fifteen pounds for sixteen hours.
Take the cheese out of the mold, and let it air-dry. This should take several days. Be sure to turn the cheese several times daily to ensure even drying. When the cheese is dry to the touch, it is ready to be ripened. Ripen in your refrigerator at 55°F (13°C) at 80–85 percent humidity for three weeks, turning several times a week.
Yield: 2 pounds (900 g)
Artisan Advice
Although the process of making cheese is not terribly difficult, it can be time consuming. Taking into account all of the factors involved in culturing, renneting, scalding, stirring, milling, and pressing, you should allow anywhere from three to four hours per session.
Cloth-Banded Cheddar
This cheese is not something you can make in a hurry, but you will find it quite rewarding. It has a texture that is drier, with a crumbly flake that is associated with traditional English cheeses. Age it for six months (if you can hold out that long), and see what flavor intensity has developed.
We associate Cheddar with the firm, somewhat sharp yellow English cheese, but the word cheddar also refers to a unique method of layering the curds when making this famous cheese.
INGREDIENTS
2 gallons (7.6 L) whole milk
4 tablespoons (60 ml) mesophilic mother culture, or ¼ teaspoon (about 2 ml) mesophilic direct-set culture
teaspoon (about 1 g) calcium chloride diluted in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool water (see page 72 )
1 teaspoon (5 ml) liquid rennet diluted in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool water
2 tablespoons (36 g) cheese salt
TECHNIQUES
For illustrated steps and tools, see Intermediate Cheese-Making Techniques, page 82 .
PROCEDURE
Heat the milk to 86°F (30°C), then stir in the starter culture, cover, and ripen for forty-five minutes. Add calcium chloride. Maintaining the target temperature of 86°F (30°C), add the rennet to the milk, and stir for one minute. Cover and let it sit at target temperature for forty minutes, or until you get a clean break (see page 83 ). Make one cut with a curd knife to test for a clean break.
Maintaining the target temperature, cut the curds into ¼" (6 mm) cubes, and let them rest for five minutes. Slowly heat the curds to 100°F (38°C), stirring occasionally to prevent the curds from matting. This should take thirty minutes. Once you reach the target temperature, hold for an additional thirty minutes, continuing to stir. Let the curds rest for twenty minutes at the target temperature.
Drain the curds into a cheese cloth–lined colander and let them sit for fifteen minutes at room temperature. You now have a large block of curd. Cut the block into ½" (about 1 cm) -thick strips, and lay them in an 8" x 8" (20 x 20 cm) pan in a crisscross pattern. Cover with a kitchen towel, and put the cake pan into a sink filled with 100°F (38°C) water, to a depth that comes just to the top of the pan. Make certain that the water does not get into the pan. Keep the curds at 100°F (38°C). Rotate the curds top to bottom every fifteen minutes for two hours. Be sure to drain the whey from the cake pan every time you flip the curds. By the end of two hours, your strips should be smaller and tough, with a smooth, shiny finish on the sides. Tear your curds into ½" (about 1 cm) pieces, and put them back into the pan. Cover and let them sit in the 100°F (38°C) water for an additional thirty minutes. Stir the curds frequently to keep them from matting. Blend in the salt by hand, and let the curds rest for five minutes at room temperature.
Banding Cheese
Cloth banding is the traditional way to form a rind on Cheddar cheese. The advantage to cloth is that the cheese can breathe more effectively than when covered in wax, and proper breathing gives the cheese a richer, fuller flavor. Cloth banding is easy to do, and it gives your cheese an authentic look.
PROCEDURE Place the cheese on a clean sheet of cheese cloth, trace the top and bottom of the cheese, and cut out four circles that are each wide enough for the cheese cloth to cover
Take the cheese out of the mold, and let it air-dry. This should take several days. Be sure to turn the cheese several times daily to ensure even drying. When the cheese is dry to the touch, it is ready to be ripened. Ripen in your refrigerator at 55°F (13°C) at 80–85 percent humidity for three weeks, turning several times a week.
Yield: 2 pounds (900 g)
Artisan Advice
Although the process of making cheese is not terribly difficult, it can be time consuming. Taking into account all of the factors involved in culturing, renneting, scalding, stirring, milling, and pressing, you should allow anywhere from three to four hours per session.
Cloth-Banded Cheddar
This cheese is not something you can make in a hurry, but you will find it quite rewarding. It has a texture that is drier, with a crumbly flake that is associated with traditional English cheeses. Age it for six months (if you can hold out that long), and see what flavor intensity has developed.
We associate Cheddar with the firm, somewhat sharp yellow English cheese, but the word cheddar also refers to a unique method of layering the curds when making this famous cheese.
INGREDIENTS
2 gallons (7.6 L) whole milk
4 tablespoons (60 ml) mesophilic mother culture, or ¼ teaspoon (about 2 ml) mesophilic direct-set culture
teaspoon (about 1 g) calcium chloride diluted in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool water (see page 72 )
1 teaspoon (5 ml) liquid rennet diluted in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool water
2 tablespoons (36 g) cheese salt
TECHNIQUES
For illustrated steps and tools, see Intermediate Cheese-Making Techniques, page 82 .
PROCEDURE
Heat the milk to 86°F (30°C), then stir in the starter culture, cover, and ripen for forty-five minutes. Add calcium chloride. Maintaining the target temperature of 86°F (30°C), add the rennet to the milk, and stir for one minute. Cover and let it sit at target temperature for forty minutes, or until you get a clean break (see page 83 ). Make one cut with a curd knife to test for a clean break.
Maintaining the target temperature, cut the curds into ¼" (6 mm) cubes, and let them rest for five minutes. Slowly heat the curds to 100°F (38°C), stirring occasionally to prevent the curds from matting. This should take thirty minutes. Once you reach the target temperature, hold for an additional thirty minutes, continuing to stir. Let the curds rest for twenty minutes at the target temperature.
Drain the curds into a cheese cloth–lined colander and let them sit for fifteen minutes at room temperature. You now have a large block of curd. Cut the block into ½" (about 1 cm) -thick strips, and lay them in an 8" x 8" (20 x 20 cm) pan in a crisscross pattern. Cover with a kitchen towel, and put the cake pan into a sink filled with 100°F (38°C) water, to a depth that comes just to the top of the pan. Make certain that the water does not get into the pan. Keep the curds at 100°F (38°C). Rotate the curds top to bottom every fifteen minutes for two hours. Be sure to drain the whey from the cake pan every time you flip the curds. By the end of two hours, your strips should be smaller and tough, with a smooth, shiny finish on the sides. Tear your curds into ½" (about 1 cm) pieces, and put them back into the pan. Cover and let them sit in the 100°F (38°C) water for an additional thirty minutes. Stir the curds frequently to keep them from matting. Blend in the salt by hand, and let the curds rest for five minutes at room temperature.
Banding Cheese
Cloth banding is the traditional way to form a rind on Cheddar cheese. The advantage to cloth is that the cheese can breathe more effectively than when covered in wax, and proper breathing gives the cheese a richer, fuller flavor. Cloth banding is easy to do, and it gives your cheese an authentic look.
PROCEDURE Place the cheese on a clean sheet of cheese cloth, trace the top and bottom of the cheese, and cut out four circles that are each wide enough for the cheese cloth to cover
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