John's Cheese #022 - Camembert #2

[Cheese Head]

Today I start my second Camembert based on this recipe, first Camembert Making results posted here.

MAKING

• July 13, 2008, 7:07AM: Poured 1 US gallon/3.8 litres of store bought pasteurized homogenized whole cow's milk from fridge into stockpot on smallest ring on stove, measured temperature at 42 F/6 C and pH at 6.44. Added 4 ice cubes of homemade mesophilic starter culture and started slow warming and stirring gently with whisk.
• July 13, 2008, 7:23AM: Stopped warming, temperature at 93 F/34 C. Meaured and sprinkled on 1/16 teaspoon of Danisco brand Penicillum Candidum VS (mild) and whisked in. Measured pH at 6.10. Covered and set aside for for cultures to ripen.
• July 13, 2008, 8:43AM: End of ripening, whisked in 1/2 teaspoon CaCl2 solution, whisked in 1/16 teaspoon CHR Hansen powdered rennet diluted in 1/3 cup water, meaurements 92 F/33 C, 6.05 pH, covered and set aside for curd to set.
• July 13, 2008, 9:00AM: Great curd set, cut curd, set aside to rest and expel whey. Meanwhile placed hoops and mats in boiling water to clean.
• July 13, 2008, 9:25AM: Placed household folding wire cake cooling tray into sink then placed two course mats (for support for the fine mats) and two fine fine mats and lastly two hoops on top. Ladled curds one scoop into alternating hoop to ensure even distribution of curds & whey. Found had filled two hoops and lots left. Quickly set up same system in second sink with third hoop and ladled remaining curds & whey into it. Perfectly filled. Left curds to drain whey.
• July 13, 2008, 10:30AM: Three camemberts are average of 80% of original full height in molds. Turned #1, did poor job of holding bottom flexible mat fully against bottom of hoop, curds started falling out around bottom, poured into bowl, scraped off mat as curds stuck to it, places new fine mat on heavy mat and hoop and poured curds back into hoop. Tried lifting #2 hoop and mat to turn, same problem of mat not 100% against hoop thus leaking curds, turned and curds easily dropped, shaved curds off of now top mat. Problem is how get fingers underneath to lift while getting 100% closure against hoop. #3, did not touch, will leave for second hour before turning.
• July 13, 2008, 12:05PM: Camemberts #1 & #2 are 60% of original, #3 ~75%. Lifted everything on wire cake tray out of sink on top cake pan to catch whey. Slid hoop and mat off side of wire tray enabling better job of keeping curds held inside of hoop. Turned Camembert #1, good, did not leak, dropped free from mat, fell slightly sideways so new top is slightly slanted. Turned #2, OK, similar to #1. Turned #3, OK but did not drop cleanly and held on 100% to new bottom, cut off with spatula.
• July 13, 2008, 1:10PM: Turned all three Camemberts OK, 1 fell slightly slightly on angle resulting in top of cheese being at 80 degrees.
• July 13, 2008, 2:16PM: Turned all three Camemberts OK, tops flatening out.
• July 13, 2008, 3:15PM: Turned all three Camemberts OK.
• July 13, 2008, 4:41PM: Turned all three Camemberts OK.
• July 13, 2008, 5:40PM: Turned all three Camemberts OK.
• July 13, 2008, 7:40PM: Turned all three Camemberts OK.
• July 13, 2008, 10:00PM: Removed hoops and salted sides and top, placed in freezer Cheese Cave.

