Ben Evert.com » Cheese Making

How to Make Mozzarella Video

ben — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Cheddar Cheese

ben — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:33:00 +0000

Ingredients

1 Gallon Fresh Milk
1 oz. Mesophilic Starter Culture
1/4 tab Rennet
1 Tablespoon Salt

Instructions

Using a double boiler, warm the milk to 90 F (32.25 C).

Add 1 oz of mesophilic starter culture and mix thoroughly with a whisk, the culture must be uniform throughout the milk.

Allow the milk to ripen for one hour.

Dissolve 1/4 tab rennet into 3-4 tablespoons COOL water. Hot water will DESTROY the rennet enzymes.

Slowly pour the rennet into the milk stirring constantly with a whisk.

Stir for at least 5 minutes.

Allow the milk to set for 1-2 hours until a firm curd is set and a clean break can be obtained when the curd is cut.

With a long knife, cut the curds into 1/4 inch cubes.

Allow the curds to sit for 15 minutes to firm up.

Slowly raise the temperature of the milk to 102 F (39 C). It should take as long as 45 minutes to reach this temperature. During this time, gently stir the curds every few minutes so they don't mat together.

Cook the curds at 102 F (39 C) for another 45 minutes. During this time, gently stir the curds every few minutes so they don't mat together.

Drain the whey by pouring through a cheesecloth lined colander. Do this quickly and do not allow the curds to mat.

Place the curds back into the double boiler at 102 F (39 C). Stir the curds to separate any particles that have matted. Add the tablespoon of salt and mix thoroughly.

Cook the curds at 102 F (39 C) for one hour, stirring every few minutes.

Carefully place the curds into your cheesecloth lined mold.

Press the cheese at about 20 lbs. (9 kg) for 45 minutes.

Remove the cheese from the press and flip it.

Press the cheese at about 40 lbs. (18 kg) for 3 hours.

Remove the cheese from the press and flip it.

Press the cheese at about 50 lbs. (22.75 kg) for 24 hours.

Remove the cheese from the press. Place the cheese on a cheese board and dry at room temperature for 3-5 days, until the cheese is dry to the touch.

Wax the cheese and age it in your refrigerator for 3-24 months. The longer the cheese is aged the sharper the flavor it will develop. Be sure to flip the cheese every few days.

Cream Cheese

ben — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:26:00 +0000

Ingredients

1 gallon goat's milk (store-bought cow's milk will work too!)

¼ tsp. direct set mesophilic-m culture

2 Tbsp. diluted rennet (add 1 drop of rennet to 5 Tbsp. cool water)

Instructions

In a large pot add goat's milk. Heat milk to 80 degrees. Remove from heat and add the mesophilic-m culture and stir will. Add the rennet and stir. Cover the pan and let sit undisturbed at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.

After the time is up, what you have in the pot should look like very thick yogurt. Now you will drain and drip your cheese.

Line a colander with your clean cheesecloth. You can use a pillowcase if you do not have cheesecloth. Set this colander in a large bowl to catch the whey. Now drain your thick, yogurt-looking cheese into this cloth. Gather up the cloth and tie it tightly. Now you need to hang it somewhere so that the remaining whey will drip out. Generally, I hang it over the kitchen sink, so that it drips into the sink. Now let your cream cheese drain for about 6 to 8 hours. You can speed this process along by stirring the cream cheese about halfway through the time, and you can do it again if you need to.

When it is completed, what you have left is your cream cheese! You can salt it a bit or not; that is up to you. It is ready to be used right away over a homemade bagel, or you can use it for cooking or even cheesecake! You can also put some of the cream cheese in a food processor and blend it up a lot and you will end up with a great substitute for sour cream.

Source: Gourmet Sleuth

Farmer’s Cheese

ben — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 22:26:00 +0000

INGREDIENTS

1 gallon whole milk
1 pinch salt
1 large lemon, juiced

DIRECTIONS

Pour the milk into a large pot, and stir in a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

When the milk begins to boil (small bubbles will first appear at the edges or if using a thermometer 190 degrees F ), turn off the heat. Stir lemon juice into the milk, and the milk will curdle. You may need to wait 5 or 10 minutes.

