it is like Swiss Emmenthaler without the P. Shermanii
Same family, so yes, similar. But not exactly emmentaler without shermanii. It actually usually has shermanii. Diff temp schedule.
and may be washed curd
No, it is not.
looks like brine bathed and aged naked with B.Linens???
It is washed with a morge like the rest of the gruyeres.
Can I use a shop bought comte rind for rind development?
Very hard, not as is. You would need to take the rind and isolate is cultures first. Easier to mix up your own morge.
What thermo cultures needed?
helveticus and delbrueckii types.
post a recipe that I can start with?
French comte, right?
Culture:
S salivarius thermophilus: 20 DCU per 100 liters
Helveticus: 5 DCU per 100 liters (strain important)
Propionic: per usual, something like 0.05 - .1 unit per 100 liters. Just a bit
LD or O type: 10 DCU per 100 liters.
Milk, at 91F, add culture. PF is 1.2. This is almost parmesan-like.
ripen 30-34 mins.
Add rennet (time to floc 12 mins. Multiplier 2-3x)
Cut, heal 5-10 mins, cut size is about 4 mm.
Stir is a bit to make sure there are no huge curd bits
Then scald from 91F or so, all the way to 125F ish
scald 122 to 135F for the next 45 mins
Hold at that temp and stir, targetting about 6.3 pH.
let settle, press under whey, put into final size molds and press 10-15 PSI until you get to 5.4 pH
dry salt 2% w/w, should do over several applications
cold room ripen at 50-55F, 3-4 weeks
then move to warm room at 62-66F (about) for 6 weeks, maybe 8. Start smearing with morge here.
Then move to cold ripening at 52F and keep smearing with morge, but not so regularly, about 1x/week. Age out for a year or more
Going from memory here. That's the basic comte make.