This town is too hot

Terry Hall, from The Specials, said it well. With heat in the 90s and no air conditioning, it is just too damn hot to make cheese this week. We are calling for cooler temps in the coming week, so I will be back at it then.

Ricotta success

Finally some successful ricotta...I just used a simple vinegar acid ricotta recipe this time. Next time, I am going to use the whey after I make chèvre to see if I can squeak out the ricotta from it.

Here is a picture. It looks gross in the pot, all curdled,  but after, you will see the final product.

The final product....

What is working

While I cross my fingers for some successful ricotta, I still have to celebrate some of the successes I have achieved.

My chèvre has consistently turned out excellent. I am using Flor Dancia as the culture, along with 1/4 teaspoon of calcium chloride, a couple of drops of double-strength vegetable rennet and a skewer tip or two of lipase powder (about 1/16 teaspoon). This all sits for a good 18 hours at 72 degrees. I find that after that long, the curd is set...very set...almost overset, as it is starting to develop cracks. That said, it is full of animal goaty goodness. I drain off a good chunk of the whey and then drain the curds in cloth for a good 10 hours or so. Oh...and I add about a teaspoon of salt to the curd at this time. I am going light on the salt and may increase it in my next batch so that the tang of the cheese comes out better.

Another crack at ricotta

Well....tonight I am going to attempt another try at ricotta. I am going to throw away all of my thoughts up to this point and start anew. I think that I am over-thinking the whole thing. Today will just a a simple ricotta. We'll see.

Until that time...here is another great picture of the goats.

Why?

I cannot seem to be able to get ricotta right. Why? This is supposed to be about the easiest cheese out there and it continues to be my nemesis.

Ricotta - Another try

So, I am going to give ricotta another try today. I am using the sous vide and some thermophilic culture to develop acidity. I also have some ph testing strips to help tell me when things are good to go. Instead of putting the milk into a pot to heat, I am going to keep it in the sous vide the whole time.  Wishing myself luck. Milk ph was 6.25 at the start. I am aiming for 5.75 to 5.9 before heating.

Chèvre Cooking

With the recent chèvre we made a focaccia bread and a quiche, plus we had some as an appetizer on Friday. There is still a good amount of cheese left. This batch was really tangy and held its own to other flavors.

Focaccia Toppings: Chèvre, marinated artichokes, tomatoes, pesto, preserved lemon

Chèvre  as an appetizer.