I got this from Artisan Cheese Making at Home by Mary Karlin. She says that the cheese maker at Beecher Cheese gave her the recipe to put in her book.
2 gallon pasteurized milk
2 cup pasteurized heavy cream
½ tsp MESO III
½ tsp calcium chloride diluted in ¼ cup of non chlorinated water
½ tsp liquid calf rennet diluted in ¼ cup of non chlorinated water
2 tbs salt kosher
2 oz butter or lard for bandaging or wax it
1. Heat milk to 89 deg. This should take about 20 minutes.
2. Add starter. Let float 5 min, stir 1 min. Ripen for 45 min.
3. Add calcium chloride and gently stir for 1 minute.
4. Add the rennet and gently stir 1 min. Let set until clean break - about 35 min.
5. Cut curd in ½” chunks, let set rest for 10 min.
6. Heat curd to 101°F, increasing temperature 2 degrees every 5 minutes. This should take about 35 minutes. Stir often to prevent matting.
7. Ladle off enough whey to expose the curds and continue to stir for 45 to 60 minutes, keeping the temperature at 98° to 100°.
8. Ladle out most of the whey and add enough 50° water to bring the curd temperature down to 79°.
9. Let rest for 4 minutes.
10. Place a colander over a pot big enough to capture the whey. Line it with a damp cheesecloth and ladle the curds into it. Keep the curds broken up for 30 minutes by gently using your hands to keep the curds from knitting together.
11. Toss the curds with the salt for 5 minutes.
12. Line a 5” cheese mold with cheesecloth and put the curds in it.
13. Let drain for 10 minutes.
14. Press at 5 lb. pressure for 15 min.
15. Remove from mold, flip over and return to press.
16. Press at 15lbs for 1 hours.
17. Remove from mold, flip over and press at 15lbs of pressure for 10 hours
17. Remove from mold and air dry in the cheese cave at 55° to 60° and 85% humidity for 24 hours. This will setup surface for rind development.
18. Rub the cheese with butter or lard and bandage with cheesecloth. Age at 55° to 60° with 65% to 75% humidity for at least 2 months, flipping it every other day.
To make pepper jack out of this, I put 2 tsp of chopped jalopeno’s and 2 tsp of red pepper flakes in 1/2 cup of water and boil it. When it’s time to toss with salt, I add the peppers and liquid first, and toss that in, and then toss in the salt.
Edited recipe 2-3-13 to be 2 gallons of milk, changed the pressing instructions, and added the peppers.
This makes a nice creamy moist cheese. I do not recommend the cloth banding. I did one with a cloth band and one with a wax and the wax was so much better than the cloth banded one.
