John's Cheese #029 - American Neufchâtel #5

[Cheese Head]

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, third batch's records posted here and fourth batch here.

RECORDS

• Jan 9, 2009 5:20PM: Poured 1 US gallon/3.8 liters of "fresh" store bought pasteurized homogenized whole cow's milk & 3/4 US quart/0.7 liters of previously frozen "Half & Half" Ultra-Pasteurized (ie dead) Homogenized Cream into heavy bottomed stockpot on smallest ring of stove. As milk pasteurized, to standardize, trickled and whisked in 1/2 teaspoon diluted CaCl2. Weighed ~0.25 grams of Danisco's Choozit Brand Mesophilic Starter Culture MM100 onto mini digital scale, tapped off onto top of milk, whisked in. Warmed with ring to ~21 °C/70 °F room temp, covered and set aside.
• Jan 9, 2009 7:20PM: Poured ~0.125 grams CHR Hansen Powdered Rennet onto mini digital scale, tapped off into 1/4 cup water, stirred to dilute, trickled onto milk while whisking in thoroughly. Covered and set aside for curd to set and culture to ripen overnight.
• Jan 10, 2009 7:10AM: Ladled curds into draining bag from DairyConnection.com and hung from camera tripod above same stockpot. Curds were firmer on top and waterier below.
• Jan 10, 2009 9:00AM: Scraped de-wheyed curds off side of bag with spatula to allow moister curds to drain faster.
• Jan 10, 2009 1:00PM: Scraped de-wheyed curds off side of bag with spatula to allow moister curds to drain faster.
• Jan 10, 2009 7:00PM: Turned bag inside out into container, cut 1/4 of Neufchatel into smaller container and stirred in diced sundried tomatoes, placed both containers in fridge to mature.

NOTES

• Do not freeze store bought Ultra Pasteurized Homogenized "Half & Half" cow's milk/cream, was lumpy/bit separated after defrosting!
• Curds were watery below surface, does rennet effect wear out overnight?
• Use 50% more rennet next time.

[Cheese Head]

I want to make some flavoured Neufchatel, and we have some Sundried Tomatoes strips.

Should I cut these up or blender ot fine cut or re-hyrdate a little before mixing into my light Neufchatel cream cheese?

[Tea]

Hi CH, cream never thaws out without having lumps.  Not sure what happened with the rennet, maybe the freezing of the milk had some effect there.

With the sundried tomatoes, I would just cut them fine and add to the cheese.