Sals Feta No 1

[SalMac]

Its all gone horribly wrong :-)

Ive trashed the kitchen, the cheese is draining now and taking forever. I'll let you know if I've achieved cheese tomorrow and post the recipe.

Jeez louise curds dry like plaster on everything if you dont get to em pronto dont they?

I'm still not getting a good set at about twice the time the recipe suggests.  Whats the most likely cause? The culture strength?

Thanks

Sal

[Tea]

Or the quality of the milk!  What milk are you using??  Generally store bought milk does not form curds anywhere near as good as fresh milk.  If you are using fresh milk, then it could be your rennet.  The culture mostly add to the flavours more than setting curds.

[Tea]

You've trashed the kitchen???  Having a laugh at that one.  I have visions of your throwing curd around in your frustrations. 

Sorry couldn't resisit.

[SalMac]

Its so wet its just got everywhere lmao. Ive recently bought a great steam cleaner so wherever its spot riveted itself I can get it off....

Tastes great tho.

Using a veggie rennet that I reckon maybe the problem.

I can only get shop bought pasteurised cows milk at the moment but we're in the process of buying a smallholding in Austria where we hope to keep some animals so basically i'm practising.

You keep goats right? Got any tips before we start :-)

Sal

[Tea]

Ok just a couple of things that I have discovered along the way.  BTW I too use veggie rennent, so no I don't think that is the problem.  Store bought milk because of the processing and sometimes the "watering down" of the milk, never seems to give a good curd.  If I use this milk, I have found that I need to strain the curd through a cloth first before I transfer into my baskets, otherwise the curd is so small that they flow straight through the baskets and down the sink.  I then leave them drain for probably 1 hour before I attempt the first turn.  Check out the recipe exchange page, and fetta #4.  That will show you my methods.  If I don't strain first through cheesecloth, I lose the entire batch.  I don't get the yield that I normally do, but atleast it is not a complete loss.
You can also try adding some calcium to the milk, at the recommended rate.  This is supposed to help with curd formation, especially in store/processed milks. 
I do all this at the sink, so that it is easy to clean, and the whey can just flow into the sink to start with before I transfer it to a draining tray.

We used to keep goats, but not at the moment.  Two things that are most important, proper fencing and facilities, and don't over stock. 
So what goats are you looking at getting?

[SalMac]

Tea thats absolutely what I'm experiencing.

Please see pics. The curds are so small its still in the cheesecloth 6 hours after it was supposed to set. Transferring from one cheesecloth to another fresh one half way through according to recipe was what did the damage to the kitchen :-)

These pics are at least 6 hours after setting should have occurred.

Ive put in a big mould with a very light press to help it along.

Check out the pic of the whey its also worryingly rich.

Also a little glimpse of the sink area lmao.....

[SalMac]

Ok the whey thats coming off (7 hours into the drain) is now notably greener.

That means this is maturing way too slow right?

Ive got to say tho it tastes fantastic, very rich and smooth.

I asked hubby to have a taste and he reluctantly tasted my slime and then his eyes just locked onto mine, and I had to wrestle the pot away :-)

Started with 4l whole milk and 500ml of single cream. Looks like 500g-700g coming out of the process (lost a fair amount of solids on the way through <cough>).

[Tea]

The usual rate that I use the rennent at is .5ml per 2ltr.  For fetta though, I use it at 1.6ml per 10ltr, so for me this is a soft set anyway, so I need to handle the curd carefully.
I have never added cream to the milk though, that would be interesting.
You will see that mine sits for the rest of the day and over night draining, being turned at regular intervals, before putting in a brine solution, So I don't think that allowing it to drain for 6 hours will have it go off.
By the way, did you use cow or goat milk for this recipe?
How is the fetta now that it has drained longer?

[SalMac]

Hi Tea


Cows milk.

I'll get a photo up soon but the bad news is acc my husband we achieved cheese just not the right one lmao and to be fair he's probably right it is very nice tho.

He says its a mascarpone, 'Sorry for the failure but its OK and if you'll just leave it to me I'll get rid of it'.

Aha....:-)

It looks almost like a clotted cream cheese, its super rich gooey and definitely not white. I'd like to try and consolidate/dry it, but I'm not sure what to do, just let it air? It certainly dosent need to drain anymore. But it is sticky and I cant really cut it....I can scoop 8cm blocks but not exactly cut 8cm blocks as the recipe suggests!

Dont know if this pic helps

[Tea]

A little confused here ... sorry, you made fetta, but it tastes like mascapone?  To me they are completely different.  Did you add lipase to your fetta?  It is the lipase that gives fetta it's unique flavour?  Maybe too much cream was added, which is the reason for the set problems and the sweet flavour?
Could you post the recipe that you used, and maybe that will help us troubleshoot for you.

[SalMac]

Over the week its definitely changed. There is much more of a slightly sour taste but before it was sweet. The brining helped as well. No mention of lipase in the recipe!

Recipe is
5 l of milk
500 ml cream
5ml liquid starter
1.5ml rennet

1. Pasteurize
2. Cool to 29 deg
3. Add starter
4. Heat slowly to 33 deg
5. Add rennet
6. Leave to set
7. Cut into 3cm cubes
8. Drain
9. Cut curd into blocks and sprinkle with salt
10. For next three days rub in more salt daily

Or use a 16% brine soln for 24hrs

I used brining method although the test piece I used was too salty so I halved the amount of salt for the next pieces.

It is a bit of a mess visually but OK to eat. Horrible pic sorry its now like blindingly white and the camera keeps barfing.

Ive read your recipe and definitely think i'll try it, yours at least looks like feta that I recognise! Altho I got to say its a better feta than some that I've bought already.

Sal

[Tea]

Yes I have found that my fetta is much better than store bought stuff.  Amazes me sometimes what they can pass as food, when it is so easy to make something that tastes so much better made yourself.
If you end up using the recipe that I use, let us know how you find it.

[SalMac]

Hi Tea

Been away a few days and the feta has come on nicely, tastes very good, shouldnt have paniced! The texture is however only feta-ish. Ive now bought some better soft cheese open baskets to drain more efficiently.

Panic aside, you are right why would you buy if its this easy and it makes a good quantity with a great taste.

Thanks for all your help

Sal

[Tea]

Glad to hear it all turned out well in the end.  Congrats.