I saw in my book by Karlin a recipe for Buttermilk Blue. However it uses a ratio of 1/3rd buttermilk to 2/3rds milk along with MM 100 meso starter. I felt that Karlin's recipe might be a bit too bold for me so I decided to do my own recipe with way less buttermilk. In fact, I don't know if mine would be considered a true Buttermilk Blue or just a blue using buttermilk as a starter.
The planned recipe is below and has some steps borrowed from my Stilton recipe. I ran into a problem in timing however because I had to pick my daughter up from school that is a 1-1/2 hour round trip. So I had to cut my time after adding the rennet from 3 hours to 2 hours. This left me with a very soft curd but I was hoping that they would firm up well during the cooking process. Instead of cooking longer I decided to hang for draining instead of setting in a colander like I normally do. The mass seemed firm until I started to break it up and realized it was still quite moist. I let it sit more than normal during the salting process and that helped expel more whey before hooping.
I need to figure out how to do my makes without the regular daily interruptions. My raw milk is delivered on Wednesdays and I don't want it to sit until Saturdays when I am totally free. So I guess I need to get up at about 3 a.m. on Thursdays to do my makes.
Ingredients:
• 4 U.S. Gallons Raw Milk
• 2 Cups Cultured Buttermilk
• Pinch Mesophile Aroma Type B (Biena C64)
• ¼ Teaspoon liquid Penicillium Roqueforti PRB6 HYP 5D (Danisco) in ¼ cup purified water
• ½ Teaspoon single strength liquid animal rennet in ¼ cup purified water
• 3 Tablespoons cheese salt
Steps:
1. Add milk to pot and slowly bring up temperature to 86° F (30° C).
2. Add cultured buttermilk and stir well.
3. Sprinkle in Mesophile Aroma Type B starter cultures, cover with lid and wait ten minutes.
4. Add Penicillium Roqueforti/water solution.
5. Stir well, cover with lid and let mature for 90 minutes holding at 86° F (30° C).
6. Add animal rennet, stir well, cover with lid and wait 3 hours (did 2 hours) undisturbed holding at 86° F (30° C).
7. Cut curds into one-inch size and let rest for 90 minutes holding at 86° (30° C). Do not stir.
8. Ladle curds into cheese cloth lined colander, tie cloth, hang and let drain for 8 hours at room temperature.
9. Break up curd mass into thumb size pieces.
10. Add 1-1/2 tablespoon cheese salt, mix and wait 15 minutes. Add final 1-1/2 tablespoon salt, mix well and let sit for another 15 minutes.
11. Ladle curds into a 5-1/8” diameter x 11-3/4” open top and bottom mold.
12. Flip mold once every hour for four hours, then once every 24 hours for five days at 65° F, 90% humidity.
13. Rub up curd mass on day five or when whey is no longer expelling.
14. Place in cheese cave set at 85-90% humidity and 50-55° F (10-13° C).
15. After four weeks in cave, pierce holes with about ¾” spacing.
16. Age an additional three weeks or until the blue veining runs all the way through using a cheese tier.
PH Tracking:
6.65 starting with fresh raw milk.
6.30 just after adding buttermilk and cultures
6.42 after 3 hours of cultures maturing.
6.42 after 2 hours of rennet being added.
6.15 when whey drained
5.62 curds after 1-1/2 hours of sitting
4.45 after five days at rubbing up stage
The photos below are after five days and the rubbing up.