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So, I'm just learning how to make cheese.

Thus, I present my first cheese making thread in which I will most likely do everything wrong and leave everyone here in hillarity, but hey, you gotta do stuff to learn stuff.

As such, I will be making a "Hard Other" cheese today.

Milk: Cows milk, just regular old grocery store whole milk.  Regular pasteurization, homogenized
Culture: Buttermilk
Coagulation: Animal rennet.

Basic plan:
Heat milk to like 90F (1.5 gallons of milk)
Add half cup of buttermilk.
Let it party for an hour.
Add rennet.
Let it party for an hour.
Cut curds and raise temp slowly to 105F
Cook curds until I think they are right.
Drain curds (save whey for riccotta).
Salt curds and put in form.
Press to make some sort of cheese wheel.
Put in cheese cave and wait a while.
Eat Cheese.
Profit!

MolBasser

If you are doing that, IMHO start out with my tomme recipe for the base. You will learn more of the dynamics in the process from reading the explanations and following a more precise technique.

I'm just winging it. 

[really n00b comment]I'm not a cheese guy so I have no idea what tomme is so, yeah, you'll have to bear with me[/really n00b comment]

I'll learn, I just got involved.  I just got excited about my new cave and figured I'd make something to put in it while read all I can.

MolBasser

Where do I find said recipe?

MolBasser

https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html

It's my version of giving anyone a crash course in all the best practices of non-milled curd style hard cheese making. You can use the techniques for any hard cheese.

Quote from: linuxboy on February 25, 2012, 06:58:49 PM
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html

It's my version of giving anyone a crash course in all the best practices of non-milled curd style hard cheese making. You can use the techniques for any hard cheese.

Looks good. I will follow this recipe, but use buttermilk as my culture (waiting on orders of bacteria)...

Thanks!

MolBasser

Wish there was a recipe/procedure like that when I first started making cheese! But then there was no internet, probably no Pav or Francouis back then either! 

Debi, I wish that, too. I could have used the current version of me to smack the younger me upside the head about.. oh... everything. And I was around then . Back then we called "the cloud" mainframes. And X.400 messaging was all the rage (instead of SMTP).

Ah yes I remember it well. Used to have to do the cable connections to our Wang back in the day with a soldering iron and magnifying glass! God I hated those connectors and so fragile! Back when pascal, fortran and cobal reigned supreme!

Lucky for me my younger self was just as much a data junkie as today and thirsty to learn the mystic arts of the ole ways. I just remembered what I read back then. Today I walk accross the room and forget where I was headed! 

{{{{Pav}}}}

Milk heating with 1/2 teaspoon of CaCl2.

Should be fun.

MolBasser

At 85F I turned the burner off and added oh, about a half cup or quarter cup of active culture butter milk.

Set the time for an hou.

Temp creaping up.

MolBasser

Bacteria are partying.

I hoist a 16 oz. Torpedo can to their celebration!

MolBasser

Heating up the milk.

Culture added.  Temp at 88.



MolBasser

Just added the rennet!  Woot.

MolBasser

Just about to cut the curds...

Cool stuff, yo.

MolBasser