|
Cottage
Cheese / Cheese
Curds
(Fias
Co Farm Style) |
Ingredients:
- 2-3
gallons goat milk (or cow milk) (I use raw, unpasteurized milk)
- 1/4 tsp.
mesophilic
DVI Culture "MM"*
or 4
oz. Mesophilic culture or
1 Cup. Buttermilk
- 1/2
tsp. Liquid rennet (I
use double strength vegetable rennet),
dissolved in 1/4 C. water
- 1-2
T. kosher salt
*The DVI
cultures I use are EZAL cultures from France purchased from
The Dairy Connection.
Bring
the milk to 86°
(90° for
cow milk) and
add the mesophilic culture. Stir well and let set, to ripen, for
1 hour. Add the rennet and stir briskly for 15 seconds. Cover
the pot and let the milk set for 45 minutes, or until you get a clean
break. Hold the milk at a temperature of 86°
(90° for
cow milk) for
the entire time. Cut
the curds into 1/2" pieces with a stainless steel knife.
This always seem to be the trickiest part of cheese making, but take
your time, and don't worry if all the curds are cut to exactly 1/2".
After you have cut the curds, do not stir them yet. Let them rest,
undisturbed for 10 minutes (5 minutes for cow milk).
Now
you can stir the curds gently and cut any that you had missed.
What you are doing here is making the size cottage cheese curd/lump
you like. Raise the temperature of the curds to 95°
(99° for
cow milk) over
the next 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so the curds do not stick
together. Let the curds settle for 5 minutes, undisturbed.
Drain
the the whey until it in level with the curds (about 1/2-3/4 of the
whey). Add enough cold water to lower the temp to 85°.
Stir as you add the water. Now, leave the curds
in this cheese 85°
water/whey for for
10 minutes, stirring with your hand occasionally so that the curds don't
stick together.
Pour the curds into
a colander and let drain. Carefully stir occasionally so it dose not
stick together (too badly). After about 1/2 hour, you can carefully
separate/break up the curds into a bowl and salt to taste. Cover and
let sit in the fridge at least 2 days. The curds may be "squeaky"
at first, but with the aging, they loose their squeak".
This is a "dry"
cottage cheese, if you like it "wet", you may add some cream
to it. |
