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! |
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.