manchego recipe

[scasnerkay]

I was given a suggestion to post the recipe here and ask for feedback on the recipe before trying it, in order to try and reach more success....This is basically from the Karlin book (and slight variation in (-) ).

Manchego
2 gal cow milk
1/4 tsp mm100
1/4 tsp thermo B  (I have Thermo B - ST + helveticus)
1/4 tsp mild lipase
1/4 tsp calcium chloride
1/2 tsp liquid rennet (I would use 1/2 tablet vegetable rennet)
Heat to 86 degrees, ripen 45 mins, rennet and sit for30 to 45 mins, cut to 1/2 inch, rest, cut to rice size, stir 30 mins, heat to 104 degrees in 30 mins, rest 5 mins, drain, press at 15 #, flip 15 # again then flip and 30 # overnight. Brine for 6 to 8 hours.

Any comments or suggestions?

I just picked up 2 gal of the non-homoginized milk I recently found, and so I am anxious to try it out again. What a different feel the curds have with this milk!!

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

That looks pretty similar to the one manchego I've made (notes below).  I made this last Feb.  The wheel is still sitting in my cave!  Not sure when I'm going to cut into this though.  From some other cheeses I've made with lipase, I think next time I make them I'll cut back from 1/4 tsp to 1/8 or 1/16th.  Until I taste this one, though, I'm not sure if the amount needs adjustment or not (it's a personal preference, and I'm not sure if my lipase is mild or what, just says calf lipase on the bottle).  Anyway, my suggestion would be to back the lipase down to 1/8th tsp as I figure it's better to under do it than over do it.

Anyway, here's my make notes for comparison. 

- Jeff

Manchego
9 L blue top Home Brand milk
1 L home brand cream
4 ice cubes Flora Danica, 2 ice cubes Thermo (ST B01)
1 tsp CaCl2 (this should be 1/2 tsp - I used too much)
0.9 ml rennet (750 IMCU - I now use 0.6 ml of this)
1/4 tsp calf lipase
2 separate egg cups of boiled water, now cooled

Start time: 11:50 Warm to 30 C
12:00 temp 31.4, added 1 tsp calcium chloride
12:22 cooled to 30, added 4 cubes Flora Danica meso, 2 cubes thermo
Cover and Ripen for 45 minutes (target time 1:07)
   At 12:45 put ¼ tsp calf lipase in water (pre-boiled and cooled) to let set until 1:05
1:00 temperature check – 30.10C
1:07 added lipase solution and stirred for 1 minute
1:08 put 0.9 ml rennet into pre-boiled and cooled water
1:09 added rennet  & water, stirred 1 minute
Flocculation tests suggests flocculation point at 7 min 30 seconds, but not sure about this.
Cut time would then be 22 min 30 seconds after rennet (so 1:33:30?)
No clean break at 1:33:30, or at 1:45. 
Waited for the 1 hour (suggested in recipe).
2:09 : cut into ¼ inch cubes
Wait 5 minutes,
Stirred with whisk to make “rice sized” curds (worked well, and easy) (actually stir is a bad word, more like plunge whisk straight down and straight up)
Over next 45 minutes raised temperature from 30 to 40
   At 17.30 minutes temp 35.9
   40 at 3:05
Rest 5 minutes
3:35 Transfer to mold and press under 7.5 kg for 15 minutes
3:50 Flipped, redressed, back in mold and press under 7.5 kg for 15 minutes
4:15 Flipped, redressed, back in mold and press under 7.5 kg for 15 minutes
4:40 Flipped, redressed, back in mold and press under 15 kg for 6 hours
10:40 removed from press.  Cheese weighs 1756g!
10:41 Moved into brine solution (saturated)
Feb 6th, 2011
5:00 am Flipped cheese in the brine
6:00 pm late getting home, removed cheese from brine.  Weight now 1708 g.  Moved to cheese cave.
NOTE: Feb 11th, forgot ice in the day – cave temp up to 200C when ice added in the evening.
Feb 19th: waxed.  Weight now 1446 g, so lost 310g since out of the mold.

[anutcanfly]

Hi Scasnerkay,

Glad you posted!  You will want to reduce the cultures!  1/8 tsp each MM100 and thermo B for a total of 1/4 culture.  Your floc for this cheese should be x3.  Your whey pH targets are 6.2 to 6.3 for draining whey and hooping, and 5.5 to unhoop and to begin brining.

Good luck! 

[anutcanfly]

This is totally a matter a taste, but be careful how much lipase you use, a little goes a long ways!  I've had to reduce it several times.  I now use 1/4 tsp for 4 gallon milks if I want a strong flavor, such as in Asagio.  It will be awhile before I can determine if I need to scale down even more, but my nose tells me I'm about right.

[zenith1]

Have to agree with everyone who posted regarding the lipase. I now use 1/8 tsp. of L3(mild) lipase for my Manchego's. Any more and I find that it has to much of the Romano like aroma. That's not bad except that you want it to have the characteristics of a Manchego. I use the L5(sharp) lipase when I make a Romano to give it a little extra punch like you would have in a true sheep's milk Romano(Pecerino Romano).

[OzzieCheese]

Hi Jeff,
My last Manchego I used the 'Mad Millies' - Lamb Lipase.  It stated .1 to .5 grams pre litre and being a bit eager used the upper limit for 10 litres e.g 5 grams. This cheese matured with a definite feety and sometimes overpowering aroma.  And in the end it was too overpowering.  Today I'm staying at the lower end and using 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 grams) for 10 litres.

