Cheese options when all you have is powdered milk

[dantose]

Looking for ideas. Currently, I'm where there is no access to non UHT milk I can find. I've heard that powdered milk can be used to make cheese, but I'm not sure what styles are appropriate. Anyone have any experience?

[smcaro@gmail.com]

Hi,

I am normally in Hong Kong, and have little access to fresh milk. So I normally use whole powdered milk, Dutch Lady brand. I have successfully made all type of cheeses ( gouda, butterkase, cheddar, edam, caerphilly, red leicester, stilton, etc). The only mistakes are in brie types, but that is my own fault. So, if you find this brand, use it.

Other brands do not work, I assume that it is because the milk has been UHTd before drying.

I do add lipase, lipozima, CCh...and then simply follow the recipes.

Hope it helps.

[dantose]

Trying one with Carnation right now. Seems to be working. I did one package of powdered milk, half a pint of heavy cream to add the fat back in. salt, calcium chloride, mesophylic starter, rennet. Heated to about 80 to culture, Didn't raise the heat after that, which I probably should have.

Well, let's see what kind of cheese I end up with!

[LantGladstone]

I don't have any experience with this but I'm very interested in what you find out.  Where are you by the way?  Also what is "CCh"?  Best of luck!

[LantGladstone]

sorry, I'm also curious about the heavy cream.  Was that UHT? 

[awakephd]

I would guess the CCh referred to Calcium Chloride (CaCl), which helps to mitigate a little of the damage that occurs to milk in the various processing and handling.

[dantose]

sorry, I'm also curious about the heavy cream.  Was that UHT?

Yes, my understanding is the UHT damages the proteins, but those will come from the powdered milk. The cream is just to add some fat back in.

[Gregore]

I think some of the soft blue cheeses are better with uht ,   

Do a search of Linuxboy posts about uht milk , he said something about it. .... more than a few years ago


Full disclaimer ...... I have not tried the advice below but ......

lactic acid cheese , with PC and geo could work . It will have too  much moisture for sure but in  a very small size 2 inches by 1 inch finished size ( mold size 2 .25 inches by 5 inches to allow for settling of the curd)  might allow it to mature well before slip skin sets in .   Probably about 10 to 15 days to mature

[dantose]

Ok, so gave it a try. It turned out great! It's reasonably soft, almost like a fresh mozzarella, but less melty when heated. The cream really comes through and adds a wonderful softness to the flavor. It crumbles with a bit of pressure, but holds together well enough to slice.

Pic attached to show intentionally broken bit and sliced bit. the odd shape is because I don't have a proper press.

[smcaro@gmail.com]

Well done! Congratulations
don't give up and keep going. I will try and post some pics of my cheeses. Just one thing. Coagulation time has to be increased and do not expect a very firm curd. But just follow the recipe, time and temperature wise.

You will need a good press though.

[smcaro@gmail.com]

Bel paese with milk powder and this link to my Caerphilly http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,16001.msg122718.html#msg122718

[awakephd]

A cheese for you (thumbs up) for a successful result!

[dantose]

One thing I noticed is that after zip locking and refrigerating the above cheese, about 24 hours later I got an acidic taste that washed off. I'm assuming a nasty got in there and started maybe lactic acid fermentation. Is this a common issue? How do I fix?

[Gregore]

No ,  lactic acid fermentation is how you got to cheese in the first place .  If the acid level gets below 4.7 or so then the surface should be tangy , sharp , acid . Actually the whole cheese will be that flavor .

No fixing , but if it is in a zip lock I would let it air out a little aslo as too wet is as bad as too dry . Maybe even worse .

Happy cheese eating