How do you do the under-whey pressing in terms of making cheese at home?
we discussed this a lot in other threads, but i will summarize
two methods
but main issue is to have the curds pressed while all still submerged in whey, and have ur pot as same as size as the final mold
to do so :
1- you pour the whey from the pot “until above the curd level” to another secondary pot (fill at least 1/3 to1/2 of it), place the mold in the secondary (so u will have mold and whey inside and outside). keep the whey at target temp do not let it cool.
then start to scoop the cruds with its whey from primary pot into the mold until u scoop all of them, be aware not keep the scooped curds above whey level, when u finish, put the follower and press, after u finish, take out the cheese block, and wrap it in cheese cloth and take out the mold and press in ur normal way.
OR
2- same all but scoop them inside cheese cloth (instead of mold) and turn and press by hand (all under whey) then place heavy metal on it until pressed, then remove the cloth and place in mold.
How do you do the under-whey pressing in terms of making cheese at home?
we discussed this a lot in other threads, but i will summarize
two methods
but main issue is to have the curds pressed while all still submerged in whey, and have ur pot as same as size as the final mold
to do so :
1- you pour the whey from the pot “until above the curd level” to another secondary pot (fill at least 1/3 to1/2 of it), place the mold in the secondary (so u will have mold and whey inside and outside). keep the whey at target temp do not let it cool.
then start to scoop the cruds with its whey from primary pot into the mold until u scoop all of them, be aware not keep the scooped curds above whey level, when u finish, put the follower and press, after u finish, take out the cheese block, and wrap it in cheese cloth and take out the mold and press in ur normal way.
OR
2- same all but scoop them inside cheese cloth (instead of mold) and turn and press by hand (all under whey) then place heavy metal on it until pressed, then remove the cloth and place in mold.
i do the first way
OK, the technique sounds relatively simple. How long do you press while under whey? And with how much pressure? Are we talking about just squeezing the curd with hand pressure into a semi-solid with no air in it; or is this a lengthier process than that?
Another thought. We’ve talked about pressing Swiss under whey - what about other cheeses?
How do you do the under-whey pressing in terms of making cheese at home?
we discussed this a lot in other threads, but i will summarize
two methods
but main issue is to have the curds pressed while all still submerged in whey, and have ur pot as same as size as the final mold
to do so :
1- you pour the whey from the pot “until above the curd level” to another secondary pot (fill at least 1/3 to1/2 of it), place the mold in the secondary (so u will have mold and whey inside and outside). keep the whey at target temp do not let it cool.
then start to scoop the cruds with its whey from primary pot into the mold until u scoop all of them, be aware not keep the scooped curds above whey level, when u finish, put the follower and press, after u finish, take out the cheese block, and wrap it in cheese cloth and take out the mold and press in ur normal way.
OR
2- same all but scoop them inside cheese cloth (instead of mold) and turn and press by hand (all under whey) then place heavy metal on it until pressed, then remove the cloth and place in mold.
i do the first way
OK, the technique sounds relatively simple. How long do you press while under whey? And with how much pressure? Are we talking about just squeezing the curd with hand pressure into a semi-solid with no air in it; or is this a lengthier process than that?
Another thought. We’ve talked about pressing Swiss under whey - what about other cheeses?
I was just talking about the technique itself not the process which is related to each type of cheese…
as i said i follow the first method, and i start with 1/2 of curds weight press for 5 min then with same weight of curd each for 5 mins (total 10), then with double weight for another 10 mins , grand total 20 mins;
No air should be trapped and slowly enough to not trap whey between the curds…
other cheeses like ? Gouda u mean ? Comte ? Gruyère ? Abondance ?
How does the under-whey pressing affect the final cheese texture/taste…..?
Alex, taste will not be affected
it is all about texture, as u know, some cheeses has mechanical opening (not round) , and some has gas opening like swiss emental, and some has very very little like Gruyère.
to achieve round big eyes or to achieve zero, u need to eliminate the mechanical opening, so they press under whey so no any air is there.
when there are air trapped , this means the gases will find place there, but if there is no place, the gases will uniform in big eyes…. with respect to many other major factors (pH, calcium level, ....)
A real Emmental’er should be 70 cm - 1 m in dia, 13-25 cm high ,weighing 60 - 130 kgs and with holes of 1.5 - 3 cm in dia. I think that cheeses we make, never reach those measurements, therefore, I guess, the holes will be proportionally smaller. I think there is not enough room where to develop such big holes.
