Your second photo looks gorgeous. Perfect. Not just the paste but also the rind. At what day did you pierce it? How many piercing? Did you do more piercing later?
Looking at there, I may try your way in one of my next blues. Perhaps to prevent the wastefulness I would just use very little powder. How much did you toss in there? What blue culture do you use?
Remember that most P.Roqs are quite resilient at lower temperatures. you can wrap it at the same time you would have wrapped a Camembert. After the rind has fully bloomed
What cheese recipe is this?
I started with a recipe from Margaret Morris a couple of months ago and tweaked it after every batch. It is basically;
2 gal 3.25% store bought cow milk + 1 cup 35% heavy cream (92F)
1/4 tsp MA 4001 + 1/2 tablet rennet + 24 drp CaCL2 (adding all at the same time)
wait around 2 hrs to cut, 10 min rest, 20 min stir, 30 min rest with occasional stirring
scooping out the whey, transfering the curds into cheesecloth for 30 min draining
milling the curds, layering into the mold with 1/16 tsp of p.roq (PS strain). so there are 4 layers of curd and 3 layers of p/roq in between. total p.rop is 3 x 1/16
very light or no weight in top to press, keep in the mold overnight, flip up side down once or twice
remove from mold, pat dry, sprinkle salt, leave at room temp (18C-90%RH) in the container for 2 days, remove excess whey at the bottom
when the surface is fairly dry poke holes in every half inches on the surface, put the container in colder place (13-14C, 90%RH)
when the blue is visible on the surface or the holes are getting smaller, poke once again, keep flipping over daily until surface is dry
wrap with perforated paper and keep in the fridge minimum 3-4 weeks