Less is more in this case..

-- Mal

[anutcanfly]

The nice part is if you accidently overdose on lipase you can keep aging the cheese and turn it into a hard grating cheese! 

[scasnerkay]

Thank you all! I will make the cheese tomorrow, and then post my results. I hope to correctly use the pH meter as well since the last cheese I did not seem to do it correctly. And I will try the spinning bowl this time! I have it all ready!

[scasnerkay]

I really tried to be more scientific this time....

Manchego (recipe from Artisan Cheese Making At Home)
2 Gal non-homoginzed, pasturized whole cow milk  (pH 6.7)
1/8 tsp MM100 (recipe called for 1/4 tsp MM100)
1/8 tsp Thermo C (recipe called for 1/4 tsp Thermo B but I did not have it)
1/8 tsp lipase in 1/4 cup water (recipe called for 1/4 tsp lipase)
1/4 tsp calcium chloride (not sure I need it since milk is non-homoginized, but used it anyway)
1/2 tablet vegetable rennet (I used a little less than 1/2 trying to increase the time to flocculation. The recipe calls for 1/2 tsp liquid rennet)

11:00 Started heating milk. I use a heavy base SS pan on a cast iron diffuser with a very low heat, so it took almost an hour to come to 86 degrees.
11:50 Added starter stirring for a few minutes. Recipe said to wait 45 mins. Target pH was to be 6.5, but it was only 6.6 at 45 mins. Waited another 10 mins, still at 6.6, so decided to move ahead anyway.
Stirred in lipase and calcium chloride.
1:00 Rennet added stirring for a couple of mins. Temp was down to 84.5, so heated for about 10 mins at very low flame.
Tested the spinning bowl to see how it would spin. Pretty nervous, so I kept testing it every minute or so.
Flocculation at 6.5 mins!! The bowl did not spin! Still too fast! Even with less rennet and less starter! Darn. Multiplier was to be between 3 and 3.5, so I cut the curd at 20 mins. This was interesting to me, because the "clean break" looked a lot less clean than what I am used to seeing when I cut curd. So perhaps I have been cutting it when it is way too far along and that has contributed to my issues with cheeses being dry and crumbly??
1:22 Curd cut 1/2 inch, resting about 10 mins, then cut to rice size with a whisk. Temp got a little too high at 88 degrees. OOps.
Stirring while just maintaining temp for 30 mins. pH still 6.5, so I decided to keep stirring at temp a while longer, since the flocculation was so quick. I wonder if the decision to keep stirring makes any sense?
2:00 Decided to go ahead and heat the milk. Recipe suggests heating to 104 degrees over 30 mins, but it took me about 1 hour to get it up to temp. I tested the pH along the way, and it stayed at 6.5
3:00 Temp finally 104, pH now 6.4. Decided to stir for another bit since I was targeting 6.3 or 6.2pH for draining whey.
3:15 pH now 6.3, time to drain the whey.
3:30 pressing at 15 # for 15 mins. 3:45, flipped and redressed, the curd already starting to hold together nicely. 4:00 flipped and redressed and another 1/2 hour at 15 # still. The whey coming off is quite clear.
4:00 Redressed and pressing now at 30 #. Supposed to press for 8 hours.
I guess this means I am supposed to put it into the brine at midnight. Poor timing on my part since I have to be to work at 7 in the morning. This new hobby might not be good for me!
I will see how it weighs out tomorrow. It looks a little smaller than I am used to seeing at this point.

[anutcanfly]

You can stop pressing when the whey pH is 5.5 - 5.4.  You don't have to press for 8 hours.  My last Manchego was only on the press for 2-3 hours before the desired pH was reached. 

I'm not sure why, but my meter (same as yours) doesn't alway show that first drop in pH after/during ripening and I frequently have to trust things were okay and forge ahead.

I think the nervous frequent bowl pushing is what causes the problem when you are trying to learn to determine floc.  If you keep agitating the surface of the milk with the bowl, toothpick, whatever, it will still move quite a bit after floc should have occurred.  When I worry I have done this, I will gently drop the bowl or toothpick onto a new spot that I haven't been agitating.  At any rate, be patient with yourself!  I made over 50 cheeses last year and I still am not comfortable with determining floc (I also tended to over agitate the surface, worried that I would miss the moment).

[scasnerkay]

I am not sure how to get the whey out when the cheese is so firm already!

Ahh, I tilted the press a bit and some whey came out into my little container.... measured at 6.1 pH at about 7:00. So there is hope.....

Thank you Anut for holding my virtual hand on this! The guidance really helps.

[anutcanfly]

Now arm yourself with a small syringe, a shot glass, and some patience.  You'll be surprised at how many more readings into the press you'll get. 

This cheese and Gouda are good examples of brined cheeses that benefit from being brined as soon as they reach a specific pH.  Some brined cheeses, like your grating cheeses, it's the moisture target that is important, not the pH.  Cheeses that are salted before they are pressed can stay there until you get around to them the next day.  The salt is what stops the starter cultures from over acidifying your cheese.

[scasnerkay]

What am I supposed to put in the shot glass!!?!

[OzzieCheese]

A nice scotch comes to mind

[anutcanfly]

The itsy bitsy whey sample you're trying to get a reading on!  But yes, scotch works.