As I've already told I tried to create some blue mold using rye bread. Today I cut open my first blue with what I've created.
I intentionally don't tell anything about the cheese itself. It was made without rennet and with my self made culture. So it's far enough from what most I read at CF. And in addition this very batch went not exactly the way I wanted it to. But handyface was interested in homemade molds so I decided to share this little experiment.
I baked rye bread in common manner but added twice as much salt as I usually do. Than I cut off the crust put inner part into plastic bag, closed it firmly and let sit at room temp for three weeks until little spots of blue mold arrived at the surface of bread.
Than I soaked bread in 20% NaCl solution, mashed it, light pressed to give it a wheel form and pierced like blue cheese. I aged this wheel for another three weeks in a fridge inside container to keep good humidity. Visually it was no further growth of a mold.
At least I soaked the wheel with water, squeezed the water out and filtered.
This filtrate I added to curd after removing whey.
As you can see at pics some competitive molds appeared. But I really like this cheese with its strong smell of well aged stuff, sharp taste with a mushroom aftertaste. I saved part of inoculated curd and several days ago made one more batch of a blue. Hope it will be much better.
The cheese looks very good Pavel. Maybe the next one will grow and make it even better.
Thank you, Debi!
Every morning I start with looking into each hole of second batch of a blue, but there is no mold so far. I'm waiting :)
You have to perforate the cheese also horizontaly to let as much as possible oxygen into the cheese to develope the mold.
A question, how do you make your cheese without rennet?
I've never heard anything like that Pavel. I'm impressed.
Could you describe how you make your culture and use it to form a curd?
Pavel, congrats on making the mold, just need a bit more open texture to enable the mold to really take root.
Alex, from the pictures I've seen, I thought Stilton's were pierced from side and most blues were pierced vertically, all with fine needles?
Quote from: Alex on November 14, 2009, 02:11:00 PM
You have to perforate the cheese also horizontally to let as much as possible oxygen into the cheese to developer the mold.
A question, how do you make your cheese without rennet?
Yes, Alex, you are right and this is what I've done to my second batch - I've perforated the cheese also horizontally.
I posted once my procedure for non rennet cheese but I probably gave it a wrong place. That post is here https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2159.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2159.0.html) There is also the answer to your question
GBoyd :)
Now I'm aging another wheel of a cheese of this kind and hope for better results. If it will turn out ok I share new data.
TY
John for advise!
Ah. Sorry. Don't know how I missed that.
Thanks Pavel and good luck with the improved piercing.
Wow Pavel, looks very interesting indeed!
I've been thinking about trying to grow my own mould for a while, but really uncertain about how to do it without creating some horrible flavours.
Was there a reason you chose ray bread? Could any bread be used?
This is not my idea handyface. I've just rad couple of times that blue mold can be created on a ray bread. There were no descriptions of how it could be done, but rye was mentioned in both sources.
I suspect you can spray some PR spore mixture on sliced baked bread,
High salt content is a good idea to wear off other less sodium resistant molds.
Leave it in optimal enviroment covered to maintain high humidity
(warm is not better then cool, studies have shown that bread kept in the fridge spoiles faster then bread kept outside).
It should develop an extenssive colony of PR mold which can then be harvested and freeze untill use (perhaps letting the bread dry a bit first at a dried spot to reduce mosture content and minimize frost damage)
Mold propogation ;D
My bread expiriment is going well.
This is a 200 gram piece from a hard crust WW bread and I gave it a good slice in the middle to allow air to penetrate but not cutting all the way.
Im keeping it in a plastic bag (to maintain moisture) outside at around 15-20c opening it daily for an hour to airate.
I spread a smidge of blue veins off a danish blue and kept the deli wax paper inside the bag which had alot of blue on it to increase the blue colony.
No cats hair as normally apear on stale bread, a bit of white spots which I removed and alot of light green-blue.
Its it smells mosky\stale. I think im gone take it out the bag now and start drying it,
I'l upload a pic in a couple of days.
Once dry im going to powerize the blue parts and freeze it.
I think i'l do a small 5L batch to test it out, not sure if I should add it to the milk like a commerical culture or spread on the curds like traditionally done with gorgonzola using a salt shaker.