Bloomy Robiola - A Bloomin' Delicious, Low-Faff Cheese

I happened upon Bloomy Robiola by accident.  And what a delicious accident it turned out to be!
On the day I made it, Camembert was the original plan, but strangely my Penicilium Candidum was MIA.  Not sure how a cheese culture can go missing from the freezer, but somehow, it did.  So I flipped through my trusty cheese-making book for another bloomy rind cheese that didn't require my AWOL cheese bacteria.

Bloomy Robiola - Ready to Eat!

Bloomy Robiola was relatively low-maintenance to make in that it required only a few hands-on steps and otherwise seemed to like being left alone for long periods of time.  Critically, it doesn't need Penicilium Candidum - only a meso starter culture plus Geotrichum Candidum. Unlike a lot of other recipes, for this one, you add both the starter and secondary cultures at the same time and immediately follow with rennet (rather than allowing the milk to ripen before renneting).  It also doesn't require cutting of the curds.  The affinage, or ageing, process was also pleasantly straight-forward.

Beyond the fact that this cheese recipe seems to have fewer steps than most (so less can go wrong), another contributing factor that could have made this cheese such a success is a good tip from Andy (a very advanced and far-more-hardcore home-cheesemaker and blogger (http://handyface.wordpress.com/)).   He advised me try using less culture than I was previously using.  The recipes in my book all seem to call for anywhere from a fourth to an eighth teaspoon for roughly 9 litres - and I wondered if this was too much.  Since the general cheese-making guidance is to use as little culture as possible, I was happy to try Andy's tip of using just a pinch instead - especially for 4-5 litres of milk.

Here's what I did (slightly tweaked from original recipe)

Ingredients:
4.5 litres milk (used Jersey Gold Top)
A pinch of MM100 mesophilic starter culture
A pinch of Geotrichum Candidum
1/8 t calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup filtered water
3 drops rennet diluted in 1/4 cup filtered water
Flake Salt

- Slowly heat milk to 35C (95F) - I turn my kitchen sink into a water bath which speeds up this process and makes it easier to  maintain temperatures over long periods of time

- Once at 35C, sprinkle the MM100 and Geotrichum Candidum over the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes while it rehydrates.
- Mix well
- Add Calcium Chloride (in diluted water) - stir
- Add rennet (in diluted water) - stir.



- Cover, and maintain temp at 35C for 12-18 hours or until curds give a clean break (mine seemed to give a clean break much sooner - within maybe 5 hours).

- Place a draining rack over a tray with a cheese mat on top.  Place Camembert molds on the mat.  With a slotted spoon or ladle, gently place curds into molds.
- Let drain at room temp for 8-10 hours.
- Sprinkle flake salt over top of each cheese (still in molds)
- Leave them for 10-12 hours
- Unmold cheeses and flip, sprinkle salt on  top of each cheese and leave to drain for 2 more hours.
- Place cheeses on a cheese mat in a ripening box, place a wet paper towel in with them to give it 90-95% humidity.

- Ripen at 25C (77F) for 2 days (I put mine relatively close to the radiator)
- Every 8 hours (ish) - lift the lid to give air circulation
- After 2 days (or once the whey has stopped draining), place in fridge at 10-12C (50-55F) - maintaining humidity

- Flip cheeses daily, wipe away any moisture within the box
- After 5 days, white mold on surface will start to appear
- Cheese is ready in 3-4 weeks when center of cheese starts to feel soft.

The resulting cheese was really quite good - both texture and taste!  My biased husband said it's the best one yet which is quite promising.  Best compliment of all was hearing a friend say: I would buy this! (Admittedly, she's pretty biased as well, but hey.)

Given how laid-back this cheese is in both the making and the ageing, I reckon it will become a regular on cheese-making weekends.  I never did find that Penicilium Candidum in the end - but I'm glad it went missing so I could happen upon this delectable cheese.