Cheesemaking

[Dagstag v 2.0]

I am trying my hand at cheesemaking today. My manager's wife makes cheese and had culture that would expire before she could reasonably use it, so he gave it to me.

So, I got a gallon of fancy organic grassfed non-ultra-pasteurized milk and hopefully in several hours, I'll have 4 balls of fresh mozzarella. 

This is an all day process! His wife sent printed out instructions for me which looked to take 4 or 5 hours, and then he emailed me over the weekend saying "She also says that this needs to sit for an additional 4-6 hours after pressing (before you start pulling it) in order for it to be stretchy, because with this culture, the ph goes down slowly." I replied back that I would need a day off just to make this cheese.

[caribougrrl]

fantastic!  was it difficult?

[Dagstag v 2.0]

fantastic!  was it difficult?

Don't know yet still waiting for curd to set. I estimate it'll be done in 7 or so hours.  I have wanted to try making cheese for a long time, even bought a book on it, and this is an easy first cheese to make. Maybe eventually, I can build a cave (out of a mini fridge) and try bleus and the Camembert types.

[merigayle]

There was a cheese making kit on amazon lightening deals today!

[Natasha]

I took a cheese-making class down at The Heritage just north of Waco. I just looked and I can't find the cookbook I got. And I can't remember it that well, but if you have any questions I can try to answer. And I'll go look once more for the cookbook. I made two batches in the class and twice here at home, and then decided it wasn't worth it.

Where did you get your milk?  That was the hardest part for me. I got the low-pasteurized Kalona at Sprouts.

[Dagstag v 2.0]

I took a cheese-making class down at The Heritage just north of Waco. I just looked and I can't find the cookbook I got. And I can't remember it that well, but if you have any questions I can try to answer. And I'll go look once more for the cookbook. I made two batches in the class and twice here at home, and then decided it wasn't worth it.

Where did you get your milk?  That was the hardest part for me. I got the low-pasteurized Kalona at Sprouts.

I got the fancy shmancy milk at Central Market. It was $8 for a gallon! I don't have a source for raw milk anymore since the divorce Actually, I'm sure I could still get some if I was willing to drive out to Bryan for it.

I'd like to try goat milk cheese too at some point.  I don't know how often I'd do this, though... The manager's wife is home everyday, and I know her thing is kind of homesteading... She cooks and bakes a lot from scratch. I'm doing this today because Sunday is generally my day of leisure. It might be better when I can make aged cheeses and don't have to worry about eating a pound of cheese before it goes bad, right after I make it.

[Dagstag v 2.0]

Well...

It was a lot firmer than I thought it would/should be.  Definitely not like the soft fresh mozzarella you get at the market.  It tastes good, I'll probably wind up shredding it and melting it on something.  Unmelted, it kind of squeaks between the teeth.

I'll try again, but not in the near near future.  That was more time than I wanted to spend making cheese, not sure how often I'd want to do that all day.

[Natasha]

I think the more you stretch it the firmer it gets.

[Dagstag v 2.0]

I think the more you stretch it the firmer it gets.

See, it didn't seem very stretchy when I poured the hot water over the curds! Hmmm. I dunno. I want to get a pH meter of some kind as well, if I'm going to make cheese again.