I'm new to cheese making and absolutely love this new hobbie O0
Here's my question : I'm following a recipe that yields 3-3.5 lbs. The recipe recommends a 7" tomme style press with a minimum aging of 3 months. What if I decide to split the curds in three 450g (1lbs) presses to make three smaller wheels instead. Does that change the aging process?
Another way to ask this question : if you split your batch in two -one ending up as a 2lbs wheel, and the other ending up as a 1lbs wheel- do they age at the same rate or is volume not relevant?
BTW, I've been reading this forum the past few weeks and I really enjoy all of your contribution. ;D Good job people!
Volume is very relevant. Really small wheels do not age well. You are better off sticking with one cheese instead of making pancakes. ;)
LOL gotcha :D But what would you consider a pancake? is a 1lbs wheel ok?
I would think that a 1 lb wheel in a 7" mold would be a pancake, where as a 1lb wheel in a 4" mold would produce a thicker wheel and thereby age better. I could be wrong, as I am fairly new at this as well.
About 1-1/2 gall will yield about 1 lb of semi hard cheese and will fit into a 4" hoop making a mini Gouda size.
I get what you're saying now: a 200gr wheel can still age well if pressed in a 200gr Kadova gouda mold for instance. So it's a really small wheel, but would still age well right?
A 200 gr Gouda is about the size of a Camembert and it'll be mostly rind if you age it unwaxed.
As Alex implied ... small cheese have a lot of loss due to rind. By the time the cheese ages with a natural rind there is no cheese left it become all rind. Small cheese should be waxed or vacuum sealed.