Hi Gemma,
Here's the recipe I use. I've not added herbs, but darius has and she's had great success with thyme. I usually make this in 10 L batch size. It can be eaten around 3 weeks, at which point it has the "sour tang" of young cheese to it. I've got one that I'm now aging to 3 months as it's suppose to mellow out by then. It's a "cheddar" type, meaning you stack the curds (cut them into slabs and then build little piles with the slabs) and milled (break the curds into small bits).
Personally, I think this is a great cheese to start with because it's not too difficult to make and it can be eaten quite soon after wards. That way, you can find out if you're doing it right.
when I make it, I use a 3x floc; if you don't know what I mean by that, then do a search on floculation point, or "spinning bowl". Basically, you float a small plastic bowl in your milk at the time you add the rennet. the "floc point" is how long it takes such that if you give the bowl a gentle twist it won't spin (because your milk has thickened due to the rennet). If this occurs at 10 minutes after you added the rennet, then using a 3x floc means multiply this time by 3, so 30 minutes, and cut the curds 30 minutes after you added the rennet (not 30 minutes after floc!). I.e. if you put the rennet in at 12:00, and you achieved flocculation at 12:10, then a 3x factor means cut at 12:30. Do not worry about "clean break", just cut at the appropriate time. You want a floc time in the range of 10-15 minutes, so if it is faster (6-8 minutes) then next time you make cheese use less rennet, but if it takes longer (20 minutes, etc), then use a bit more. Eventually you will learn how much rennet you need to use with the kind of milk you use.
- jeff
Caerphilly: Making Artisan Cheese by Tim Smith and modified it a little by Gavin (from Greening of Gavin blog).
7.5 litres whole milk (2 gallons)
1 quarter teaspoon (about 2 ml) mesophillic culture
1 eighth teaspoon (about 1 ml) calcium chloride diluted in 60ml cool unchlorinated water
1 half teaspoon (about 3 ml) liquid rennet diluted in 60ml cool unchlorinated water
2 tablespoons non-ionised salt
1) Heat milk to 32°C
2) Add the calcium.
3) Add the starter culture
4) Ripen thirty minutes at target temperature.
5) Maintaining the temp of 32°C add the rennet to the milk.
6) Floc multiplier : 3x (time based: 40 minutes)
7) Cut the curds into 6mm (¼ inch) cubes
Raise the temp to 33°C (92°F) over ten minutes.
9) Cook at 330C for forty minutes stir frequently to keep the curds from matting.
10) Rest at target temp for five minutes
11) Drain the curds into a cheese cloth lined colander, and let whey drain for a 5 minutes.
12) Cut the curds into 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick slabs, and stack on top of one another.
13) Turn the stack over, top to bottom, two times in ten minutes.
14) Milling : break the curds into thumbnail-sized pieces, and blend with salt.
15) Fill a cheese cloth-lined 1kg cheese mould with the salted curds and press at 5kg (10 pounds) for ten minutes.
16) Remove and rub a layer of salt on both top and bottom. Flip/redress Press at 5kg (10 pounds) for ten minutes.
17) Repeat the same procedure (salt), pressing at 7.5 kg (15 pounds) for twenty minutes.
18) Repeat the same procedure, pressing at 7.5 kg (15 pounds) for sixteen hours.
19) Air dry on a cheese mat and cheese board for about 3-4 days. Make sure you turn the cheese several times a day to ensure even drying and fat distribution.
20) When the cheese is dry to touch, Place in your cheese cave at 13ºC (55ºF) at 80-85% humidity for three weeks, turning several times a week. No need to wax this cheese. It will form a rind, and if any mould develops, simply rub the cheese with cloth dipped in some salty water. The salt in this cheese should retard mould growth anyway.
