Now you can be
lazy for an hour or so and just relax and let the culture ripen. You
do need to make sure the milk stays warm, and I usually will put it back
in the bath if it gets under 80 degrees. It won't fall under 80
degrees at a room temperature of 72. Once your milk has ripened, it
is time to add the rennet which causes it to form curds. The culture
flavors the milk, and the rennet will coagulate the milk to form curds.
So,
either
crush 1/4 rennet tablet and dissolve in 1/4 c cool water, or dilute your
liquid rennet in 1/4 c cool water. Now you get to be lazy again, and
I get to go work on rebuilding those cabinets I tore out.
After letting the milk sit undisturbed for 45 minutes or so, you want to
check it to see if it has a "clean break". What is that? Well it
means that when you poke something in the (hopefully) solidified milk, the
curds will break when you pull it out, instead of coating it. The
best way to know it is to see it:
If you don't get a clean break, leave it to sit a while longer, and check
again. If you still do not get a clean break, then you may have
needed to add some calcium chloride, this may especially be true if you
use goat milk or store milk. I have never needed it for Fromage
Blanc, but I have heard of people who did. Another reason is that
you may have it in a spot that is too cool. Is the temperature still
around 70 - 80 degrees or so? If not, you can try placing it in a
warmer spot. Finally, if your rennet is old, or bad, then you could
have a failed attempt. You will have to try again if you don't have
a clean break in 12 hours. It can take that long, but usually I can
get one in 45 minutes.
Once you have a clean break, you need to lay your
clean flour sack towel over a clean colander and then I just dump all the
curds in there, letting the liquid flow down the drain. Some more
refined cheese makers, who have more finesse, gently ladle them in, but I
don't notice a difference in the product for Fromage Blanc, so I just dump
them in. Now, gather the corners up, and hang it somewhere so that
the liquid can drain out. The liquid
part is whey and you can reserve it to make ricotta cheese, or it is an
excellent animal feed for hogs, chickens, cats or calves. Just place
a bowl under the bag of cheese to catch your whey.
Now, after all that work, you get to go relax again, I mean did you ever
have such a relaxing and fun hobby before? Half the time involved
could be quality time with a cold drink and a good book, and I don't know
about you, but it doesn't get better than that. Yes, or building
cupboards, but remodeling the kitchen isn't nearly as fun, and I'm only
doing it because I can't stand the mess anymore. The point is, that
even someone busy, or feeling tired can make cheese.
