John's Cheese #025 - American Neufchâtel #4

[Cheese Head]

OK, I'm down to 3lb/2 kg of aged cheese and finally time to start making some more. As it's been a while, am starting simple with an non-aged Neufchâtel based on the recipe posted here. My first Neufchâtel's records posted here, second batch's (where I tried to unsuccessfully to accelerate the process) records posted here, and third batch's records posted here.

RECORDS

• Dec 14, 2008 1:00PM Poured 1 US gallon/3.8 liters of "fresh" store bought pasteurized homogenized whole cow's milk & 1 US pint/0.45 liters of "Half & Half" Ultra-Pasteurized (ie dead) Homogenized Cream from fridge into heavy bottomed stockpot on smallest ring of stove. Measured temperature at 48 F/9 C and pH at 5.95. Started warming with ring on low setting.
• Dec 14, 2008 1:10AM Finished warming to room temperature 75 F/24 C, turned stove ring off, measured pH at 6.20. Added 4 ice cubes of what thought was homemade mesophilic starter culture, (but think was actually homemade thermoohilic culture), stirred to melt and dilute, whisked in estimated 1/8 teaspoon powdered microbial CHR Hansen Rennet diluted in cool water and then 1/2 teaspoon diluted CaCl2 as using pasteurized milk, measured pH at 5.88. Covered and set aside to ripen and curd to set.
• Dec 14, 2008 2:15PM Checked for clean break, OK, not great, re-covered and set aside to ripen and curd to set further.
• Dec 14, 2008 3:30PM Checked for clean break, good, re-covered and set aside to ripen and curd to set further.
• Dec 14, 2008 7:45PM Cut curds to expel more whey overnight than just by hanging.
• Dec 14, 2008 9:45PM Ladled curds and whey into pre-sewn draining bag from Dairy Connection Website sitting in colander for support. Then hung bag above same stockpot to gravity rain whey overnight.
• Dec 15, 2008 6:00AM Stirred cheese in bag to move wet cheese in middle to outside and dryer curd against bag to inside to enable faster drainage.
• Dec 15, 2008 5:30PM Removed cheese from bag, stirred with fork, little crumbly, added Rosemary & Basil & little garlic salt to flavour, put in fridge.

Our 16 yo daughter wants plain for putting on bagels, I'd like to add flavor, any recommendations?

NOTES

• First time using this store bought bag, worked well.
• Next time do not cut curds and see if texture different.
• Minimal flavour, used think used Thermophilic ice cubes by mistake, must label!

[Tea]

This was the recipe that I started playing around with adding honey too.  First lot I allowed to ripen too long, well right according to the recipe, but too hot here for that length of time.  So the cheese was a little too sharp for the addition of honey.  I then crushed some pistacios and put them onto some cling wrap, put the cheese on top and roll the nut and cheese into a tight log, which I then put in the fridge.  You could then slice off rounds to put on a biscuit.
Any herb or spice would work, as well as either nut and/or fruit.  You could also blend in some tinned red salmon, dill and some lemon juice for something different.
Just my thoughts.  Let us know what you do.

[Cheese Head]

Tea, thanks for flavouring ideas, I made a bit of a mess of this batch as I think I used wrong culture !

No excuses, must label, plus those ice cubes have been in freezer for 6 months so thy may not be very active .

[Tea]

Hey CH that cheese looks great.

In regards to the culture, they can be stored in the freezer for upto 12 months anyway so I don't think that they would be inactive, although it probably wouldn't hurt to thaw them and reactivate them before adding them to the milk.  I read somewhere that culture that has been stored in the fridge should be brought back to room temp before adding to milk.

Might make a difference.

[Cartierusm]

Your cubes are so pretty. Very neat job.

[Cheese Head]

Thanks, yep the curd did cut nicely, interestingly as it was only at room temp, not much whey was expelled by the time I hung it, versus when warmed for making a pressed cheese you get a lot of whey expelled.

[Cartierusm]

Thanks for chaning your avatar, this one is much better.

[Cheese Head]

Good point, on Santa vs other religions or on using politcal avatars.

My current Avatar of is Remy the rat from great Ratatouille movie!

[Cartierusm]

SHEESH I don't care about Politically Correct and everyone has a right to show what their religious beliefs they have. I just like Remy.

[Cheese Head]

OK, no problem mate .

[Cartierusm]

We, my GF and me, saw this first in the theater, of course, I mean we're in SF and have quite a few friends who work at Pixar. When it came out on DVD we bought it immediately. Then we went to the store and bought about $75 worth of cheese. Sat, watched on my 10' screen (I have a dedicated movie theater in my house built to resemble an Art Deco Movie Theater), ate cheese, drank wine and then passed out. I was very very enjoyable, but after we weren't so happy we overloaded on cheese. It was quite uncomfortable with all that cheese in us. We didn't eat anything else, just chees the entire day, I think we may have paired an apple with the cheese, but I dont' remember. The doctors say I was in a Fromage Coma..LOL