Cheese It! by Cole Dawson

Author:Cole Dawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hobby Farm Press
Published: 2012-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Semi-Hard Cheese Recipes

For all semi-hard cheese, increase the heat when recipes call for it by no more than 2 degrees every 5 minutes.

Traditional Cheddar

Cheddar originated in the late 1500s in an English village by the same name. By the 1800s, most farm wives in America had their favorite Cheddar recipe. There are many Cheddar variations that don’t require the process called Cheddaring and are therefore quicker to make. But the flaky texture and sharp flavor of traditional Cheddar depends on this technique, in which drained curd is cut into strips, layered, and allowed to shrink as it loses whey.

Yield: 2 pounds

Ingredients:

2 gallons pasteurized whole milk

¼ teaspoon direct-set mesophilic culture or 4 tablespoons mesophilic mother culture

½ teaspoon liquid rennet (or ½ rennet tablet) diluted in ¼ cup cool unchlorinated water

4 drops annatto coloring diluted in ½ cup unchlorinated water (optional)

2 tablespoons Kosher salt

Cheese wax or vegetable shortening

1. Use a double boiler or water bath to warm the milk to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Add the culture and let it dissolve on the milk’s surface for 2 minutes. Stir well using an up-and-down motion. Cover and let ripen for 40 minutes.

3. Add the diluted rennet and stir gently from top to bottom for 1 minute. Cover and let set at 86 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until the curd gives a clean break.

4. Cut the curd into ¼-inch cubes vertically and horizontally. Use a wire whisk and skimmer to ensure that all of the curd is cut. Let set for 5 minutes.

5. Gradually raise the temperature to 100 degrees Fahrenheit over 40 minutes. Stir gently but often to keep the curd from sticking together.

6. Let the curd rest for 30 minutes at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir occasionally, and let it settle to the bottom of the pot before draining.

7. Pour the curd into a muslin-lined colander with a bowl underneath, and save the whey for other recipes. Cover the colander and put it back in the warm pot for 15 minutes.

8. Place the block of curd on a cutting board, and cut it into 3-inch-wide slabs.

9. Put your pot back into a sink full of water heated to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and layer the slabs in a crisscross pattern inside the pot.

10. Cover the pot and maintain 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn the slabs over and rotate them top to bottom every 15 minutes for 2 hours. Drain off the whey when you turn them.

11. After 2 hours, the slabs of curd should be small and tough. Tear them into ½-inch pieces, mix in the salt, and let them sit for about 10 minutes.

12. Pour the curd into a 2-pound muslin-lined mold. Press at medium pressure (5 to 10 pounds) for 15 minutes.

13. Take the cheese from the mold and peel off the cloth. Turn the cheese over, rewrap it, and press it at firm pressure (20 to 45 pounds) for 12 hours.

14. Repeat the turning and rewrapping. Press at firm pressure for 24 hours.

15. Remove the cheese from the mold and the cloth from the cheese.

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