MOULDING PHASE

• July 14, 2008: Camemberts slightly barreled and quite a bit of water drained like batch #1 from salting, turned onto clean mats and salted tops which were bottoms, placed back in Cave.
• July 15, 2008: In morning, as humidity climbed to 92%, left lid on freezer cheese cave open 1 "/2 cm at front in hope would lower humidity. In evening found temp still low but RH climbed to 94% and 2 of 3 Camemberts had fallen / barrelled more.
• July 16, 2008: As fridge has too low humidity, placed back in very high humidity freezer Cheese Cave.
• July 17, 2008: Two of three cheeses had lost thick white fluid out of side over edge of mat and on to bottom of freezer Cheese Cave. Moved to very cold and very dry household fridge.
• July 19, 2008: Cheeses drying out, two even more flat shaped, cut one, see picture below for appearance, taste OK but slightly acidic, threw away two that were very flat.
• July 28, 2008: Cut the third and last of this batch for dinner tonight, still very young at only 15 days, cut early as leaving in 5 days for 2 weeks family holiday. Good mold, nice rind development, pate has nice texture, couple small eyes. Pate around edge where cheese is crinkly is quite moist, great flavour except like Batch #1, slightly too salty.

NOTES

• Last time made Camembert where finely diced up semi-set curd, got a lot of whey separation and thus only filled 2 hoops, future makings will need 3 hoops.
• Leaving Camembert #4 for 2.5 hours before first turn resulted in less whey being drained than cousins and still sticking to mat like #1 & #2 after 1 hour. Next time turn after 1 hour.
• Found that turning with thumb and baby finger one each side of hoop and three fingers over top of mat works best.
• Curds were too soft, too much whey, next time try using Tea's Camembert recipe methodology of more cooking of curds and faster early turning.
• Need to put non-iodized salt in salt shaker so that can more evenly apply than by hand.

[Cheese Head]

Pictures #2 . . .

[Cheese Head]

Pictures #3 . . .

[reg]

looking pretty good there CH. how long will you age this cheese ?

i no absolutely nothing about Camembert. maybe in the winter i can try my hand at it

reg

[Cheese Head]

Very short aging basically the cheese reaches it's A Point in 21-35 from making after which it's downhill and big urea smell.

I could be making your Brie & Leek Pizza soon !

My understanding is that Brie & Camembert are the same cheese, Camemberts are just samll and Brie's are big and they originated in different regions of France.

[reg]

good stuff. you will not be disappointed in the Brie and Leek pizza.

reg

[Cheese Head]

This morning as humidity had climbed to 92% in freezer cave, left lid wedged open 1" at front to see if it would reduce humidity.

This evening found temp still low but RH climbed to 84% and 2 of 3 Camemberts had dropped / barrelled further. Placed in cold and low humidity household fridge to dry out.

Next time I'n going to try Tea's recipe and cook the curds at low temp for 3 hours.

[Cheese Head]

Added latest picture of 2 deflated Camemberts and updated my records in OP.

Basically 1/3 of those two cheeses oozed out the side, off edge of mat and onto bottom of the freezer Cheese Cave, a mess :'(. I like oozy Camembert, but not until I'm ready to eat it at room temp!

I think the problem is not enough cooking of curds before ladling into hoops, anyone with other ideas please advice .

Next time I'm going to try Tea's recipe and see where that goes . . .

PS: I've lost track of which cheese is which but I'm guessing the one that hasn't barreled much is the last one which used the smaller - last curds in stockpot and thus as smaller had less whey?

[Cheese Head]

Tasted one of two leaked Camemberts, OK, slightly sour, sadly, threw them away :'(.

[Cheese Head]

Cut the third and last of this batch for dinner tonight, still very young at only 15 days but leaving in 5 days for 2 weeks family holiday.

Good mold, nice rind development, pate had nice texture, couple small eyes like Tea's Camemberts. Pate around edge where cheese is crinkly is quite moist, great flavour except like Batch #1, slightly too salty.

[Tea]

So did you get to make another batch using my recipe?  Or are you leaving that until you get back?  Just wondering what differences you found.

[Cheese Head]

No 4th batch yet, hopefully next weekend when back from holiday!

Currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico, went hiking at this park today and climbed ladders in cliffs into old indian caves. Now stuck in hotel, wife and daughters at movies watching Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2.

[Tea]

Wow that looks beautiful.  Great to see you taking some time out with the family, hope everyone is enjoying themselves.