Reblochons taking a strange turn?

[DeejayDebi]

Ah you are indeed a lucky couple!  I can't think of to many things that would be more fun and interesting conversationally than breaking bread with you and Alex.

Beautiful cheeses BTW!

[iratherfly]

Next time I'll visit you. One of these cheeses is your recipe (a goat's Tomme of some sort, it was delicious!)

[DeejayDebi]

As close as we are we should find a time to meet before the NE winter sets in. Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Still amaes me after all these years how similar yet different a cheese can be.

[Brie]

Alex--please, please, please...list the beautiful cheeses that are displayed on your table--they look gorgeous! And, Yoav, are the second pics of your cheese? Please list that, as well. We are in envy of the two of you!

[iratherfly]

Thanks Brie! I asked Alex to respond. My cheeses, clockwise:

• The first one (white square) is called Moteq. It's my own development, a goat's milk surface ripened Camembert like cheese with lots of small eyes and very grassy aroma. This one has traveled a bit during the last 10 days of its 21 day aging so it's not perfect, a bit of a skin slip.
• The second one is a Crottin-style goat's cheese that I wrap in grape leafs that were soaked for a few days in Calvados (Apple brandy). I only wrap it after the rind has developed (geo/and aromatic b.linen), so they have a nice chewy rind under that leaf. Lots of sweet aromatic apple sense from the Calvados
• The third one is that Reblochon gone wrong that turned into a great Petite-Tomme (What this thread is about, see previous page)
• The fourth and last one is called Hansel, my own development (shown on other threads here before). It's a surface ripened goats cheese that is a very peppery with Gorgonzola-like enzymes but no blue; only ash

[Alex]

Sorry people, somehow I missed this thread.
Good to hear from you again Yoav.
Attached is an edited version of the pic. Not the Tomme, but the Toma Valmonte is per DJ's recipe. The breads were Epi Baguette and Bread with chopped red bell pepper and black olives.
Yoav, the bread recipe you gave to my wife you have to share with the entire forum, she bakes it almost every other day.
P.S. 1 - Yoav, don't touch the press, as seen on the pic, it's assembled OK.
       2 - Brie, envy is a bad thing, it may cause ulcer. The easiest way to avoid it - do the right thing, come to visit me, you are all invited. It'll be a great fun. Debi, please bring your sausages, OK ? I promis to provide home-made sauerkraut and pickles.

[DeejayDebi]

Guys everything looks wonderful. If it was so late I'd have to grab a hunk of cheese and bread just to quell my drool factory here!

That bread looks awsome too! So colorful. I love color in my food.

Alex I wonder what people would think sitting next two a backpack full of salami for 20 or so hours? LOL Bet I wouldn't get crowded! I'be been trying to create a shelf stable version but when it gets really hot it breaks down and gets moldy. Good till about 70F degrees but after that mold! I would LOVE to meet you! If I ever win the lottery you can bet I'll be knocking on your door!

[iratherfly]

Alex - great to hear from you again too!
That bread with the bellpeppers was fantastic. I completely remember its flavor and texture. The baguette was great too, would love to have the recipe.  I am so happy to know she bakes it often - isn't it remarkably easy and quick? It actually started by me trying some no-knead recipes and then having a long back and forth with another forum member Missy Greene who gave me her recipe. I combined the two and improved it by reading up some baking formulas. A few weeks later I got it right: (see photo on previous page of this thread).

Dry bowl: 2 cups bread flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour 3/4 tablespoon salt.
Wet bowl: Mix 1 tablespoon sugar with Warm water (120F/45C) in quantity that equals 68%-70% of the dry ingredients' weight (No kitchen scale? Do 11.33 Fl. Oz. / 335ml). Now add 1 tablespoon dry-freeze yeast, proof for 10 min.
Mix wet into dry, no need to overmix, no kneading needed. Form a ball of dough, cover with towel for 40 min or until doubled. (keep in a warm place). Optional - do a second rising: punch down the dough small again and give it another 40 min. Will give you a fluffier bread. Warm oven 20 min through to 450F/230C.
Form into loaf, score the top a few times (so that it expands evenly without tearing the crust on the sides) Bake for 45 minutes. Optional - you can put a cup of water on the bottom tray or spray the sides of the oven with water several times during the first 15 min. of baking - this will give you a thinner crust. Cool on a rack - eat. This will last a few days. Perfect bread every time.

