My Camembert #2

[mikekchar]

Well, I was a bit worried about this one, but in the end it was extremely good:



I was a bit surprised that I didn't get more PC growing.  It came in well, but as soon as I patted it down it stopped growing vigourously.  Is that normal?



The proof of the pudding is in the eating!  I was really happy with how it came out, although clearly pretty sloppy :-)  My notes tell me 18.7% yield after salting with 3.6% fat milk... So *lots* of moisture.  I forgot to weigh it at eating :-( That was me trying to *reduce* the moisture from attempt #1 and failing :-)  But to be fair, I was experimenting quite a bit.  This had a flocc time of 15 minutes and a multiplier of *6*!  So 90 minute set time, however 1 whole hour of cooking (yeah, I know... unusual...).  Cut 2 cm cubes, heal for 15 min, stir, rest for 15 minutes, stir, rest for 30 minutes -- all at a fairly roasty 34 C (93 F).  Next time, I'm definitely cutting back the multiplier (probably down all the way to 3.5x or so)



Lava flow :-)  Actually, I was pretty happy with the paste.  This amount of flow took a good 10 minutes from when the cheese was cut.  You can see that it is quite soft, though, as I tore the rind trying to cut it.  No off flavours or aromas.  No ammonia problems.  I timed it pretty well.  It was 40 days from salting to eating -- longer than I had planned, but worked out really well.



It went well on a piece of bread :-)  The only real problem was that it was over salted.  I weighed it after draining, then put it back in the mould and sprinkled 1% of the weight of the cheese in salt on top.  I waited 1 hour, then flipped and did the same on the bottom.  However, the weight before salting was 405 grams (from 2 liters of milk -- so 20% yield), so that's 8 grams of salt :-)  Yep... way too much.  My plan was 6 grams and I should have stuck to it.

Commercial Camembert producers apparently aim for 13% yield... I'm guessing that's for a stabilised paste, but still there is *no way* my recipe is going to hit anywhere close to that yield.  I may try to hit somewhere in the 15% next time.  Still, I'm extremely pleased with this cheese.  I would say it is definitely one of the most impressive cheeses I've done.

[awakephd]

AC4U! And yes, the amount of PC in the pictures looks right to me.

[Lancer99]

Beautiful, AC4U definitely.  (Now that I know what that means.). In my limited experience, yes about the PC - if you pat it down, it stays patted down, and doesn't regrow such a luxurious coat, but my guess is that that probably doesn't make a difference.

Ten minutes at room temperature to slop out onto the plate, I think that's good

As for the salting, it seems like the commercial cheesemakers who cut down their recipes for home use don't understand how different the conditions are. 

L

[Susan38]

That is a truly beautiful cheese.  It seems it was not too long ago, that you were just starting out making lactic acid cheeses and now here you are making Camemberts!  And that you're pretty close to dialing in the details of the process.  Another c4u.

[fattyacid]

ACFU

Rind looks damn sexy! Patted down and wrapped, yes it will stay like a good dog.

Remember a cheese wrapped in paper will still lose weight and can "end" up too salted. Aim for 2% by starting weight and you'll land about right.
Your cheese looks like it lost weight for sure while aging.

FA-

[DrChile]

looks fantastic and delicious!

AC4U

Trent

[Shalloy]

Looks awesome mate. Hope mine turn out like that.