Raffine Challenge...

[rsterne]

IMO the concept of a "clean break" is just to make sure you don't end up with a fragile curd that shatters easily.... There is no way that a Flocculation multiple of 2.0-2.5 results in a clean break, and in my (limited) experience even 3.0 can be a bit sloppy.... I would say that you need a Floc. multiple of 3.5-4.0 to get a clean break, at least that has been my experience, with a P/H milk and cream mix....

This doesn't mean you can't make a successful cheese with a Floc. multiple of 2.0, but that is because you will also be cutting the curds smaller anyways.... I have been trying to come up with a "formula" for curd size in relationship to the Floc. multiple, but the best I have been able to do so far is a range.... I find that a cheese that calls for a Floc. multiple of 2.0-2.5 is nearly always cut to 1/4", and ends up at Barley to Rice sized grains once cooked.... If the Floc. multiple is 3.0-3.5 the curd is usually cut to about 3/8", then after gentle stirring ends up bean sized, and once cooked about pea sized.... When the Floc. multiple is 3.5 to 4.0 the curd cut seems to be 1/2", with the curds starting out as hazelnut sized and ending up bean sized after cooking.... I haven't done anything that requires a Floc. multiple of 5-6, but what little I have read indicates that seems to be related to 3/4" to 1" curds, or ones that are just carefully ladled into the mold....

One thing I have started doing lately is cutting the curd in two stages.... I do the vertical cuts, resulting in columns, then rest 5 min. during which time I gently move the pot each minute to make the columns wave around and start losing whey.... I then do the horizontal cuts, resting another 5 min. during which time I move the pot each minute in different directions, including turning it.... This is in effect "stirring" the curds, but the only thing they touch is the whey and each other.... After this my wife takes over, she has just the right "touch" in turning over the curds gently with a slotted spoon, barely moving them around in the pot for the first 5 minutes, just bringing them carefully to the top.... After that, the curds are much less likely to shatter, and by the end of 15 min. of stirring (during which time we may or may not be raising the temperature, depending on the recipe), the curds are firm enough, and strong enough, that they don't shatter any more, unless you are being a brute....

We are trying to develop a "systematic" approach in our cheesemaking, where the steps are interrelated, and distinctly different depending on the results desired.... Yes, to be sure, some individual recipes seem outside the "norm", but trying to understand the basics of how the Floc. multiple and curd size relate to the finished dryness of the cheese seems to be important.... and something we are striving to understand.... Any comments, particularly if you can see a glaring problem with this approach, are welcomed....

Bob

[mikekchar]

Mostly "clean break" is a meaningless term as applied by most recipes.  The main reason people continue to use it is because they don't understand that the firmness of the curd where you cut *should be different* depending on what kind of cheese you are making.  It's a bit like baking bread and saying, "bake until golden brown".  Absolutely useless instruction because it conveys no useful information.

"Clean break" is actually a technical term and it means something different than what most people think it means.  When you cut the curd, whey will seep from the curd.  As Mal said, the softer the curd (lower the multiplier you use), the more difficult it is for the curd to hold on to the fat globules.  Think of the curd as really being a cage for fat and water.  As you build the cage, there are gaps.  The more gaps you have, the more fat and water can leak out.

You insert a knife into the curd and twist it so that the blade is horizontal.  Then you lift up.  This causes a crack to extend out from the cut point.  This is the "break".  It is important to extend the "break" like that, as you will see.  You can use your finger to do the same thing and it makes a bit more sense.  With a knife it is tempting to just slash the curd.  That's wrong.

There are two slightly related conditions for a "clean break" that I know of.  The first is that the "break", the crack that extended from the cut point, has smooth edges.  As the curd gets firmer, the curd will tend to tear rather than shear.  It gets raggedy.  Because the break is not smooth, it has more surface area and therefore loses whey faster.  So a "clean break" should have smooth edges.

Additionally, the earlier you cut the curd, the more fat will leak out.  This causes the whey that fills in the break to be cloudy.  At some point, the "cage" that traps the fat is very efficient and the whey that flows into the break is "clean".  Hence a "clean break".

The irony about this is that most people have a completely different intuition about a clean break.  A clean break usually happens a lot earlier than they imagine.  They are waiting until the curd is essentially Jello and end up with curds that tear -- not a clean break.  Similarly, there are plenty of cheeses where you definitely don't want a clean break.  Parmesan (i.e. Grana cheeses) are a case in point.  You want to cut *very* early because you literally want to leak fat.  You want a very dry, low fat cheese.  This is why the ricotta from some Parmesan producers is considered the best (because they have a very high fat content).  At the other extreme, for a Camembert, you want to cut well past the clean break stage because you want to capture as much fat as possible, and drain whey (Camembert tends to come in at a surprisingly low 13% yield even though it is usually a higher fat milk from Normande cows).

I don't know where the flocculation and multiplier system came from, but I'm quite sure that it was made popular in our circles by Peter Dixon (whose recipes you will find floating around this forum in various places).  It's just a much better way of explaining what you want to accomplish than "clean break".

[bansidhe]

More great stuff. Thank You both..  Mal, your trick of moving the pot is something I am doing as well.  I swirl the pot back and forth and make the curds wiggle.  :-)

I plan on attending the CheeseMaking workshop that NE CheeseMaking gives.  I am hoping seeing and touching things with instruction will help. 

Today the rind of the raffine seems a bit softer.  It's almost time to move it to cold storage.  The recipe mentions soaking the cheese in water for 24 hours.  That's so strange.  Have you ever done that before?  Then it says to wrap the cheeses in muslin.  How are you going to wrap them?

