Following are records of making my second blue cheese using DaggerDoggies recipe here (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=161.0), with few minor changes:
- Used Amablu Brand crumbled Blue Cheese innoculant into milk rather than after separated curds and whey.
- Rather than draining in cheesecloth lined bowl for just over an hour, I hung in cheesecloth bag to more quickly get drier curds.
JUNE 29, 2008 - MAKING
- 7:00AM Poured 2 US gallons of store bought pasteurized homogenized cow's milk from fridge into stockpot on stove on smallest gas burner and whisked in Simple Cultured Buttermlk starter.
- 7:15AM Mixed 1 tablespoon of store bought crumbled Amablu Brand Blue Cheese with Penicillium Roqueforti with little milk, (worked better with spoon than whisk), and then whisked into stockpot.
- 9:30AM Temperature only at 59 F/15 C, turned on gas burner on lowest setting.
- 10:30AM Temperature at 90 F/32 C, turned off gas burner.
- 10:45AM Whisked in diluted rennet.
- 12:45PM Clean break, cut curds, started warming to expel more whey.
- 1:15PM Put in cheesecloth bag to gravity drain whey.
- 1:15PM Put in cheesecloth bag to gravity drain whey.
- 2:30PM With spatula, scraped cloth to remove filter cake and stirred to accelerate whey drainage.
- 3:30PM With spatula, scraped cloth to remove filter cake and stirred to accelerate whey drainage.
- 5:00PM Still too moist, put in press with small weight to further drain whey.
- 6:30PM Removed from press, stirred in salt (Blue Cheese Innoculant added to milk at start rather than normally here). Placed back in press with light weight.
- 8:30PM Turned and replaced cheese in press with medium weight.
JUNE 30, 2008 - MAKING
- 6:00AM Removed from press, crumbled to create cheese with air gaps for mold, replaced in press.
- 6:30AM Removed from press, not pressed enough and still very moist, placed in household cold and low humidity fridge to dry.
- 8:30PM Cheese dried, but very poor looking, only good news is still has gaps inside for mold to grow, placed in Cheese Cave.
AFFINAGE
- July 1 - 5 Turned cheese in cave daily, replaced mat every couple days.
- July 6 Aged 6 days, blue-green mold starting to appear.
- July 8 Aged 8 days, blue-green mold more visable, turned cheese.
- July 13 Aged 13 days, blue-green overall, turning cheese every 2 days.
- July 17 Aged 17 days, blue-green overall, turning cheese every 2 days.
NOTES
- Curds did not set well, again.
- Need better curd set or have to resort to pre-pressing cheese to get crumbly texture required to leave voids in cheese for blue mold to grow.
Pictures #2 . . .
Pictures #3 . . .
Need advice, I wanted dryish crumbly curds to be able to press and leave some air gaps inside for mold to develop. But for second time making blue cheese I'm having problems getting curds dry enough and had to resort to pre-pressing to further renove whey and then crumbling and repressing.
Any ideas? Reg, don't you cook your curds at a higher temperature for longer?
morning CH. to the best of my knowledge when making blue cheese (which i have never done btw) the curds are never pressed. i did look this up just a few minutes ago to confirm that theory.
a few notes that did stick out when reading the recipe
after pouring off the whey the curds were put back into the 90* pot and stired by hand which does two things, stops the curds from matting, which removes more whey and the residual heat from the pot also cooks and removes more whey. continue this for 5 minutes
note. salt was added at this time which would also remove more whey
the second thing that i noticed was that after the molds were full of curd they were flipped every 15 minutes for the first 2 hrs then once an hr for the next two hrs then left to drain overnight. the next step was to remove the cheese from the mold and again sprinkle with salt and shake off any excess. return to the board at 60*-85% humidity for three days turning each day, salting and shaking off excess salt each time.
i would think that that method would also remove a lot of moisture and create the texture you are looking for.
Reg, thanks for the detailed information, is that from your American Farmstead book? If so I need to get it.
Just added a couple more pictures above. Not a great looking cheese, when I turned it in the cave this morning it I had to be careful that it didn;t break in too, I think I have to many voids. Part of the problem was that I ran out of time as had to go to work.
OK I like the idea of just turning cheese in molds, very similar to making Camembert or Stilton blue cheese (http://www.stiltoncheese.com/UK/makingstilton/index.cfm). Just to confirm, in your recipe, salt is added directly to the curds and whey?
Thanks again . . .
the recipe i was quoting from is in the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll. the American Farmstead book in my opinion is a must have, very technical but a must have for anyone contemplating making cheese at home. the book was actually written for people that wanted to get into making and selling Artisan cheeses
the salt is added after draining the whey and putting the curds back into the warm cook pot. the curds are gently stirred by hand mixing in the salt for 5 minutes
i would think that making any of the blues you had better have plenty of time and not be rushed. its obviously a labour of love. i won't be attempting any of the more difficult cheeses until next winter when i have more time
reg
Thanks reg for the info/advice . . .