Caerphilly - my latest, with question about pressing

[dthelmers]

I've made quite few Caerphillys, and decided to experiment a bit. I went to a 4x flocc multiplier and cut the curd a bit larger to get a bit more moisture in the finished cheese. The recipe is from 200 Easy Home Made Cheese Recipes. I used mm100 as the starter. The flavor is the same as my others, but the texture is moister and ideal for melting. In fact, it's the best cheese I've had for melting. I microwaved it over broccoli and it made a perfect cheese sauce, and I've also used it in a grilled cheese sandwich, and broiled it on pita bread.
It has many small mechanical openings, as I used rather moderate pressure in the press.
My understanding is that the final moisture content is determined by the process and not the pressing; so am I right in assuming that I can go to a heavy press weight next time and get rid of the mechanical openings without otherwise affecting the cheese?

[JeffHamm]

Oooooo!  That sounds good.  I'm going to have to give this a try.  Longer floc, bigger curds.  Got it. 

Not sure about the pressing question.  Will be intereseted myself to find out.

- Jeff

[Cheese Head]

Hi dt, while agree that process is the key determinant in moisture content, pressing does remove some whey, and how you air dry and age also determines moisture content (humidity, natural rind, oiled, vacuum bagged etc).

It is my understanding that pressing 1) initially expells whey, primarily from between your cut curds until a low permeability dehydrated surface forms, 2) causes a dehydrated surface layer, the start of your rind, and 3) knits the cut curds. If the mechanical opening are vacant then higher pressing force should as you say reduce them, but I'm not sure how much it will reduce if the openings are full of whey.

BTW, I think your cheese looks great!

[dthelmers]

I guess I'll try a few of these, and gradually increase the weight while observing the effect.

[dthelmers]

It's been a long time since I posted about this. I did raise my pressing weights to good result. My cheese press has a mechanical advantage of about 20:1. I press for 30 minutes with four lbs. on the end of the arm, flip and re-dress, press for another 30, then flip and re-dress and finish with 8 lbs. on the arm. My mold is 7 inches. I usually get the cloth sticking a bit after the first press, and it comes clean after the second; but I re-dress it any way because a couple of times I had difficulty removing the cloth after the final press; have had no trouble this way.