Redressing cheese for pressing

[rosawoodsii]

I'm making Swiss cheese for the first time.  Directions tell me to press 15 minutes, redress, turn, press 30 miinutes, redress, turn, etc.  My question is this.  Does redressing mean entirely new cheesecloth, or just rewrapping?

[Tomer1]

Usually one can use the same dress but Ive seen the way they are traditionally made and for ease of operation (with very large wheels) they use a new dress,flip and pill off the previous one.

[rosawoodsii]

Thank you, Tomer1.  I was hoping I wasn't going to mess things up too badly by using the same cheesecloth.  I think for the final 12-hour press, I'll use a new one.

[Tomer1]

If you press under whey (which I do with almost all of the semi hard+hard cheeses) I find that repeatitive flipping (say 2-3 times every 20-30min) before dressing will give you that lovely smooth rind as opposed to rushing to the press (As I thought when I started out).
Pressing is more to eliminate mechanical opening and in harder cheddared cheeses remove alot of moisture.

The cloth from my point of view just keeps the cheese from going out the draining holes when using higher pressure. nothing is worst then having the cheese stuck to your mold ruining that lovely rind you worked so hard to build.

[zenith1]

I agree with Tomer. I generally do not use a new cheesecloth during the first couple of presses if they are of short duration. I will only use a new sanitized one that has been rinsed in some whey (with a little cacl2 added) when I get to the final usually longer pressing. Most of the time I also pre-press once or twice under whey to help close up the knit a little faster. Also sometimes. especially with something like a Manchego, I'll do a final pressing without the cheese cloth to pretty up the rind. The Manchego hoop has that typical pattern in it that makes a nice presentation, but is a pain in the but during the early pressing. I think it all boils down to your preference and your technique. Nothing is written in stone as far as timing of flipping Etc until you get to the commercial processes that are very regimented in order to consistently produce the same product that the public is looking for.

[rattman]

Zenith et al,

Noob question here.

In Rikki's Gouda recipe, she has the user begin by pressing under whey. I understand that it helps the curds to knit together more easily.

You said that you press under whey for most hard cheeses. Does that mean that you press under whey even if the recipe does not call for it?

I just started pressing this Cheshire recipe for example: http://www.cheesemaking.com/Cheshire.html

I'm assuming that after the extra evening of allowing the curds to gain acidity in the warmth without pressing it (see directions)..... would it then be counterproductive for me to press under whey once I begin the pressing portion of the process? I'm guessing that either the acidity would go back down, or the curds would absorb all of the whey that I just spent 12 hours trying to remove.

As I said earlier.... this is a majorly noob question.

I'm just trying to detirmine when is right to press under whey and when is not. It would seem that most hard cheeses would want a real tight knit and that pressing under whey would help accomplish that. If that were the case, then why do the directions not indicate pressing under whey more frequently?

Thanks in advance.

john

[anutcanfly]

I'm not experienced enough to fully answer your question.  But I do share your concern!  I have found that recipes do frequently fall short of info that would be helpful.  So I do apply tricks I learn, as appropriate, to other cheeses.  The difficulty is learning what is appropriate for the cheese your making.  That comes with time as you learn more about why you're doing what you're doing in each step.  You wouldn't want to press a cheddar style under whey, you've already gone through a long process to remove the whey and then milled and salted the curds prior to pressing.  But you can warm your mould and the curds if they're too cool.  Recipes will say to redress after light or medium pressure and then say press overnight at firm pressure, but if you wait that long you won't know if your curds are fusing well.  I always do one extra redress after an hour or so at firm pressure.  That way if I don't think they are knitting well I can really throw the weight on them for the night- much easier than having to scald the cheese the next day.  I found 200 lbs on a 6 inch mold overnight will do the job even on a difficult cheese like Cheshire.  Other cheeses where you are hooping right after draining, you can press them under whey if you want.