[OzzieCheese]

What an excellent description of what a clean break is! And the cage analogy as well helps visualise the mechanics. I think the floc factor history needs to be researched but, I do tend to agree that it was maybe a scale to help standardise for repeatability of recipe. For me I, use it as an indicator for when to test the clean break. My cheddars usually have a floc factor of 3 for the long aged ones and for Caerphilly I use 4 and ‘Malemberts’ 6.
The salting question - the brining at this late stage is indeed unusual. The small amounts initially sprinkled would help the B.Linens as they are halo tolerant (salt). I would think that the last salting stage is to help control any other wandering moulds and fungi. This is just an opinion as my adventures with B.linens has not been very successful. Though I would create a medium brine 8% (90 grams salt per litre of water) and be sure to add 4mls (32 % solution) calcium Chloride and 1 ml of vinegar (Acetic acid) per litre to the Brine otherwise the salt will leach calcium from the cheese and make the rind slimy.

[bansidhe]

Yet, in the recipe they do not describe it as Brining as they do oath other recipes but as a rehydration of the cheese.  And the curds were already salted before molding, so I think this serves a different purpose.  I am also a bit confused by the instructions of covering the cheese with 1/8-1/4 cup of water with a handful of salt.  A handful of salt in 1.4 cup of water is A LOT.  And 1.4 cup of water will not cover the cheeses.  What am I missing here?

[bansidhe]

So, as I mentioned my cheeses did not spread after removing the mold as I expected.  So I asked NE Cheesemaking why that might be. They said that would be do to over acid development.  Mal mentioned a Ph of 5 or less.  That's pretty acidic, no?  What is the desired pH range for this cheese?

[OzzieCheese]

The pH wasn’t on the make sheet but the removal of whey over the 2 hours reduces the acidic action and my pH goal was just a guess. Further reading would indicate that about pH of 5 might have been too low and that 5.5-5.6 might have been a better target as B.Linens won’t make an appearance until around that pH. As the pH decreases the calcium is leached out at a faster rate though I think because you had an extremely fast gel setting time I would say that whey with the increased calcium lead to a firmer curd after draining. It’s a complex thing, the balance of acid, calcium and moisture is partly what determines the final cheese. This is why making notes is so important, so that you correct for the next time. I’m checking the pH of mine this morning. The final salting I think is a misprint in the recipe or there is not enough information provided. I think the overall effect will be drying out of the cheese as that concentration of salt would cause osmosis resulting in drawing out moisture from the cheese - this is just an opinion - maybe go back and ask for verification of that phase and what the purpose is.

[bansidhe]

Yeah,  I am anxiously awaiting their answer.  I just put mine in the salt water soak they mention.  It seems odd but I followed direction as I understood them.  When I get a response from them (they've been really good at answering questions), I will make a note of it for next time.  And there WILL be a next time.  One of my cheeses looks nice.. it has a nice color the other two are barely orange.  You're right it is a very complex thing.  Oh.. am an anxiously awaiting my pH strip tape.  I just need recipes with pH targets.  :-). How do your cheeses look thus far?  Do they smell at all?

[bansidhe]

FAIL!  I looked at my rehydrating cheeses and they are a MESS!  The rinds on all of them, including the one "nice" cheese came off.  :-(. I should have trusted my instincts and foregone the rehydrating saline soak.  I will still air dry these cheeses and continue the process but I think I can chalk this up to a colossal fail.  I will write and ask them why they think this happened.

[Aris]

I wonder what is the point of soaking it in cold water with salt for 24 hours! What a strange thing to do. This is one of the reasons why I don't follow cheese making recipes.

[bansidhe]

It is!  I've written asking about this step.  I will share the answer once I receive it. 

[not_ally]

Bansidhe, not sure if you checked the q&a section for this recipe?  You should always do that with NEC recipes, there are often editing mistakes in them (sometimes really problematic ones) that people ask about in the q&a's and corrected there, but never get fixed in the recipe itself.  In that one there is a correction, below.  That step still seems odd, so don't know if this will clarify anything, but here it is:

"Can you explain this part of instructions: ...For a batch of 3-4 cheese, start this final step by placing the cheese in a tray and covering it with 1/8-1/4 cup of cold water with a handful of salt stirred in... Do I have to overwhelm the cheese in water for 24 hours, pour water over it or just put a bowl with water beside the cheese?

 Answers (1)

New England Cheesemaking Supply Company12/07/2020
Thank you for your inquiry. We apologize for the confusion, it appears there is a mistake in the recipe. It should have read to cover the cheese completely with water and add 1/8 to 1/4 cup salt.

[bansidhe]

Yeah...  I did.  And that is why I covered the cheese completely with water and then added the salt.  SO, I did do as the "correction" mentioned.  But my cheese rinds fell off.  They got too moist, I guess.  It could be because there was already a separation of rind to paste.  I'm drying them now.. then I'll store them in the fridge for a week or two.  I think they will be an ok cheese just not Raffine.   I am going to try this again once they send me some pH goals...  I think that will be key here.  Thanks for looking at this though!

[bansidhe]

Here's a pic of my poor raffine, I will say the paste looks good.. to me anyway.   I let these dry and now they are in the fridge at 43F and 90-95% humidity.  I'll try one in a week. The sloughy rind actually doesn't taste too bad, so maybe there is hope

[OzzieCheese]

The rind on this cheese is very problematic in that I’ve been turning the cheese every day and my fridge is a constant temp and 85% RH and yet the cheese still stuck to the cloth. I’m assuming here that The higher initial ageing temp has caused the surface to ripen faster and trying to unstick caused large portions of the rind to peel away. And there is no appearance of B.linens at all. I fear another B.linens failure is imminent.