Debbie - Going to Israel isn't that expensive, especially in the winter. If you've never been it's an unforgettable experience. I carried 14 wheels of cheese with me so your sausage will be fine... I put the cheese in a cold bag wrapped with 4 cool packs and it was covered with clothes in my suitcase. Only a thermometer popped out. It was 40F when I packed it in a 96F day in New York. Went to the airport, waited hours, hot tarmac, 11 hour flight, land at Israel at 92F temp, waited an hour for it ...paranoia. Got my bag, opened it, looked at the thermometer (18 hours after packing) and what do you know: 41F. No problem. Food travels!

[Alex]

Debi, as soon as you hit the jackpot I'm sure Yoav will be glad to be your pilot on your private plane/flight, so you don't have to bother about the smell of the salami.

Yoav and all of you, the bread recipes:

Bread with red bell peppers and black/kalamata olives

340 gr Pre-dough:

194 gr all purpose flour
146 gr water
Pinch of dry yeast

Make the pre-dough by mixing the yeast into the flour and adding the water. Let it rise for about 6 hours at room temperature.

For the dough:

¾ ts dry yeast
340 gr pre-dough
300 dgr water
480 gr all purpose flour
10 gr salt

150 gr olives including pits (Kalamata)
1x150 gr red bell pepper

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients except olives and red pepper. Knead for about 5 minutes. Dust with flour your working place and stretch the dough to a rectangle. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, pit the olives, clean the pepper and chop them to ¼"-⅜" cubes. Pet dry with paper towel.
Stretch the dough to a bigger rectangle and spread the olives and pepper over the dough. You may sprinkle some flour over them. Fold the dough like an envelope and knead to incorporate olives and pepper. Now it'll be messy. Put the dough in a bowl covered with a plastic bag and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour. Now transfer the bowl to the refrigerator for overnight.
Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces (I make 3). Gather each piece of dough  to form a rough ball. Now, to create surface tension, stretch the outside of the dough into an oblong, being careful not to squeeze out the gas trapped in the dough any more than necessary. Repeat this stretching motion, bringing the opposite ends together to make a ball. Let rise until almost doubled in size.
Bake at 220ºC, using steam for the first 15 minutes. Lower temperature to 200ºC, and continue to bake approximately 25-30 minutes longer or until baked through. Check for a hollow sound by knocking on the bottom of the bread.
Remove the balls from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 60 minutes before slicing.

The Epi-Baguette is the recipe for French Bread from Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice", shaped and cut like an Epi-Baguette. You may use any baguette recipe.

[DeejayDebi]

These recipes look great! I have copied them down including lnks to the page and pictures.

Actually I have never been out of the America's. Mexico, Canada and the US that's it. I need to apply for a passport one of these days as I can't even visit my Canadian friends and family anymore. 

[Brie]

I am on my way, Alex--is tomorrow too soon? The breads look wonderful--have your wife try using the whey from hard cheese to make them even better! It will astound you!

[iratherfly]

Actually Brie, you reminded me to mention that now that I figured out finally how to make great bread, my fiancee finds out that she is alergic to gluten. I have been spending the past few weeks trying to figure out how to make gluten free bread ...that feels and tastes like bread, Not cake or cardboard. Seems like all of the recipes out there call for eggs for the protein so I made some calculations and figured out that 500ml of whey will take care of the water in the bread and provide as much whey as one large egg.
But... rice flour, chickpea flour, corn flour, sorghum flour, flaxseed mill, potato flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum... my oh my, this is a serious challenge and so far very little luck and lots of $$$ spent on these expensive flours. Some have too strong of taste, others kill the yeast, other ones absorb so much moisture that I would need 5 hours of low heat baking just to get it out, some have such low heating point that I get a crust outside within minutes but it's so tight due to the starch/gum levels that it locks in al the moisture and nothing cooks inside, it just heats up and keeps the moisture. What did I get myself into??? Suggestions anyone?

[DeejayDebi]

I have a few family members that have problems with gluten and have been experimenting with recipes on the net. This one I found very good.

Dill Onion Brown Bread Recipe
http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreebreadrecipes/r/glutenfreedillonionbrownbreadrecipe.htm

[iratherfly]

Thanks Debi!
By the way, check out my new thread about the cheese caves under New York City (photos!). What a place!
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4590.0.html

[Alex]

I am on my way, Alex--is tomorrow too soon? The breads look wonderful--have your wife try using the whey from hard cheese to make them even better! It will astound you!

Sorry Brie, didn't see your post, never mind, surprise me!!!