Decided I wanted a distinctively pungent cheese and Taleggio seems to be user friendly (plus I've got a cool Taleggio mold from Yoav that I need to initiate). Goat milk, being much cheaper for me is the milk of choice and a little research seems to indicate Fiacco di capra is the name of the style (tired goat). I guess I should have had them chased around the paddock for a couple of hours prior to milking but I'll save that detail for later makes.
Make:
3 gallons fresh raw nubian goat milk
flora danica (I was thinking about crottins but changed my mind)
Skewer tip of CUM to assist with reducing the acidity (raise the pH to those who hunt nits for a hobby)
B. Linens (LR strain - high aromatic potential, moderately proteolytic)
Calf Rennet
Starting pH of the milk is 6.53
after adding mother culture at 1.75% pH is 6.48
will rennet at 6.4
Ok, got distracted and the flora danica decided to out do itself. Renneted at pH 6.33 with 13 drops calf rennet in cold water.
Didn't start the stop watch on time. I think I'm a minute or so off......oh, that's right, it's Friday the 13th.......geez!
Aaaannnndddd - it still flocc'd in ten minutes.....I think I'm going to just start whispering rennet over the milk three times to make it coagulate.
Will cut in 30 more minutes......4:1 floc factor.
Adhered to Peter Dixons technique for cutting. Cut into 2-3 inch cubes and waited five minutes. Then cut into hazelnut sized pieces 1/2-3/4 inch cubes. I let it set five minutes and then stirred for about 5 minutes. I've started to sanitize my hands and arms and use my hand to stir. I think the risk of contamination is minimal and I am starting to get a feel for the curds. I've also seen a lot of videos of alpine cheese making and they dive in pretty much head first to scoop out the curd so I don't think I'm messing it up.
Luckily the flora danica is a wimpy acidifier and in spite of the jump while I was distracted by my attention grubbing macaw, I hooped at pH 6.2 so hopefully I'll get the desired texture.
The curd from three gallons of goat pretty much filled the 7.5 inch taleggio mold to the top. Whey is draining really fast so it'll be interesting to see what the final height is going to be. The mold is advertised for 2kg so I suppose you'd have to let it drain for a bit and then add the remaining curd as it settles. I also used the four way divider since I tend to give cheese away and that makes a nice little package (also makes them easier to handle while washing etc.)
The curd has settled about an inch in the time it took me to type this so I think when all is said and done it'll be just about the right thickness.
I didn't use a cheese cloth for this one since I don't really see how you could with the splitter. Am I asking for drainage problems or is this normal for this cheese. I haven't really seen anything definitive on the topic........comments from the experts?