Hi All, wanted to thank you for the great forum. Learning a lot.
I am attempting my first cheese this evening. A Neufchatel. What is the proper pronunciation of this?
I am planning on quartering the results to mix in chives and garlic in one, ham and green pepper in another, crushed pineapple in another, and olives in the last. Do you see a problem with any of these?
Anyway, wish me luck, and I will be posting back my results.
Well, a little disappointing news, no clean break after about 14 hours. Looks like I will have to wait a little longer. I used 3 drops of liquid rennet in 1/4 cup of distilled water. The milk was 67 degrees F. I used Fankhausers recipe. Maybe should have used Carrols, as she says 80 degrees F. We will see. I have used a microwaveable heater pad to raise the temp to see if that will help. My house is about 69 degrees.
Bummed out, 27 hours and did not get a clean break. Have to try again. In this situation, what do you do to salvage the mix? Is it possible to salvage it, or do you just start fresh?
I am starting fresh as I don’t know what else to do.
Freshest possible milk.
Use CaCl if it is store bought.
Careful about temperature.
Don’t disturb at all 4 minutes after adding rennet.
Make sure rennet is well incorporated.
My batch this morning is still soup and did not curd up properly, and leads me to another question. In RC’s book she says to use 4 drops of rennet for a gallon then put in a teaspoon of the diluted solution. When I read the rennet bottle, it says to use 5 drops per quart/litre. Could I not be using enough rennet to get it to set?
How much rennet would any of you start with for a gallon of Grade A pasteurized milk?
Sorry to be such a bother, but I am just starting to learn, and would like to have some success. I guess we will be having buttermilk pancakes this morning for breakfast. At least those should be good.
Neufchatel is a tough cheese for starting out. It can be very finicky. I use one gallon of whole milk and a pint of whole cream. I bring that to exactly 72 degrees F in a double boiler and let it set at that temp for a few minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of powdered Mesophyllic culture, stir in well. Then, for that amount of milk, use one teaspoon of a diluted rennet mixture made with 3 drops of liquid rennet diluted in exactly 1/3 cup of water—these are very precise measurements. Use top-to-bottom stirring to mix well for 1 minute or so. It takes 12-18 hours to get a good curd. During this time, make sure the milk is covered and not disturbed.
Don’t cut the resulting curd, just gently pour it into a cheesecloth lined colander to drain, then tie the cheesecloth and allow to drain 6 to 12 hours. It should no longer drip and should be a solid mass of curd. Put this in a large pot and put 7 or 8 pounds of weight on it. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours or so.
Next, put the pressed curds into a bowl and gently mix in salt to taste. The cheese is ready to eat, or can be kept in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap, for a week or so.
Thanks RR for the input. I have decided to drain the curds anyway, and presently have them in the bag, with clear whey coming out.
I am also going to do some research on Country Fresh, as that is the predominant milk in southwest Michigan. Any of you cheese makers from Michigan know of a better brand of store milk, I would appreciate knowing.
Thanks for all the advice, and if you can think of anything else, let me know.
No tall rennets are alike, so its important to read the bottle instructions as to how much to use, not the recipe. U can always add more rennet after several hours has past to try and save the mix. If the whole thing becomes a mess ( usually u have some kind of coagulation) I just drain it and use it in cooking.
