It has been a long time since I wrote anything. Sorry about that, but that does not mean I have not been busy making cheese. In the month of March I have been doing an experiment with Toscano Pepato . I got this recipe from Riki Carrol's web site and I have made it a few times. It is sort of like an Italian Pepper Jack cheese. It is made in the grana style (think Parmesan and Romano) but it is not aged nearly as long. It can be aged longer, but I only age mine for 4 months usually. Well in March so far I have made a Toscano Pepato every week. Each week I have tried something slightly different in the making. The idea is to use the video blog to see how the experiments have turned out! I have kept the ingredients of the basic recipe the same, but have changed things like what temperature I ripen the cheese at, and what peppers I add to the cheese.
The basic recipe is pretty straight forward:
3 gallons of milk (I use Trickling Springs Cream Line Whole Milk)
1/4 tsp lipase powder
1/4 tsp calcium chloride
1/8 tsp mesophilic starter (I use MM100)
1/4 tsp thermophilic starter (I use TA61)
rennet to set in 20 minutes (1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp of single strength)
Heat milk to 98 degrees and hold at that temperature for 90 minutes. I add the lipase powder, calcium chloride, mesophilic starter and thermophilic starter when the milk reaches 70 degrees.
After 90 minutes add the rennet and stir with an up and down motion for 2 minutes. Quiet milk and let set for 20 minutes. Check for a clean break.
If you have a clean break cut the curd using a whisk into 1/4 inch pieces. Heat milk slowly to 118 degrees (over about 30 minutes). The more you stir the cheese the drier the curd will become. The drier the curd the longer you can age it. If you keep the moisture content high, then you can eat the cheese in 4 months, if you stir more, then you can age it for 9 months or a year. Just depends on what you are going for. Experiment and have fun. Make some that will age in 4 months and make some that will age in 9 months to a year.
When the curd has reached the right temperature, let it sit for 5 minutes. Pour off the whey down to the level of the curds. Add curds to your cheese cloth lined mold . Layer the curds and pepper. Layer of curds then sprinkle on the pepper, add more curds and then sprinkle on the pepper.
Once all of the curds have been added, press the cheese at 10 pounds for 1 hour, flipping the cheese after 30 minutes. If the cheese is showing signs of the rind closing, increase the weight to 25 pounds. Press at 25 pounds for 1 hour, flipping the cheese after 30 minutes. The rind should be almost closed by now. Increase the weight to 50 pounds and press for 12 hours. After 12 hours remove the cheese from the mold. Put back in the press and press at 50 pound for 4 more hours. This should remove any cheese cloth marks in the cheese.
Remove the cheese from the mold and put into a 20% brine solution for 12 hours per pound of cheese. After the appropriate time remove from the brine and put in your aging cave.
These 2 videos shows you what I have done.
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