Hard Cheese - Type Recommendation For Quick & No Fail

[Judy]

Does anyone have an easy recipe for making a hard cheese that is tasty and easy to make. I have vegetable enzymes mesophilic and thermophilic cultures and goats milk. I make easily labane camembert semi hard cheeses such as bulgarit and tsfatit and my own no fail not salty bulgarit but I want to learn how to make a harder cheese but a no fail one. I do Cherkesy that goes hard in the fridge but I wanted the harder white and yellow type cheese.

Thanks

If anyone is having difficulty with camembert maybe I can help one thing is to make it in small baskets, one needs a good amount of salt and also have a good mesophilic culture and the camembert culture and a cool place and fridge with water at the bottom of the tray keeping it moist and turning it every other day and it should not fail.
Judy

[Gustav]

I think you should make a gouda first. It's not too complicated & is a very decent cheese. You may use the recipe on cheesemaking.com

I made alot of gouda  & just a tip, I like to use Lactococcus Lactis, Lactococcus Cremoris, Lactococcus biovar diacetylactis & Lactobacillus Helveticus. ( Helveticus helps with more flavour & increases ripening)
My gouda tasted great after just on month, but after two months, it was awesome!!!

[dthelmers]

Gustav,
That's interesting with the Helveticus. How much do you add? Do you keep the same temperatures as when just using the mesophilics?
Dave in CT

[Gustav]

I purchase mu cultures in 250 Litre quantities, then I seal it into 20 seperate little bags(10 Litre quantities) & put it back into the container That makes it alot easier for me to use & I know I'm not using too much or too little. For 30 Litres I use eg. 3x 10 Litre bags RM32 or MA11, 2x 10 Litre Bags Helveticus. To be perfectly honest, Im guessing on the Helveticus quantity. 

Yes, I keep the Meso temps in order to compensate for both meso & thermo. I don't use the exact temp from the recipe as I heat to max that meso can handle, anf this will be an allright temp for thermo then. About max 38'C-40'C.

I found that If I do this , after only 1 month it already has a great aroma/taste. The diacetylactis together with the helvericus is a great combination for me. I use it for all my hard cheese like cheddar, swiss, emmenthaler....

[iratherfly]

Judy, are you in Israel? (sorry, I am judging by your text... Tsfatit, Bulgarit, Yellow and White cheese - are all Israeli cheese concepts...) Where do you get your milk?

My suggestion is to do a Tomme. It's an easy and liberal cheese recipe that you can do 1000 different ways.  You won't mess it up (the only way to really mess it up is by over-acidifying it). You can finish it wild, brushed, washed, rubbed with salts/oils/herbs, dunked in wine, beer or liquor and then vacuumed etc. You can make it from cow, sheep, goats or buffalo milk or c combination of milks, you can make it small (500g wheel) or large (2.5kg), age it 6 weeks to 180 days for different results. In other words, it's a basic recipe for a million different 'yellow cheese' types.  You may need to get a better aging environment than the fridge. You may be able to do a decent cam in the fridge even though it's far too cold for it, but with the 'yellow' you need a constant 12°C-16°C

[linuxboy]

Do a tomme. Just like Yoav said, it's a single style with a bazillion variation that forms the basis of most of the world's cheeses.

Dave, very standard practice to adjunct goudas with helveticus. Classic nowadays in varying quantities. Not only helveticus, but also paracasei, acidophilus, propionic, etc

Most of the new cheeses to hit the shelves in the last 2 decades have been like this. Parranno, Zola, etc.

(the only way to really mess it up is by over-acidifying it).

Yoav, if fixed during affinage, the acid becomes a feature, not a bug  

[iratherfly]

Yea, that is if you know you have over-acidified DURING affinage rather than finding out 3 months later... "eeew, why is this chalky and brittle?"

[dthelmers]

How do you fix over acidification in the affinage?
Dave in CT

[MrsKK]

I recommend either Gouda or Lancashire.  Let us know what you decide and how it turns out for you.

[linuxboy]

Dave, by using moderately to high proteolytic enzymes in the rind and extending the maturation to convert the chalkyness to a smoother paste. For example, tomme de crayeuse.

[ArnaudForestier]

Dave, my question as well - thanks for asking. 

Pav, thanks for the answer!

[iratherfly]

Tomme Crayeuse is a different animal... what on earth is going on in there? It's crazy chalky but gooey on the edges and has super complex rind and aging in different stages and different temperatures... quite an extreme example (and an incredible cheese).

If I over acidify I would turn the cheese into something totally different. Lower the aging temp to extend aging longer, wash rind, add moisture and possibly use highly proteolytic and de-acidifying cultures/yeasts in my wash to further break down the paté. That is actually in line with what Pav had suggested.

[Tomer1]

Judy you need a cheese press for semi hard and hard cheeses  (The tnuva yellow cheese or gilboa is a washed curd high moisture cheese sold extremly young hense the flavourless and rubbery nature of it).
Where in israel you are located?

Quick (6-8 weeks) usually means high moisture and a right selection of culture.

[JeffHamm]

I usually recommend caerphilly as it's ready in 3-4 weeks, and it seems fairly forgiving.  Also, it was one of the very first hard cheeses I made, and well, don't we always recommend what did ourselves? 

- Jeff

[smilingcalico]

Gustav, maybe I've not seen the 250 liter pouch of choozit cultures, but they have a 2500 liter pouch.  On the label it says 250, but they have a confusing math that you need to know.  Basically, multiply the 250 by ten.  Now divide the weight of the pouch by 2500.  This is how many grams you'll need per liter of milk.  Now you can multiply by however many liters you plan on making. 
Again, I've not seen the 250 liter size, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  I'm just suggesting so that maybe you can lower your cost of cultures.