Line a sieve or colander with a cheesecloth, and pour the milk through the cloth to catch the curds. What is left in the cheesecloth is the Farmer’s Cheese. The liquid is the whey. Some people keep the whey and drink it, but I throw it away. Gather the cloth around the cheese, and squeeze out as much of the whey as you can. Wrap in plastic, or place in an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator.

Feta Cheese

ben — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:28:00 +0000

Flicr photo by: Betsy Weber

INGREDIENTS AND EQUIPMENT:

1 gallon fresh goat’s milk (You can use store-bought cow’s milk as well.)
1 Tbl fresh yogurt
½ tablet rennet, dissolve in 1/4 cup water
1+ gallon pot with lid
1 long bladed knife
2 clean sterile handkerchiefs
strainer
cheese mold: Cut the ends out of a smooth-sided 4 x 5 inch tin can, save one of the cut ends.
table salt

STEPS:

Warm milk to 30°C (86°F) . Stir regularly so that it does not burn on the bottom. (Less stirring is required if the pot has a thick heat dissipating bottom.) Remove from heat.

Mix 1 Tbl yogurt with equal part milk to blend, then stir the blended yogurt and milk into the warmed milk to thoroughly mix. Cover and let inoculated milk sit for one hour at room temperature.

While the inoculated milk sits, dissolve 1/2 tablet rennet in fresh cool water.

After the inoculated milk has sat for one hour, add dissolved rennet to the inoculated milk, stir to mix thoroughly.Let the inoculated, renneted milk sit covered overnight at room temperature.

The next morning, the milk should have gelled. Some of the whey will have separated. Check for a clean break.

Cut curd as per basic cheese : start at one side, cut straight down to bottom. Make the next cut ½ inch from and parallel to the first, but sloping slightly (the sliced curd will be wider at bottom than top). Repeat increasing angle with each cut . Turn pot 90°, repeat cuts . Repeat cuts and turning two more times. The curd pieces should be about ½ inch cubes.

With very clean hand and arm, reach to the bottom and gently lift the curds to stir. Cut large pieces which appear with a table knife so that they are ½ inch cubes . Let the cut curds sit, with occasional stirring, for 10-15 minutes until curd is somewhat contracted.

Decant off the whey through the strainer lined with the handkerchief, pour curds into handkerchief. Save the whey to make whey brine. Let drain until no more whey drains out (about 2-4 hours). It may be drained at room temperature, or in the refrigerator.

Place drained curds into a bowl, mix in a ½ tsp salt, breaking up the curd.

Press into mold as per basic cheese: Line can with handkerchief, place curds inside, fold over ends of cloth, place end on top, and place weight on top of that. Let sit overnight.

Prepare pickling whey brine (12.5% salt): 20 oz of whey plus 5 Tbl salt. Stir to dissolve. The brine must be acidic or else the cheese will melt on the surface

Cut cheese into 1.5 inch cubes, place into wide-mouth jar. Pour brine over to cover . Let pickle for several days in the refrigerator. The cheese will become drier and more easily crumbled with time. Store in the frig.

Rinse before use to remove excess salt .

Simple Provolone

ben — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:07:00 +0000

Flickr photo by: Dan Bock

Ingredients

1 gallon whole milk
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet

Steps

Heat 1 gallon milk to 86 degrees.
Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of liquid rennet in 1/4 cup of water.
Add diluted rennet to the milk.
When coaugulated firmly, cut into 3/4 inche tubes.
Increase the temperature of the curds as high as your hands can tolerate.
Using your hands, press the curds into 1 solid ball and remove it from the whey.
Place the curds into a mold and press gently until firm.
Return the curd, still in mold, to the whey
Heat whey to 200 degrees.
Turn off heat and wait until everything is cold.
Remove cheese from whey and allow to drain for 24 hours.
Soak in a saturated salt solution for 1 hour.

Yield is about 1 pound

Queso Blanco

ben — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:09:00 +0000

Flicr photo by: Sergis Blog

Ingredients

1 gallon whole milk
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Steps

In a large pot, directly heat the milk to between 185 – 190 degrees, stirring often to prevent scorching.

