Look here how it started.

Today, after 3 month in the ICU , including twice a week washing with beer, this is the result.
A somewhat crumbly cheese, yet melts in the mouth, hew of paprika and parsley taste. Good sharpness due to the 3 months ageing, as expected. The official ageing should be 3-4 months, but as most of us, I had no more patience. I am not sorry at all.

Looks Awesome !!

WOW WOW

How did you get that shape?

Basically this is a lactic cheese. After some 48 hours of draining in the moulds, the cheese has a consistency that can be shaped by hand, although it is frustrating to keep the bullet shape that tends to collapse and is sticky. So, you have to shape it higher than it has to be finally. May be you will need up to a couple of days to make some “maintenance” until it will be firm enough. Now you can sprinkle the paprika and wait until the mold breaks through and start washing. After 3 months the cheese shrunk to almost half of it’s original size.

What about using one of those funnel sieves.

Good idea Neil. As I do not have one, I never tried it. The base dia should be 6-8 cm and the hight 10 cm.

Alex,
I love the look of your Boulette d’Avesnes, and i would love the recipe. I have searced the net and can only find vague reference to Lactic Cheeses and some obsure references to regional french cheeses. Can you post the recipe/process for us?

I want to make something that I can’t buy in the shops! Yours looked so good!

Here is a very basic recipe:

CURD PREPARATION FOR LACTIC COW and GOAT CHEESES
The curd is characterized by having both rennet and lactic qualities because small amounts of rennet are used and a high level of acidity is developed before the curd can be ladled into the forms to begin the draining of whey. The curd is formed in the vat during a period of 15 to 48 hours depending on the cheesemaker’s schedule. Because of their short aging period, these cheeses are made from pasteurized milk. The curd is made in the following manner:
Pasteurized milk at 20-22° C.
Add starter culture: EZAL MA series or MM series cultures are used. The EZAL MA series makes a tangy lactic curd and the MM series provides additional flavor from the L. diacetylactis and Leuconostoc bacteria (Mesophilic) added to the mix.
The cultures are added based on the time to wait before ladling curds. The temperature is also adjusted.

15-20 hours: 24° C
20-28 hours: 22° C
28-36 hours: 21° C
36-48 hours: 20° C

Mix the culture in for 5 minutes. Wait 25 more minutes.
Add rennet to the milk.
Ripen the milk for 15-48 hours. Signs that the curd is ready to ladle are that it has separated from the sides of the vat and there is a 13 mm layer of whey on top and there are cracks in the curd body.
The curd can be ladled and predrained in cheesecloth for 10-15 hours and then packed into forms or ladled directly into the forms. The extent of draining determines how much whey is removed from the curd. The draining period regulates the body characteristics and determines the final quality of the cheese. This period can be from 15-36 hours at a temperature of 20-22 deg C; lower temperatures inhibit whey drainage. Higher temperatures promote gas formation and excessive moisture loss; the forms can be turned several times to promote even drainage.
After draining is finished, the cheeses are removed from the forms and dry salted with a fine layer rolled or sifted onto the cheeses with flake salt, such as Kosher Salt. Penicillium mold and other mixtures may be sprayed onto the cheese at this point.
Follow the steps for making Brie and Camembert from this point on.

My remarks:

I use buttermilk as starter culture.
I inoculate the milk with penicillum candidum.
I drain the curds in a cheese cloth and when they reach the desired consistency, I shape the “bullet” by hand. Now you can make a mixture of salt and paprika and sprinkle all over the “bullet”. After it has bloomed, start washing with beer.
BTW - you may use almost any kind of herbs that you like.
The cheese may be eaten after a month to 3 or 4 months. then it will develope a stronger flavor and a crumblyer texture.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Marvellous. Thank-you. I’m going to have g at this.

Alex, those cheeses are tiny! I assume the dimnsions you gave are the final dimensions after losing half their size? Is this a traditional size?

Yes Bezza, lactic type cheeses are small in general. The size is taken from a french book. There are really tiny cheeses, bite size, 2 cm in dia and 3 cm in height.

OK. So I’ve started it. I was surprised at how much like yoghurt the curds were. I tried to make a mold from the tops of plastic bottles but that failed badly. In the end it was a messy process of using the hands. They don’t look too pretty yet but I’m hoping they can be smoothed off once they harden up a bit. I’ve also made them a bit biger than specified by Alex. Since they are all different (different herbs, and differrent sizes), we plan to share each one- so I need them a little bigger. I also am leaving the dusting until they are a little firmer and better shaped.

They are now dryng off on the bench in 44% humidity and 29 degrees C. That should make a dfference to the outcome too! (Queensland Australia, summer.)

May be I should warn you about the “job” being messy. They look soft but I hope they’ll firm up during additional drying. Didn’t you drain the curds in a collander lined with cheese cloth? Be ware of the 29 deg C, I’m afraid it’s to high.
I guess that the original size is a matter of the cheese’s consistency, so the bigger you make the “bullets” the more they’ll collapse.

Just in case you thought I would completely fail, here they are now coated in Paprika. They were much easier to handle once they dried little and also once they were coatd in the dry powder. They are now in the fridge
Thanks for your help Alex.

Look more like candy