What to do during the appaling weather we have been getting here? The answer was obvious: stay inside and make cheese.
I decided to try a Hispanico this time. I have done one before which turned out quite well but that was some time ago.
The recipe was basically from Gianaclis Caldwell's book "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking", with a few minor alterations and went as follows:
Ingredients:
10 litres of whole milk: 4 L of Fleurieu full cream milk; 3.3% protein, 3.8% fat. 6 L of Fleurieu Jersey milk P = 3.3% F = 4.8% Total P:F = 0.75:1
1/4 tsp (3 dashes) M235 mesophilic starter ( equivalent to Flora Danica)
1/12 tsp (a dash) Swiss and Italian
1/44 tsp (smidgen) lipase dissolved in 20ml water
2.0ml rennet in 40ml water
3ml CaCl2 in 60ml water
Heated the milk to 32C.
Added culture and allowed the milk to ripen for 25 minutes.
Stirred in the calcium chloride and left for 10 minutes
Added rennet and stirred in for 2 minutes. Flocculation time = 14 min. , Multiplier = 2.5 , Coagulation time = 35 min.
Cut to 1.5 cm squares over 5 minutes then used a whisk to reduce the curd to rice grain size over 20 min.
Stirred for a further 10 min.
Increased the heat slowly to 38C over 30 minutes with stirring.
Allowed to settle for 5 min. while removing much of the whey.
Transferred the curd mass to a lined mould. Pressed the curds with a light weight under whey for 10 min.
Remove from whey and left without weight for 30 min. at ~24C.
Turned and pressed at 0.14 PSI for 30 min.
Turned and pressed at 0.14 PSI for 30 min.
Turned and pressed at 0.34 PSI for 4 hours.
Turned and pressed at 0.34 PSI for 5 hours.
Unwrap and pressed naked at 0.08 PSI for 11 hours.
I had intended to brine it at this stage but as the rind was not completely closed I returned it to the press at 0.34 PSI. I will brine it tomorrow. In the longer term I intend to oil the rind.