Hey, everyone! I just tried my hand at making cream cheese to go with my homemade bagels. The recipe for this make was just 2qts cream/milk (I used a pint cream, 2 pints whole and 1 pint 2%), a packet of mesophilic culture and time (12 hours to set, and 12 hours to drain) all at 70F.
So, a couple of questions...... (1) after 12 hours at 70F, I had curd, but VERY soft curd. I know it's hard to describe, but I feel like perhaps I should have gotten a bit harder set up, and my question is should I have used calcium chloride for this make? None of the recipes I looked up seemed to call for it. (2) What is the generally accepted % of salt to mix into something like cream cheese? I horribly over salted this one because I somewhat blindly decided to use 1.5% salt to weight, not really taking into account that guideline is for harder cheeses.
So, I've got a batch of cream cheese that is pretty much inedible (would have been fine without the salt), but it was a cheap experiment while I wait for some more cheesemaking gadgets to show up under the Christmas tree! :)
Thanks in advance for any insight into my missteps. :)
Rich
So I did a bit more research, and found a couple of recipes that do include calcium chloride (and rennet) when making cream cheese. I'm going to take another stab at this based on Gavin's recipe from Little Green Cheese. We'll see how it goes......so far, the hardest part has been sourcing (reasonably priced) non-UP cream! :)
I'll check back in about 24 hours from now when this batch is done.
Rich
I think you're using way too much cream. The stuff you buy at the store is somewhere between a regular whole-milk cheese and a double-cream cheese, but the amount you're using puts you at triple cream. Too much fat will weaken the curds and make them harder to drain.
While I haven't yet attempted to make cream cheese I have been looking at recipes. Most of them are calling for between 0-1 pint of cream per gallon of whole milk.
You've probably seen it already but this recipe has a lot of good explanations in it regarding fat content, pasteurization, and curd setting. They recommend 1 tsp of salt for a 1gallon + 1 pint batch:
https://cheesemaking.com/products/cream-cheese-recipe
Smidgen, you are probably right! We'll see how this batch goes, and make more adjustments from there. It's such an enticing cheese to make, as it looks so straight forward......leave it to me to make it harder than it needs to be! :)
Thanks for the feedback!
Rich
Good luck and be sure to let us know how your next batch turns out! As for the calcium chloride I'd probably use it with pasteurized milk. I've noticed many recipes don't call for it but then a lot of the serious cheese guys are using raw milk.
I just finished up batch #2 of cream cheese, and this one worked out much better!
1qt heavy cream (Clover, I think)
1qt whole milk
1 packet mesophilic starter (C101, direct set)
.5ml calcium chloride
.5ml rennet
I kept everything warm in my bread proofing box overnight (set at 70F), and then hung to drain all day. I ended up with about 2lbs of finished cheese, into which I mixed about 2 tsp of kosher salt. It's VERY tasty, and I am certain it will go very well on tomorrow's bagels! The consistency is similar to that of a "whipped" cream cheese.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4848/45462120965_2dfc4bf42d_k.jpg)
Now I just need to patiently wait for Santa to deliver some more cheesemaking accoutrements, so I can start some new projects! :)
Thanks for the help!
Rich
....and what would cream cheese be without some fresh bagels?!? :)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4918/46333024332_f084c7e91f_k.jpg)
AC4U.
Nice!
Thanks, Feather!
Very nice! AC4U!
Thanks, RBF! Tasty bagel & cream cheese for breakfast this am. :)
R