6 l full cream goats' milk (3.5%)
3 ml CaCl2 stirred into 50 ml cooled boiled water. Omit for raw milk.
15 g Geotrichum and Penecilium candida grated off a Brie or Camembert rind.
100 g Yeo Valley or any live or organic Kefir - amount not critical
2 ml rennet stirred into 50 ml of cooled boiled water
1 % Weigh the drained curds and add 0.5% to 1% by weight of salt - iodine free.
If you prefer a low salt diet, use the lower amount. The 1% addition gives quite a salty cheese.
Example: 1kg of curds needs 5 to 10 grams of salt.
This was edible after one week and got smellier and runnier after cave ripening.
The smell was not great but similar to some French stinky cheeses. The flavour and texture were very good.
The rind was not as bloomy as I'd hoped. The cheese was just beginning to get runny after one week.
I'll make this again.
METHOD
Warm the milk to 32 °C.
Add the CaCl2 (omit for raw milk).
Liquidise some Brie rind in a little milk and sieve the p and g.candida infusion into the warmed milk.
Mix 2 ml rennet into 50 g of cooled boiled water.
Mix the kefir in some of the milk to make it runny.
Stir in the kefir and rennet at the same time and stir for no more than one minute.
Wait 60 minutes for a clean break. No stirring. Too long is better than too short a time.
Cut the curds into into approximate 1cm chunks.
Rest them for five minutes.
Stir gently for a minute.
Rest for for 15 minutes.
Stir gently for a minute.
Rest the curds for another 15 minutes.
Drain the whey through a cheese cloth and hang the curds until the whey stops draining.
Use the surplus whey to make ricotta or in other recipes.
Weigh the curds and record the weight.
Weigh out some salt. For example 1kg of curds needs 5 to 10 g of salt depending on personal preference.
MOULDS:
Fill four moulds.
Press down the curds to get a level surface.
I used cylinders upcycled from four, one-litre, PET plastic milk bottles, open at both ends.
After some draining and shrinkage, invert the moulds.
Invert the moulds again whenever you are passing or a few times each day.
Discard the moulds once the wheels are self supporting. This took several days in my kitchen.
I used sheets of kitchen towel to wick away moisture from the wheels and replaced the sheets on each inversion.
I used silicone mat to stop the paper towel from adhering to the cheese.
The drying and inverting took a week at room temperature around 22 °C.
The cheese was just beginning to get runny inside after a week.
CAVE RIPEN:
Place the wheels on a suspended mat in a humid box, closed but with air holes.
Every day invert the wheels and mop away any excess moisture or whey.
Continue cave ripening at 12 °C until the wheels look ready to eat.
Sample the wheels as they continue to age.
Avoid old wheels which might become unpleasant and smell of ammonia.