Memorial Day holiday is here; I have a day to myself. And four gallons of prime Jersey raw milk to play with. So, time to try something new. I wanted something I could find plenty of information on. Manchego fit the bill as there is plenty of information on here. I felt that the recipe on Ricki Carroll’s website by Jim Wallace was the most complete. I have refrained from coloring cheese with achiote based coloring since much experience with this coloring in years of Spanish cookery has left a bad tasted for me. Hence the addition of saffron in the recipe in Artisan Cheese making at Home also appealed to me. The addition of lipase to simulate sheep’s milk was also something I wanted to try.
Ingredients:
3 Gallons raw Jersey milk
1/8 tsp. MA4001 Recipe called for this quantity for 2 gallons but my Jersey milk has proven to be pretty rich in natural flora leading to over acidification issues.
1/8 tsp. Mild lipase. I went light on this first make.
1/8 tsp. crushed saffron threads. I ground up fine to get more color.
¾ tbs. single strength calf rennet.
The make:
May 26, 2012
1:40pm: Inoculate 86F pH6.7 milk and let hydrate.
1:45pm: Stir down and let ripen 30 minutes to pH 6.5
2:15pm: Added lipase and stirred down.
2:20pm: PH 6.6 (6.5 target), added rennet, stirred down, started timer, floated cup.
2:31pm: Milk flocked at 11 min. x 3 = 33 = 2:53pm curd cut.
2:53pm: Cut curds to 1” squares vertically only and let rest 3 minutes. Temp 84F
2:56pm: Placed on heat and started rice grain size cutting with whisk slowly then quickly as time progressed to 10 min.
3:07pm: Stirred curds for 20 min. Temperature back up to 88F
3:28pm: Increased heat 2F every five minutes or so to get to 97F in 30 min. Hit 99.5F but did not worry since ACMAH recipe for this cheese goes to 104F. Total cook was 41 min.
4:09pm: Let curds settle.
4:11pm: Pitched whey at pH 6.3 and reserved.
4:20pm: Finished consolidating curds into bare hoops and poured back whey into molds and commenced pressing very light under whey for 30 minutes.
4:50pm: Drained and started dressing and packing into two molds.
5:00pm: Started first 30 minute press.
5:35pm: Redressed and started second 60 min. press
7:00pm: Redressed and final firm press for 5 hours.
May 27, 2012
12:00am: Released all pressure and let rest in mold to pH 5.3
7:50am: PH 5.20, unmolded with lots of difficulty as curds had swollen in mold.
8:00am: Set in one gallon saturated brine with 1 tbs. calcium chloride and pH adjusted with 1 ½ tsp. distilled vinegar to pH 5.3 I set cheese in brine still wrapped as there was considerable sticking of CC. Plyban is on order and arrives next week.
10:00am: Flipped cheeses.
12:00pm: Flipped cheeses.
6:00pm: Set wheels out to dry.
The best news of all is that I got the Exstick to behave by constant cleaning and recalibration before each measurement. There is a replacement in the mail to arrive next week with no return necessary so it will be nice to use two and cross check.
I am really excited about the prospects for this make since it is the most detailed and carefully monitored make I have attempted.