Ossau-Iraty make recipe?

[Happylad]

Does anyone have a make for Ossau-Iraty. It's my favorite cheese and I have access to sheep's milk.

[linuxboy]

http://www.inao.gouv.fr/public/produits/detailProduit.php?ID_PRODUIT=3285

I'll try to post a converted make next week when I have time.

edit: actually, I don't have to. Use my tomme recipe, but heat to slightly higher temp (104F), and use 10-20% less rennet for a longer time to floc (20 mins). Take out of the mold and brine at 5.5 instead of 5.4 pH. Do not wash the curd, and use Kazu or MA4000 series, same as for other tommes. This is for one style.

For another style, do not cook the curds at all and inoculate with 4001 at 88F, and use my tomme recipe base.

All the Basque and pyrenees cheeses, and the tomme and toma type cheeses are made in a very similar way. Differences are due to milk, regional culture/molds/yeasts, and slight temp variations.

[kstaley]

Does anyone have a make for Ossau-Iraty. It's my favorite cheese and I have access to sheep's milk.

Just saw your May 2010 question Happylad.  If you haven't already found it, there is also a recipe for Ossau-Iraty in Debra Amrein-Boyes book 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes.  Have you tried making the cheese using linuxboy"s suggestion?  I agree with you -- it's a wonderful cheese! 

[linuxboy]

Debra's make produces a cheese, and it may even taste like Ossau Iraty, but it deviates pretty far from classic traditions. Ossau Iraty is not a milled curd, nor is the curd salted. It's generally brined, and very rarely surface salted.

The most common make approach is to heat to 88-92F, use a 3x floc, cut to 1/2" (about 8-10 mm cube), and either do not cook or cook a little, pack into molds, and then brine. What gives it the unique flavor is the milk and the indigenous cultures. Otherwise, it's made like so many of the tomme-type variants... drain 6.2, brine ~5.4