Tomme Cheese Making Recipe

[Boofer]

I'm looking to do a Tomme on Thursday using a number of cultures, including LM057 (LMC, aka, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris) to give it a little different character.

-Boofer-

[linuxboy]

Boof, add it in to milk beforehand, the night before, or right away to cold milk, and then bring the milk up to temp. Best results in my experience doing it that way, unless you have extra time to kill to let the warm milk stand around at 75F.

[NimbinValley]

what kind of flavour notes are you hoping to achieve with this culture boofer?

NVD

[NimbinValley]

Ive been doing some reading on the use of LM.  Is it possible to add it to say a 20L bucket of pasteurised milk and leave overnight to culture then add it to an 80L vat of pasteurised milk next day to continue with the cheesemaking?  Logistically it would be difficult for me to pasteurise a vat full of milk, leave it to sit overnight then with LM then use it the next day.

NVD

[linuxboy]

Yes, that's fine. When I say overnight, I mean in bulk tank. It's also fine to re pasteurize and kill off LM, though flavor will be different, of course. It's important to consider the historical practice and how it affects cheesemaking practice and flavor, and then how to use and adopt that to your situation.

I will try to make a long post on beneficial inoculations and inoculating evening milk later this month. I did some work with it last year, to preserve milk quality of raw milk longer so that cheesemakers could maintain quality without making cheese every day by using specific strains.

[NimbinValley]

Ok.

If the milk is repasteurised after the LM has been added and left to grow I guess the enzymes etc are still present, along with any diacetyl produced.

NVD.

[linuxboy]

Yes, exactly, it's one of the strategies to achieve a more raw-milk or traditional flavor despite using pasteurized milk and modern processes. In tommes, most useful for young adjuncted types designed for rapid maturation and shorter shelf life. In bloomies, more useful as normal practices in say, camembert.

Personally, am not a fan of pasteurizing at all (can always thermize for safety), but it's an option if your process requires it.

[Boofer]

what kind of flavour notes are you hoping to achieve with this culture boofer?

NVD

I'm looking for a little more creaminess...richness. Hard to exactly characterize. My most recent effort was decent and I hope to achieve something similar, but having a slightly creamier slant.

Boof, add it in to milk beforehand, the night before, or right away to cold milk, and then bring the milk up to temp. Best results in my experience doing it that way, unless you have extra time to kill to let the warm milk stand around at 75F.

I have tried that but still end up with a significant wait for the pH to drop. I tried dosing a cup of warmed milk, letting it sit overnight, and adding it to the kettle, but still no joy. Looks like I have to bite the bullet in 2012 and move to the mother.

-Boofer-

[linuxboy]

For that approach, it's only with diacetyl-producing strains, or with protectorants, not the main acidifier, which should be lactococcus for tommes, perhaps with some Strep. The main acidifying culture, you add closer to proper temp range, and either wait for DVI and tolerate the slower speed, or use mothers. Reason is because for acid producing culture, you need higher temp... there's no real advantage to adding them in when you're going to refrigerate them. If you want a faster drop, switch to a new strain of lactococcus/adjust pitch quantity

[dthelmers]

So the diacetyl producing strains will produce diacetyl at refrigerator temperatures? Is there an optimum time frame for that? Can it go too long?

[linuxboy]

will produce diacetyl at refrigerator temperatures

Yep.

Is there an optimum time frame for that? Can it go too long?

Usually, .15-.2% overnight. If you're doing longer, adjust the pitch rate. Yes, can go too long... you want a balanced flavor, just a tad of diacetyl, like what you get with a normal LD culture. In a way, this is breaking up the LD blend into two phases, the D phase where you inoculate refrigerated milk, and then the normal cheesemaking phase where you use an acidifier. It is an adjunct when used in this approach. No set rules about this, mostly about your flavor preference. Too much diacetyl is not necessarily helpful.

[ArnaudForestier]

Just want to say, Pav - I reaffirm my gratitude for your generosity of spirit, both in helping folks here (myself included, obviously), and in your broader aims, helping farmers and small cheesemakers to become and stay viable, via your work.  (Intrigued by your comments on quality maintenance, when not doing daily makes).  You're a good man. 

Made my first cheese in 6 months last night, all Beauforts having been eaten, now. Loosely, a reb, though it will basically be a soft cheese to reb dimensions with a host of ambient flora from my Beaufort cave, along with vat inoculants.  Fun, to let go, and get loose. 

Best wishes, everyone.  Kudos, Boof, busy as always!

Paul

[linuxboy]

quality maintenance, when not doing daily makes

It's one of those industry things few people talk about. Not sure why, probably some sort of protectionism. It's not used very widely at all. But it's possible to beneficially inoculate milk with beneficial strains, and they act as milk protectorants. Chemically, it's pretty cool, you can take two bulk tank samples from the same farm, and the fat degradation in regular milk after 3 days will be drastically higher than in inoculated milk. It's one of the ways that raw milk with the right native flora can remain fresher longer, and one of the mechanism old timers relied on without realizing they were relying on it. Really useful for smaller scale production when there's only enough time to make cheese 2-3 times/week. It's like working with 12-hour-old milk after 2-3 days in the tank, which IMHO makes a significant difference and makes it possible to take cheese from a solid, good cheese, to a world-class cheese. Milk fat lipolysis in fluid milk is especially a huge issue for goat milk. That's why some of the smaller farmstead French makers will actually make their semi-lactics twice a day.

[ArnaudForestier]

That is absolutely fascinating, Pav.  Very cool.  If I'm not very, very careful, you might entice me into going gonzo again, and into thinking of nothing else.   

Will be following this with interest.

[linuxboy]

What would life be without all-consuming obsession healthy interests and hobbies?