Giovanni this one's for you! Took a lot of research and this is what I came up with...
Tête de Moine
Bellelay cheese is a raw milk cheese with a cylindrical or slightly domed shape. Its rind is firm, smeared, grainy, moist, healthy and red-brown. The diameter of the cheese is 10 to 15 cm, its height 70-100% of the diameter, and its weight 0.7 to 2 kg. The cheese has a delicate, yellow to ivory-colored, homogeneous, sticky and silky body. The cheese melts readily in the mouth and is particularly suitable for paring and cutting. It tastes of bark and mushroom, and smells of hay. Tête de Moine has a fat content between 45% and 50%.
Ingredients:
Raw milk
Thermo Type B (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis, Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus)
Rennet
Molds
Choozit - PLA LYO 10 D -(Brevibacterium linens, Arthrobacter nicotianae, Debaryomyces hansenii, Geotrichum Candidum ) or Brevibacterium linens with a pinch of Geotrichum Candidum
Salt
Procedure:
Milk is heated to 90°F / 30°C in copper vats and acidified using the thermo Type B bacterial cultures for 40 minutes..
Rennet is then added sufficient to coagulate milk in 20 to 30 minutes.
The curd is cut comparatively fine and is stirred while being heated slowly to a temperature of 115°F to 127°F / 46 to 53°C for 20 minutes. It is cooked much firmer than Limburg and not as firm as Emmental.
The curd is then cooled and then pressed in small wooden molds to remove any excess whey and water. The newly formed mini-wheels are then placed in a brine bath for 12 hours to expel the last of the water and to form the outer rind. After the brine bath they are allowed to dry and begin the aging process.
During its maturing the cheese is regularly treated with the PLA LYO 10 D or Brevibacterium linens and Geotrichum Candidum and with water or brine solution in order to promote smear formation on the rind.
The cheeses are aged for 4 to 6 months in cool humid caves and will keep for 3 or 4 years. The interior paste is firm with a straw color which will darken as it ages. Please note that the cheese ages from the outside to the inside so the area closer to the rind may look darker or browner so this is not a sign of poor quality, it is natural. The interior paste may also have small holes throughout.
This cheese is very aromatic even before cutting it. The aroma is like roasted nuts combined with earthy wine and musty wood; it is fantastic and will fill the room! The flavor is full bodied and very complex with hints of nuts and sweet fruit.
Edited for clarification ....
Thanks Debi for yort efforts and the recipe.
This one seems to be a well kept secret! Took me two days to come up with enough info to get this one put together! Finally found a Swiss company that sells cultures to make it for the final piece of the puzzle. Whew!
Here's a link to a Girolle for only $42 and it has a video to see how to use it.
http://gourmetlibrary.com/products/29126-Girolle-Cheese-Shaver (http://gourmetlibrary.com/products/29126-Girolle-Cheese-Shaver)
Haven't posted to this thread in a very long time but I got a PM asking for clarification so I edited the recipe to make it easier to understand.
Hope this Helps!
:)Thanks so much DeejayDebi!! I'm trying this soon!