Author Topic: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe  (Read 7910 times)

marianstock

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Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« on: July 01, 2009, 01:49:15 PM »
does anyone have a recipe for this cheese...  also, how do I get that amazing thick crusty rind ??

Tea

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Re: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2009, 03:26:04 PM »
Type in caerphilly cheese into the search box and it will come up with a recipe that I posted sometime ago.
My recipe doesn't mention a thick rind, and that would be formed, I would think, during the aging process.  How that is done I am not sure.
Hope the rest help anyway.

FRANCOIS

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Re: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2009, 08:20:14 PM »
I think your are referring to the farmstead version, not what everyone buys in the store.  I had it once, a few years back at a cheese shop in NY, definately not my cup of tea.  It appeared to be ripened more than aged, I seem to remember a slight softness under the rind.  All of these features indicate a yeast at work.  If I had soem milk at home and wanted to copy this cheese I would do two things.

1.  Order a small piece of it from Artisnal, Formaggio or whoever will ship to you.  Save the rind.

2.  In the meantime make a washed curd tomme, I think Peter Dixon has a recipe on his site (www.dairyfoodsconsulting.com).  After you have dry salted it start the washing prcoess (3% brine) by rubbing the rind first and then smearing the cheese surface.  If you can, leave your original rind in close proximity to your tomme wheel.   

Should work for you, I've copied more than 1 cheese this way.

Tea

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Re: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2009, 08:30:53 PM »
Franscois thankyou for this.  Hopefully I will get to try this method one day.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2009, 03:08:34 AM »
Caerphilly Cheese Recipe - adapted from recipes by Peter Dixson    

Caerphilly is a light-coloured (almost white), crumbly cheese made from cow's milk, and generally has a fat content of around 48%. It has a mild taste, with its most noticeable feature being a not unpleasant slightly sour tang.   
   
Characteristics:   
The cheese is typically made in a wheel, which is 10 in. diameter x 3 in. thick and weighs 7-9 lb.. The rind is thin with a brushed mold coat. The interior texture is fairly close with a few mechanical openings (not due to gas) and cake-like due to the acidity. The body is semi-firm. The flavor is slightly acid and fresh when young (2 weeks-2 months); when more mature (3-4 months) the flavor is mild and smooth.   
   
Method for Making:   
Whole raw milk may be used if the cheese is aged longer than 60 days at a temperature higher than 35° F.   
   
Ingredients:   
EZAL RA series (blended thermo/meso)   
Add starter: Use EZAL RA series (blended thermo/meso) at the rate of 1U per 50lb. milk.   
Add rennet: 9 ml single-strength   
   
Procedure
Setup   

Milk at 86° (summer) to 89° (winter) Ripen with starter for 45-90 min.
   
1 minute   
Add rennet: 9 ml single-strength
Calculate   Check for curdling point and multiply by 4 to get time from adding rennet to cutting the curd, e.g., 12 min. x 4 = 48 min.
   
5 minutes   
Cut curd into pea-sized particles; rest curds in whey for 5 min. Whey pH 6.4-6.5 (titratable acidity .13-.14)
   
20 minutes   
Heat while gently stirring curds to 93° F in 20 min. ( a steady rise of 1 degree per minute)
   
30 to 50 minutes   
Continue stirring curds in whey at 93° F with increasing speed as the curds become firmer (so that some curds are always visible on top of whey surface). After 30-50 min., the curds should be firm enough and springy in the hand. Higher solids milk will cause curds to firm faster.
   
20 minutes   
Settle the curds under the whey for 20 min.

2 minutes   
Move curds to the back half of the vat and let settle again for 2 min.

15 minutes   
Drain off whey down to the level of the curds and then begin trenching the curds to either side of the vat, leaving a channel down the center for the whey to drain away from the two packs of curds. Whey pH 5.9-6.0 (titratable acidity .18-.20

After 5 min.,
the curd packs should be firm enough to cut into wedge-shaped pieces about the size of a dinner plate. Pile these at the back end of the vat; higher for a moister cheese and lower for a drier cheese.
   
When the whey is pH 5.7-5.8 (titratable acidity .25-.28)

5 minutes   
Mill the curd wedges into 1 in. cubes.
   
1 minute   
Mix in coarse dry salt at the rate of 1 lb. per 100 lb. of curd

5 minutes   
Mellow the curds for 5 min.

5 minutes   
Pack the curds into cloth-lined hoops
Press with enough pressure so that drops of whey are dripping from the hoops shortly after applying pressure.

20 minutes   
After 20 min., take off press, turn the wheels and return them to the hoops. Press again at the same rate. After 20 min. repeat the process. Leave on the press overnight under increased pressure. Press room should be 68-72 F.
   
12 to 18 hours   
Next morning remove the wheels of cheese from the hoops and place in the saturated brine for 2 to 2.5 hours per lb. of cheese. Turn the wheels at least once during the brining period. Brine temp. is 50-55° F.
   
Affinage:    
Cheeses are removed from the brine and allowed to drain in a well ventilated area at 50-55° F before moving to aging shelving.   
   
Cheeses are aged for up to 4 months at 50-55° F, during which time the rind is developed:
   
In the first month, molds are scrubbed off using scrub-sponge pads dipped in 5% brine.   

After this, molds can be brushed off with a moderately-stiff, kitchen-type scrub brush.   
The goal of affinage is to produce a uniformly-colored, thin, dry rind.   
   
If the rind is not drying and is sticky, use a stronger brine solution, e.g. 10-15%, which will inhibit the yeasts that proliferate and cause this condition.   
This case may indicate insufficient acid development during the make process.   
   
The cheese should not develop gas during aging. If this occurs, there was insufficient acid development and contamination from rogue bacteria during the make process. If gassing occurs later on during aging, the flavor may be good but not characteristic of Caerphilly cheese.   
   
If the rind is cracking, the humidity of the aging room is too low.   
   
The wheels of cheese can also be waxed after brining for a milder-flavored cheese.   

FRANCOIS

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Re: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2009, 09:21:03 PM »
Peter's recipe is the industrial version, not the thick rinded "ripened" one.  Industrial caerphilly is not much different than cheddar.  The original farmhouse version is another animal all together.

I had assumed we were talking about the farmhouse version, it's about 4" tall, 12" in diameter.  Slightly supple in the middle with thick rind.  They are ready to go in about 3 weeks and can quickly over ripen.

Also you have to remeber that Peter is  obsessed with stabilized cheeses.  Even his latest creations at Consider Bardwell all are thermo/meso mixes. Most of his recipes that are traditional or widely made with straight meso are mixes.  Some of his cheeses made this way are quite good.  I don't think EZAL is really an appropriate cultre for the farmhouse version.

If you had a few gallons of milk and a piece of the cheese you want to duplicate you could experiment....being very, very clean you could trik off a piece of the rind and paste below into some sterlized water.  Shake well and use to innoculate your milk.  Use a tomme recipe and see what happens.  Use the remainder of the cheese rind to back-wash your newly made copy.

My $0.02, but it's how I'd approach it.


Tea

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Re: Caerphilly Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2009, 07:22:09 PM »
Once again Francois thankyou for this.  I do agree though, that this cheese can over ripen fairly quickly, and I tend to age/ripen in the fridge for a better result.