Hi!
I made tomme yesterday! I say that, exclaiming out loud. I don't know if, at this stage, I'm even ready for it yet, but after much argument with my inner monologue person, I buckled down to curiosity & did it. Frankly, this cheese has been an intimidating entity, hovering in the back of my mind. Mostly cos I'm afraid of the mold part of this. Not like EEK MOLD! kind of afraid, more like, "I just have a feeling I'll screw it up, bite more than I can chew (ha) & end up with an ooey-phooey mess!". Sooo, I decided to make this, using linuxboy's recipe, sans Micodore, mycoderm, geo, b. linens...you get the point. Quite frankly, I know it's a really pessimistic view, and quite unlike me, but, I'm not really expecting a lot from this cheese. I just wanted to get the "feel" of the process/making of.
I used 3 gallons non-homogenized milk (folly for an experiment, I know-but, I think there's that inner optimist asserting herself!). I did half the measurment of the MA culture with half of Flora Danica-mostly cos my (ever)helpful hubby was measuring for me, grabbed the wrong packet...he had already added it to the water in the measuring cup, before I saw what color packet he was holding, yelled "noooo!" and shooed him out of the kitchen. I didn't want to waste it, so after come lip-biting, added the other half of the 1/8 tsp of the MA (I couldn't find my regular measuring spoons, so used the pinch/dash one). So, I'm already sweating it at this early point. (sigh) Floc time was 14 mins (Ay!). I just peeked in at 15 mins after..and there were some bubbles! Why? They weren't rampant or anything, just a few big, globby looking ones that didn't pop, just pretty much hovered on top. They did pop when I floated my plastic cup, though, so I thought ok, maybe just air trapped (I hoped). I overshot the cutting by a couple of mins cos I had to mop up an aquarium spill. The timer went off, I frantically washed/scrubbed/sanitized my hands...then cut. Pooh. The curds were a bit too not-done looking, but I finished cutting & let it rest. Pretty uneventful stirring, apart from the "milkiness" of the whey. It just wasn't as clear as other cheeses I've made. There seemed to be tiny flecks of curds all over.
The first photo is when I first stirred after I cut-I didn't have time to do a lot of pics after that point.
The second photo is when I drained, after stirring for 30 mins. It took about 25 mins to get to a 100F, so I turned off the stove, yelled at my hubby to come & get the pot out of the makeshift double broiler & finished stirring the last few minutes on the countertop. I drained most of the whey out, left the curds in probably an inch or so of whey over & pressed with my hands.
I drained the rest of the whey & curds in a cheesecloth-lined colander (photo 2), put it back in the pot (putting the pot back in the bath), tilted it sideways to drain the rest of the whey, while I got the mold ready. I got it all to fit in the mold, set it back in the pot, with a half-gallon water in a milk jug on top, flipped it 3 times that way, finally moved to my press after an hour. Pressed it overnight at 15lbs. Got it out this AM, and now it's in a whey-brine solution. It's at 3lbs 2 ounces, I'm flipping in the brine every hour & a half, so far. And now that's where I'm at.
Did I do anything terribly wrong that accounts for the bubbles & the loose curds (right after cutting)?
I'm hoping to set this in marc & wine (haven't decided which yet-any advise?). My hubby will be making wine this weekend, so I've already got dibs on the whole mess (he's not sure yet if he'll make grapes or cherries yet).
TIA for the input!
(PS. The 3rd photo is of the bubbles, I tried taking better pics without flash-flash just made it all a white blob. You can't see them too much in the pic, only the biggest bubble, but they're all over the top)
Oh & I forgot, in the bubbles photo, there (I'm reading my notes), there was foam on the top, too, like on the sides of the pot. I've not had that before, either, like miniscule bubbles.