The original Yesterdaze recipe by Tracy Johnson is HERE.
This is modified.
The culture is live yogurt.
The rind is dry salted instead of brine soaked.
My measurements are metric, mostly by weight.
This is for 10 litres. 2.5 times the original recipe.
======= INGREDIENTS =======
10 l full fat milk - raw if you can get it - not UHT.
1.5 g Lipase - cow / animal
150 g Greek style yogurt - instead of a freeze dried culture
6 g Rennet (or 3 g for double strength) in 60 ml cooled boiled water
6 g Calcium chloride 33% solution in 60 ml cooled boiled water. Omit for raw milk.
======= HEAT 32°C =======
Heat the milk to 32°C or 90°F.
Sprinkle in the lipase and stir well.
Mix the yogurt with some 32°C milk to thin it.
Stir the thinned mix into the rest of the milk.
Add the diluted calcium chloride and stir. Omit for raw milk.
======= SET 60 Minutes =======
Stir in the diluted rennet mixing for 45 seconds maximum.
Quickly still the milk at the end of the stir.
Wait 60 minutes for the rennet to set the milk.
Check for a clean break and wait longer if necessary.
======= CUT 90 Minutes =======
Cut the curds into approximate 2.5 cm / 1 inch cubes.
Leave the cut curds to stand for 90 minutes at 32°C or 90°F.
Slight cooling is OK.
Wrap a towel or bubble wrap to retain heat if your kitchen is unusually cold.
I used a sous vide bath but it's not really necessary.
======= COOK 30 minutes to 53°C =======
Slowly heat to 53°C / 127°F over a 30 minute period.
Try not to overshoot the target temperature because it's close to the survival limit for the culture.
Stir, just enough to prevent the curds clumping together.
If you want it squeaky, stir more.
======= DRAIN =======
Drain the whey and retain the curds in a cheesecloth.
The whey is wonderful in recipes so keep it if possible.
Hang the cheesecloth and curds until the dripping is very slow.
======= PRESS 10 to 12 hours =======
There is a trade-off with the curd temperature.
Warmer curds will knit together better.
Warmer curds will also stick to the cheesecloth, making it much harder to clean.
Move the cheesecloth to the press and for, 30 minutes, apply just enough pressure to expel clear whey.
If you have a spring style press, you might need to tighten it a little to keep the slow dripping going.
Flip the cheese upside down, rewrap and press for 2 hours, still looking for slow clear whey drips.
Increase the pressure gradually to keep the slow dripping going.
Flip the cheese upside down, rewrap and press for 8 hours, still looking for slow clear whey drips.
Increase the pressure gradually to keep the slow dripping going.
By the end you will most likely be near or at the maximum pressure your press can give.
======= SALT 2% =======
Calculate how much salt to add.
Use iodine free salt with pouring size crystals.
Weigh the cheese wheel and calculate 2% of the weight.
So a 1000 gram wheel will need 20 grams of salt.
Some of the salt will be lost which is fine.
2% salt is a lot so losing some in the whey is not a problem.
Use half the salt to dry-salt all the surfaces.
Let any expelled salty whey drip away.
If no salty whey was expelled, the cheese will be salty enough. Skip the second salting.
Turn the wheel over and repeat the salting using the remaining salt.
======= EAT =======
At this point the cheese is ready to eat but a day or two later it will be better.
The salt needs time to migrate into the body of the cheese.
If the curds are squeaky, the squeak will decline over a day or two.
The thermophilic culture will continue to work slowly, increasing the flavour of the cheese.
My thanks to Tracey Johnson for the inspiration for this cheese.