French Neufchatel Cheese Making Recipe & Christy’s #1 Making @ 092109

[cmharris6002]

This is my first cheese with mold. Since I have been reading here I realized that I have been putting it off way too long! I even bought the traditional heart shaped molds

The recipe is from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes

4 quarts Whole Milk
¼ tsp meso
Pinch p. candidum
3 drops rennet
½ tsp kosher salt

2:00 sterilized everything with hot bleach water
2:20 warmed 1 gallon of raw goat milk in water bath to 80F
2:25 added meso and p. candidum
2:30 added 3 drops of liquid calf rennet diluted in ¼ cup of cool water. I thought 3 drops seemed like a lot for a soft cheese since I use ½ drop per gallon in Chevre but I followed the recipe.
Curd should be ready to drain in 24hrs...
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4:00 ladeled curd into a cloth draining bag to drain for 24hrs
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4:00 folded bag over the curd. Set the bag in a plasic draining/ripening box on a cheese mat placed over a rack. Placed a plate on the bag and a quart jar filled with water (2lbs) on the plate. Refrigerate 24hrs.
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7:30 removed cheese from bag. Kneaded in 1/4t kosher salt. Filled 2 heart molds, 1 log mold and one pyramid mold. Returned to refrigerator in a clean plasic draining/ripening box.
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4:00 removed cheese from molds. Coated the log and the pyramid with ash/activated charcoal. Left the hearts plain. Returned to refrigerator in a  clean plastic ripening box on a plastic cheese mat placed over a rack and put the lid on the box. 
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Cheeses are covered with white fuzz!!
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Cheese look like the pictures. We tasted one, good crust, liquidy inside and very good!!
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Ate cheese with friends. Everybody loved it and got to take some home 

[Tea]

Hope everything goes well for you.

[cmharris6002]

Thanks Tea! Any suggestions on how to serve it?

2:30 scooped curd into draining bag, will allow it to drain at room temp until morning.

[Tea]

There's a discussion in the section that includes this cheese, with suggestions for serving.

[DeejayDebi]

Good luck Cristy!

[Sailor Con Queso]

I thought Neufchatel was used fresh. So why does it use P. candidum?

[cmharris6002]

American Neufchatel is just processed low fat cream cheese. French Neufchatel is one of the oldest French cheeses. It has a bloomy rind similar to Brie or Camembert and can be eaten young or aged up to 8 weeks. It comes in many shapes but the heart shape, Coeur de Bray, is the most popular.

7:30 kneaded in ½ tea kosher salt, folded back into the cheese bag, placed in a draining container with 2lbs pressure.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I've made several "American" Neufchatels. Didn't realize the French was different. Learn something everyday.

So is the texture similar to a Brie? Or just the rind?

[cmharris6002]

I am new to this cheese too   From what I have read it is eaten quite young, often at just one week old, and it is creamy/crumbly. I think the longer it ages the runnier it will become in the middle.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I usually put assorted herbs into mine. Do you?

I'm not sure I would want to if it's going to be "runny" like brie.

[cmharris6002]

Being a goat milk person, I usually make Chevre which is similar to American Neufchatel. I make it with herbs but my favorite is to add horseradish to the cheese, form it into a log then roll it in cracked black pepper.

[DeejayDebi]

OOoooOOooooo I love horseradish!

[cmharris6002]

Completed 110409
Aged at 40F for 44 days

The cheese finished very correct, a beautiful crust with a creamy somewhat liquid interior. I thought it was a little strong but our friends loved it and ate every last bite  I am glad I started simple like this and once my goats freshen in February I'll try some more mould ripened cheeses.

Christy

[Cheese Head]

Christy, good to hear, sounds wonderful (pictures ?).

I think as you used goat's milk it is more a Crottin or Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, albeit without Geotrichum candidum. Attached are zoom ins of three pictures of those two cheeses from my trip to Europe last summer.

Also, you've got me interested, so I did a little research on French Neufchatel and posted it here.

[cmharris6002]

I think it was closer to a Camembert form what our friends said. I updated my record! Thank for the extra info, very interesting. My camera is on the fritz. I need to get a new one soon. It reall looked like the pics on the net but it was all white, no tan edges.