first reblochon: your advice

[pinkcell]

Hi,
So far I made pretty chesses (fresh chevre, crottin, fasisselle) and I wanted to do my first attempt at reblochon that I haven't eaten for 6 years at least. I used the recipe from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes. I divided the recipe by two thinking that 8 gallons would be for 2 big tomme molds and I have only one. The result is not great, it is supposed to be 1 to 2 inch thick and mine is only 3/4 of an inch and the surface is not uniform, it looks like feta. See picture

What should I do then, do the full recipe for 1 big tomme mold or for 2 small tomme molds. Can you easily divide this recipe in two. I just have one mold of each.  I think the step were you heat gently for 30 min after cutting the curds in pea size pieces is the one that is going wrong. Any advice?

I checked recipes from other posts but sometimes is to advanced/unclear for me.

Thanks in advance for your help

[pinkcell]

I forgot to mention I used organic milk from the grocery store as I wanted to try first with pasteurized milk knowing the taste will not be the best. I do not know if this would make a difference for the recipe

[Sailor Con Queso]

Organic milk is almost always ultra-pasteurized. Not a good choice for cheese making.

[pinkcell]

if I pick a regular milk from the grocery store then would it be ok until I switch to raw milk? (the farm is not very close and can only go during week ends)

[mtncheesemaker]

How much milk did you use? I think the recipe is for 8 quarts, not gallons!
How much does your cheese weigh? Did you have a clean break and get good curds?
What do you mean when you say that the step where you heat the curd is "going wrong"?
Pam

[DeejayDebi]

Regular milk will work fine but watch the label. Wal-Mart here in Norwich sells ESL (extend shelf life) and a few others do as well. That doesn't make cheese. I have had good luck with the Guida? and Hood brands for cheese making. It seems that several of the store brands use UHT and ESL milk so watch the expiration dates. 

We boycotted Big Y last summer and they got stuck with all the UHT store brand milk so they don't use it anymore. I got kicked out of the store for preaching at the milk cooler.

I' too am confused about the heating step going wrong. Did you over heart the curds or what?

[pinkcell]

oups I meant 8 quarts so 2 gallons. I used 1 gallon but the recipe called for 2. I'm so used to liters... 

[pinkcell]

I use the stop n shop brand.

For the step that I mentioned going wrong: I'm not sure what it should look like at that stage. It was kind of looking like scrambled eggs. Should the curd come together a bit like when you make mozzarella? I should take pictures next time

I thought I had a clean break, I tested it with my finger but when cutting the curd it did not do nice cubes well separated. I should have waited a little bit longer I guess.

[pinkcell]

I did not weighed my cheese.

For the expiration date in general it's about 7-10 days shelf life.

[mtncheesemaker]

Maybe try the full recipe in the large tomme mold to get the right thickness.

[DeejayDebi]

The milk sounds good. I know the Super Stop n Shop in Groton does not have any whole milk that is UHT but all the cream and some of the 2% milk is UHT. The Commissary on base is the same with respect to cream and the occational goats milk but their regular cows milk is all good to use and much cheaper than out in town if you happen to get in there.

Just a side note: I have used the Commissary UHT goats milk as an addition to cows milk for goats milk cheeses to get the more goaty flavor and it seems to work well at much less cost. Granted it's not a TRUE goats cheese but better than nothing.

[pinkcell]

I'm not sure using a large tomme mold is the best as I think reblochon size it's a bit bigger than a camembert, but 8 quarts for 2 small molds seems to much to me

[Helen]

I made the recipe from 200 cheeses and it turned out perfect.

If you divide the recipe by two, just use one small tomme mold. One gallon yields about 500g of cheese, which is perfect for this mold.