Raw Goat White
April 25, 2011Ingredients:
- 11 pints Ellie’s Dairy raw Goat milk
- 2.5ml animal rennet
- DVI starter
- Penicillium candidum
I’ve been concentrating on cheddar-making now for a while, which although a lot of fun, takes quite a long time to produce results!
I decided it would be fun to make some quicker cheeses, which would ripen up in a couple of weeks rather than needing a year or so.
The make itself is also a lot simpler and less involved than a cheddar – a couple of hours work as opposed to 6-7 hours.
Excellent Ellie's Goat Milk
Barely filling the vat
Penicillium Candidum
I used Penicillium Candidum in preference to Penicillium Camemberti, as the Candidum seems to give a thinner, less leathery rind than the Camemberti.
Measuring out rennet
Added a few grains of DVI starter and Penicillium Candidum to the milk at 32C, stirred and left for 30 minutes.
DVI needs a higher temperature than normal starter, which begins working at around 21C.
At this point, measure out the rennet and dilute in 5-6 times volume clean, cold water.
2.5ml rennet might seem quite a large amount for this volume of milk, but this is required to coagulate the milk in a reasonable time (1h30).
I’ve only noticed after making cheddar repeatedly, that I need to double the amount of rennet recommended in recipes in order to achieve a good coagulation time.
I suspect this is either down to my rennet being poor quality, or the recipe’s referencing the different strengths of their time / experience.
Mixing in the diluted rennet
Add the diluted rennet to the milk, and stir for around 3-4 minutes.
Clean break
After 1h30 the curd is sufficiently coagulated to give a clean break.
Notice swirly lines on the right hand side – not sure what causes these, but I notice them sometimes, usually when making soft cheese.
I suspect they may be down to insufficient stirring at renneting, or the quantity of water in dilution being too high.
It could also be that the curd has coagulated enough to actually start breaking away from itself … if anyone has other ideas, please let me know!
Ladelled into moulds
Curd is ladelled out without cutting, and allowed to drain naturally with just the follower on top for pressure.
7 hours in
After around 7 hours of draining, the curd should have reduced in height by about 2/3.
Flip the curd, making sure the bottom doesn’t end up resting in the drained whey.
Draining curd
Flip again the next day, at which point the curd should be pretty well drained, and almost be able to survive on it’s own outside the mould without collapsing.
Ready for salting
After another 7-8 hours, remove the curd from the moulds and rub them with pure, fine salt.
For the 4 larger cheeses, I used 4g salt, whereas the smaller ones got 2g.
Curd surface
Dry off at 18C @ 70-80% humidity for a couple of days.
Wrapped up
Wrap the cheese in wax paper to prevent the mould from growing too thick and from spreading to other cheeses!
Store at 10-12C @ 85-95% humidity, turning daily for 10-14 days.
8 days young
Cut open
After 8 days I decided to check out one of the smaller ones:
- Outer appearance: consistent layer of thin, white mould without discolouration
- Colour & texture: uniform natural white; open texture, breaks easily in one clean line
- Consistency of body: soft; slightly chalky
- Flavour & aroma: very clean; no mushroom flavour or acidic bite; a little low on salt; very mild
9 days old
The next day, I tasted the same cheese, half of which had been sitting in my (actual) fridge, wrapped in wax paper.
What a transformation in just a day! It may look pretty much the same, but the flavour and aroma had altered significantly from practically nothing to quite a fresh mushroom, reminiscent of a young Caerphilly!
10 days old
Creamy inside
Another day, another completely different cheese! I opened one of the larger ones:
- Outer appearance: roughly 1mm layer of white mould
- Colour & texture: changes from slightly yellow at the edges, to white towards the centre; breaks cleanly
- Consistency of body: rind gives slight resistance; creamy and soft below the rind; chalky towards the centre
- Flavour & aroma: clean; subtle, warm flavour; no acidity or bite; no particular smell
Looks very nice, esp. the rind! I’d never thought of wrapping them in wax paper during the initial aging (I only do this after the 12-14 day aging). I wonder if that helps keep the rind down? Also, as far as the swirls after the curd forms, I’ve seen this and also think this is because the curd is so set that it’s breaking away from itself.
Rather than insufficient stirring when adding rennet, I’ve heard that if you only stir in one direction, the curd will form up in the swirled pattern. Maybe that’s why your curd has the strange breaks in it??? I’ve never had it happen, but I always stir in figure eights and up and down. The cheeses look great though!
I have also had the swirls and I think it comes from the stirring. If there is still movement below while the curd starts to set it creates these swirl fractures and when the curd fully sets, they just break away. Doesn’t seem to cause any problems though. Great looking Cams anyway! Love the molds.
Could be over stirring – stirring for too long that forms these striations?
Try stirring the milk for 4 mins if working with a lot of milk, or 40 secs for a bucket of milk,
in the latter; slowly stir top & bottom of bucket with goats’ milk for 20 secs, then slower for 10 secs & even slower for last 10 secs.
works for me (when I’m not rushing)
“Notice swirly lines on the right hand side – not sure what causes these”
IMHO you stir too long and after stirring the milk flow should be stopped immediately. You can accomplish this by holding your laddle a few seconds in the direction of the flow.
“I’ve only noticed after making cheddar repeatedly, that I need to double the amount of rennet recommended in recipes in order to achieve a good coagulation time.”
Do you use Calcium Chloride CaCl ? I make camembert from cowmilk and put CaCl in the milk to shorten coagulation time. And improve the curd.
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