Yuck!

[bigfish_oz]

Well, my first attempt at Camembert has gone swimmingly ... Literally!

I have decided I hate Camembert moulds without bottoms. Managed to bump one when filling the first time with the result that the curd went everywhere as it lifted off the mat. I suspect that the curd was not quite firm enough.

Managed to salvage most of it until time for the first flip. At that point the level had dropped enough that when gravity took hold the curd slowly peeled itself off what was originally the bottom mat and settled itself in a heap on the new bottom mat, so that was the end of that nicely shaped round.  Mind you, the one in my only mould with a bottom did exactly the same thing.

I'll persist with what is left, mangled as it is, and see if it rights itself on the next flip.

Cheers,
Alan

[Oberhasli]

Don't worry.  Those disasters will correct themselves with subsequent flipping.  I have done the exact same things you have - bumping the mould you just filled to have curds everywhere.  I also have it peel itself off the mat, but it does attain a nice round shape once it drains enough and you can then flip with ease. 

Good luck.

Bonnie

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Hey Bigfish,

Whenever I do cam types, I never use the method of flipping in Ricki's book. I just stack them on top of each other, drain as much as I can and flip them by hand when they are firm enough.

[Oberhasli]

Gurkan,

How do you stack them on top of each other?  I can't form a mental image of how you could do that.   Are you using moulds that have bottoms?  I have always used the moulds that are open on both ends.  I would love to know how you do this.  Thanks.

Bonnie

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Ah yes, moulds with bottoms of course. Something like this. I have 4 of those and stack them by 2.

[bigfish_oz]

 I decided to leave them sitting. This morning they looked better but were still quite damp on top.

Just checked again and they are looking much better. I decided to take the risk and flip them. The two in bottomless moulds both settled nicely and now look quite firm. The one in the mould like Gurkan's will probably take some time to resettle itself.

Interestingly, I used 4 litres of store-bought milk and a little CaCl and I had enough curd to easily fill three moulds despite losing a bit early on. The recipe says "enough for two moulds".

The one in the mould with a bottom is quite a bit thinner than the other two - the opposite to what I would have expected.

Edit: the cheese in the mould with a bottom remains very wet so I'll leave it to tomorrow. The other two are now salted and in the cave.

I'll salt them and move them to the cave after dinner.
Now comes the wait.

[Oberhasli]

Good luck with your cheeses.  Salting brings out more moisture so make sure you keep the ripening area free of excess moisture to avoid the dreaded "slip skin" issue.

And thanks Gurkan  for the explanation of stacking your cheeses.

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

I try to fill the moulds as much as I can to the top (about 10cm I think) and they end up only 2.5cm camembert just like the shop bought ones.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Put a piece of draining mat or "plastic canvas" under the mold to facilitate drainage. When you flip, you just lift under the draining mat and lift with the mold as a unit. Be sure to use a second draining mat for the top - which is now the bottom.