and I hope to be able to learn a ton from all the other folks aboard!

Cyn

[zenith1]

Welcome to the forum Cyn. You are going to love this place. Lots of people willing to help out with the art/science of cheese making. Good luck. Manchego is one of my favorites by the way!

[MrsKK]

Welcome, Cyn.  I have a cow, so use raw milk for making my cheeses, as well.  I've never even tried it with pasteurized.

I look forward to getting to know you better.

[Cheese Head]

Hi Cyn in Colorado and welcome to the forum.

Great to hear your cheeses are working out well, looking forward to your input!

[DeejayDebi]

Welcome cyn! I've been dying to try a goats milk cheese - still looking for goats milk though ...

[Zara]

Hi Debi - I found my goat milk by asking every soul I knew! I recently switched farms from a La Mancha herd to a Nigerian Dwarf breeder...and I'm surprised at the difference in the milks. Raw milk is a touchy thing in CO, and the LaMancha place was a little reluctant to sell to me. I now have a "trade" deal and a lot friendlier source.

I've thought about joining the co-op raw cow dairy, but they were recently shut down for contamination....ooops! They are open again but I think cows are a lot harder to keep clean <dodges flying objects from cow lovers everywhere>.

Do you use raw cow milk? I'd love to try that sometime. My cow milk attempts have been store-bought + heavy cream + CaCl and the results were fine if not stellar.

[Cartierusm]

Welcome. Depending on how your raw goat's milk cheese turns out, goat's milk benefits from CACL2 because it's naturally homogenzied. If yours turns out good then no problem, just thought I'd let you know.

[DeejayDebi]

Cyn -

I have used store bought milk for years but recently started using raw cows milk and find a huge difference in flavor and texture. Much creamier and smoother feeling. It's like it melts in your mouth like a rich creamy chocolate.

I grew up with raw milk and I could be just reliving my childhood love of raw milk but I think it makes a huge difference. I recently found a small buffalo farm about 40 miles out of town and plan to try using it as soon as I get a chance. I hear that makes the best mozzarella and other soft Italian cheeses.

[Ariel301]

Hi Cyn,

What part of Colorado are you in? I have lived in the northern part--Denver/Fort Collins/Loveland, as well as the southwest--Alamosa area. (Which is where I got my goats from a nice little dairy farm out in the country).

I love baking bread too, and am making some almost every day, because my husband goes through it fast. Hopefully soon I will have some goat cheeses that we can eat with it! Do you have a particular favorite kind to make? I'm a big fan of sourdough, but it is tricky to get the stuff to rise here for some reason. 

[DeejayDebi]

I posted an amazingly simple no knead sourdough crusty bread recipe here a bit ago that makes to die for crusty breads and rolls. I also posted a few things I use it for and some ideas for changing the type of bread.

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1291.0.html

[Zara]

Hi Ariel! Bread baking - agh how many bricks of lead did my poor DH choke down before I discovered no-knead!

I tried sourdough and it ended up....more like rottendough. So I use SAF yeast - and I use beer in place of water for most of the liquid. I'm sort a shoot-from-the-hip baker...

Probably my favorite is:

Dark No-Knead Rye

2    C   Bread flour
1   C    Rye Flour
3   T   Vital Gluten
2   t   Salt
2-3   T   Cocoa Powder
½   t   Yeast
1 ½    T   Caraway Seeds
2   T   Blackstrap Molasses
5-6   oz   Beer
5    oz   Water   

Mix all dry ingredients into bowl – roll in molasses and liquid to make a shaggy shiny dough – consistency should be somewhere between concrete and brownies...seriously. If it seems to be too dry, throw in extra beer.

Tent plastic bag and proof warm room temp 12 hours.

With spatula work the risen dough off the sides of the bowl and softly fold over a few times with the spatula. Can stretch and fold if it sticks to the spatula, but be gentle. Then gently pour it out onto parchment paper. Replace dough (which now should be very sticky but similar to a regular dough) gently into a proofing dish to rise 1 ½ hours.

After one hour heat oven and cast iron pot – 450 F. After 1 ½ hours, score top with a razor,  gently place the risen dough, parchment paper and all, into the preheated pot. Now drop oven temp to 425 F.

Bake 30 minutes at 425 F, then remove cover and bake uncovered 5-10 minutes until browned.

Internal temperature 200F if lucky – at 6000ft congratulate yourself on 190F

Take out bread with the parchment paper, slide it off onto cooling rack. Spray lightly with Pam and sprinkle with seasalt.

This is a very chewy, bitter/sweet pumpernickle. Good by itself or with soft cheese spread or sandwiches.