The last week or so

March 14, 2012

Been remiss in updates the last week with work getting in the way of hobbies.  That said, we have had fun playing with dough and making soft pretzels (big hit in the house, they didn't last long) and Montreal Bagels. 

We also took our first crack at a Belgian yeast Imperial Stout, inspired by this beauty:

Lee's going for flavors of banana and chocolate with our brew.

Today, we have a light work day and hence a few fun projects planned:

- batch 2 of Montreal bagels
- batch 2 of feta cheese
- homemade meatballs (our son just saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and wants to know how to make them), homemade tomato sauce, and homemade mozzerella -- all of which our son will help us make including picking basil from the garden.

The last week or so

Quick update on the last week:

- 3rd batch of farmhouse cheddar made, waxed, and presently aging.  Had great luck on getting a clean break in the curd this time.  Used Horizon Whole Milk (pasteurized, homogenized, gallon) and also used calcium chloride for the first time to restore some of what gets damaged in the pasteurization process.

- Had our son's friends over and taught them how to make hummos, tzaziki, and homemade pita bread. 

- Soaked the single origin cacao nibs I found in some vodka to kill any nasty bugs and start pulling the chocolate flavor out of them, and threw the whole lot into the 5 gallons of Russian imperial stout we have fermenting

- Found some other cacao nibs, soaked those in vodka, and added to my micro batch of high ABV RIS - was at 10% when I added them, the last batch hit 12% but I reduced the grain bill so that it wouldn't end up as sweet. Will probably bottle in a week or so.

- Our 3rd attempt at mead seems to have finished fermenting, which is strange since the first 2 attempts are still gong strong.

- Split the ginger beer plant a few days ago and instead of making a batch of ginger beer out of it we've kept the concentrate to use in some Asian dishes we're making soon.

- Bulked up the garden a bit - as well as the herbs we had growing we now have a bunch of tomato plants, some squash, strawberries and some new herbs. Fingers crossed. We've never had much luck with fruit and veg.

- Successful experiments with broiling instead of baking our pizzas.  Found this tip in Bon Appetite this month and it works really nicely.  Heat your pizza stone in the middle (instead of the bottom) of the oven for upwards of an hour at the highest temperature you can get your oven.  Then when you are ready to cook your pizza, turn off the oven and turn the broiler on instead.  The pizza will cook pretty quickly --- half the time from baking at a high temp. from our experience so far.  It gets a beautiful char and crisp crust.

Cutting into the farmhouse cheddar

Batch 2 of the farmhouse cheddar was cut open today while entertaining some friends. We got it right this time ---- very tasty, decent amount of depth for a cheese that is only supposed to age for a month. Quite moist---apparently farmhouse cheddar 'can' be quite dry, so this was a very happy surprise.

The Cutting of the Manchego

February 14, 2012 (V Day)

Last night we decided to cut into the young manchego --- at 7 days a mere Manchego Fresco --- as we're still young in our cheesemaking and wanted to experiment to see what a young Manchego tastes like for comparison.

First, it was a big success.

The texture is firm but supple.  The flavor is slightly, pleasantly tangy (like a feta).  You can tell that with aging, this would be pretty stellar and already, at a week, very edible and tasty.  We're going to have some tonight when friends are over for dinner.  I learned that a great way to store cheese is to wrap it in parchment paper (marked with name/date in pencil) and then loosely in saran wrap and then store all your cheeses in a big tupperware.

Today, when we get some spare time, we're going to bottle the Heff!

Last night we tasted a bottle of Barred Aged Old Rasputin XIV which I picked up for Lee as a surprise.  Stellar.  If you can find it, buy it.  They're calling it one of the best RIS beers you can get.  Hopefully the one we have fermenting will be just as tasty (esp considering the price tag on this one):

Mmm new beer grains to bake with

The Imperial Stout is underway and that means more bread grain to play with.  I'm inspired by the dark, rich smell of the grains and planning to make a Stout Bread today incorporating the new grains, and one of our older stouts.  I'm also planning to play with barley malt powder today for this first time.  Stay tuned for pics.

In other news, we cut open the first farmhouse cheddar last night.  As expected, it was no where near perfection...far from it.  A lot went wrong on that first cheese but we let it sit to see what came out.  Happy to say it was mold free and a beautiful creamy white throughout.  But it was unsalted (mistake from first batch) and a bit of a sour aftertaste.  It was creamier than I expected, which was nice.

The feta has been well used the last few days, topping some homemade pizzas last night and as part of a Greek meze spread.  Very happy with the feta -- creamy, tangy, couldn't ask for more.

Yesterday we made our first Manchego and following its bath in a salty brine last night, it is beginning its long nap at 55 degrees (in our wine refrigerator..).  The cheese changes over time of course, and in Manchego's case, it even gets a different name based on how long you wait.  We'll see how patient we decide to be.....

That's a lot of goat's milk...

February 1, 2012

Today we're taking our first crack at Feta cheese, using [tediously hard to find in LA] pasteurized goat's milk.  I'm pretty fed up with the trend in dairy of ultra-pasteurizing everything to death --- it leaves you with thin, tasteless milk that has had anything beneficial about it killed.  You can't make cheese with it and I'd rather not drink it either, to be honest.  My absolute favorite brand of cow's milk at the moment is Straus Family Creamery.  The stuff is incredible---I've had their milk, their cream, their half and half.  They make ice cream too but have yet to try that.

So a trip to Trader Joe's and $12 (sheesh!) later, we have 4 quarts of goat's milk to play with.

Ricki Carroll's feta recipe:

• 1 gallon whole goat’s milk
• 1/4 tsp. lipase powder diluted in 1/4 cup water and allowed to sit for 20 minutes (optional – use if making this recipe with milk other than goat’s milk)
• 1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter or 2 oz. prepared mesophilic starter
• 1/2 tsp. liquid rennet (or 1/4 rennet tablet) diluted in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water
• 2-4 tbsp. cheese salt
• 1/3 cup cheese salt, for brine (optional)
• 1/2 gallon water, for brine (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup water (optional)

1. Combine the milk and the diluted lipase, if desired; heat the milk to 86 degrees F. 
2. Add the starter, stirring to combine; cover and allow to the milk to ripen for 1 hour.
3. Add the diluted rennet and gently stir with an up-and-down motion for several minutes; cover and allow to set at 86 degrees F for 1 hour.
4. Cut the curd into 1/2-inch cubes.
5. Allow to set, undisturbed, for 10 minutes.
6. Gently stir the curds for 20 minutes.
7. Pour the curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth.
8. Tie the corners of the cheesecloth into a knot and hang the bag over the sink to drain for 6 hours.
9. Untie the bag and cut the curd into 1-inch slices, then cut the slices into 1-inch cubes.
10. Sprinkle the cubes with the salt to taste; place in a covered bowl and allow to age for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
11. For a stronger flavor, make a brine solution by combining 1/3 cup of salt and the water. Place the cheese in the brine solution and store in refrigerator for 30 days. (Use this method only if your goat’s milk comes from a farm; store-bought goat’s milk tend to disintegrate in brine.)
12. If the curds are not setting firmly enough for you to cut easily, next time add the diluted calcium chloride to the milk before adding the starter.

 Step 5 (post curd cutting)

 Step 8 (draining the curds)

 Step 10 (post sprinkling of salt, about to go in the refrigerator)