Slowly add the vinegar, a little at a time, until the curds sperate from the whey.

Pour the curds and whey into a colander lined with butter muslin. Tie the corners and hang for several hours or until desired consistency,

Remove the cheese from the muslin. Store in covered bowl in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks

Yield is about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds

Small Curd Cottage Cheese

ben — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:12:00 +0000

Flicr photo by: Shagadelicbabe

Ingredients

1 gallon pastuerized skim milk
1/8 teaspoon calcium chloride
1 packet direct set mesophilic starter
Optional: 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, cheese salt, herbs, or fruit

Steps

Heat the milk to 72 degrees. If using calcium chloride, add it now.

Add the starter and mix throughly. Cover and let stand at 72 degrees for 16-24 hours. The curd will be rather soft.

Cut the curd into 1/4 inch cubes and let stand for 15 minutes.

Increase the heat by one degree per minute until it reaches 100 degrees. Stir gently every few minutes to keep the curds from matting.

Maintain the temperature at 100 degrees for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.

Increase the temperature to 112 degrees over a 15 minute period.

Maintain the temperature at 112 degrees for 30 minutes or until the curds are firm. Test for firmness by squeezing a curd btween your thumb and forefinger.

When the curds are sufficiently cooked, let them settle to the bottom of the pot for 5 minutes.

Pour off the whey and pour the curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth. Tie the corners of the cheesecloth into a knot.

Let the bag drain for several minutes.

Rinse the bag in a bowl of ice water to cool and place the bag in a colander to drain for 5 minutes.

Untie the bag and place the curds in a bowl. Breal up any pieces that have matted. If desired, add heavy cream to produce a creamier mixture.

Add the salt, herbs or fruit to taste, if desired.

30 Minute Mozzarella

ben — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:22:00 +0000

Flickr Photo By: Adactio

This is a really fun recipe. You can have homemade mozzarella cheese in less than an hour. For extra flavor, I usually add a little powdered goat’s milk

Ingredients

2 level teaspoons citric acid
1 gallon pasteurized whole milk
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon lipase powder
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet
1 teaspoon cheese salt

Steps:

Add the citric acid to the milk and mix thoroughly. If using lipase add it now.

Heat milk to 88 degrees

Add diluted rennet to the milk gently stirring in an up-and-down motion.

Continue to heat until temperature reaches 105 degrees. Turn heat off and let curd stand until you get a clean break.

Curds should look like thick yogurt. If the whey is still milky wait a few more minutes.

Scoop out the curds with a slotted spoon and put into a 2-quart microwavable bowl. Press the curds gently with your hands, pouring off as much whey as possible. Reserve the whey.

Mircowave the curds on high for 1 minute. Drain off excess whey. Quickly work the cheese into a ball until it is cool enough to touch.

Microwave 2 more times for 35 seconds each. After each heating, work the cheese into a ball until it is cool enough to touch. Drain all excess whey each time.

Knead quickly like bread dough until smooth. Sprinkle on the salt while kneading and stretching. When the cheese stretches like taffy, it is done.
When the cheese is smooth and shiny, it is ready to eat. Best when eaten right away, but if you store it in the refrigerator, cover it.

Yield is 3/4 to 1 pound

Homemade Butter

ben — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:44:00 +0000

Photo by: Terry Ballard

Ingredients

1 pint pasteurized heavy cream or whipping cream
1/2 cup cold water
Cheese Salt (optional)

Procedure

Let cream set at room temperature for several hours to ripen

Pour into a 1-quart canning jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake viqorously

After 5-10 minutes,when the butter has formed,pour off the liquid buttermilk and spoon the solids into a bowl

Add the water and press with the back of the spoon to help expel more buttermilk. Pour off the excess liquid and continue adding cold water and expelling buttermilk until the liquid runs clear.

Add salt to taste. Refrigerate overnight. This butter will keep for up to 1 week.

Yield is about 8 ounces

I like to use 1 pint jars instead of the quart jars. Also, do not use ultra-pasteurized cream. If you do, use a cheese starter and let the cream ripen for about 18 hours.