Blue cheese recipe

One of the most popular blue cheeses is Roquefort produced in the South of France and Gorgonzola produced in Italy. Both cheeses belong to the blue cheese family and the biggest difference lies in the milk used. Roquefort is made from sheep's milk, while Gorgonzola is made from goat's or cow's milk.

The second biggest difference is the strong taste that Roquefort cheese has and the mild taste and aroma that Gorgonzola cheese has, although Gorgonzola cheeses also tend to be strong, which is determined by the ripening time.

Required:

5 l of milk
Micromilk MOT: 0.5gr or 0.15gr (0.05 doses), or Lactoferm MST cheese culture: 0.5gr
Micromilk PCR: 0.15gr or 0.05gr (0.016 doses), or Lactoferm RQ cheese culture: 0.15gr
Calcium chloride (CaCl2): 1.25ml
Rennet: 0.4ml (strength 710 - 739 IMCU/ml)
Micromilk BACT: 0.05gr (0.016 dose), or Lactoferm ABY 1/64tsp or Greek yogurt 2-3 tablespoons (as desired)
Salt 2.5 tablespoons (for salting) - 3% of the cheese weight

Recipe

(The video has subtitles in several languages)

Preparing (1h 40min)

Before starting, we should disinfect all surfaces and dishes that may come into contact with milk.
Determine whether milk is suitable for making cheese. It has to go through the bactericidal phase (cold milk from the previous day usually works). If you have a PH meter, the PH level of milk should not be outside the PH 6.55–6.75 range (which is very rare).
Pasteurize milk: heat it to 65 °C and keep it at this temperature for 30 minutes. Can heat up to 70 °C and hold for 15 minutes.
Quickly cool the milk, for example, in a cold bath to 34 °C (it could take 15 minutes), or heat the already pasteurized milk.

Processing

Add cheese cultures Micromilk MOT (0.5gr.), Micromilk PCR (0.15gr.) and Micromilk BACT 1/64tsp
Wait 5 minutes and stir the cheese culture into the milk.
Leave it for 1 hour.
Add calcium chloride (1.25ml), which must be diluted before adding to milk with 50ml of clean water first.**
Add rennet (0.4ml) and leave for 36 minutes (if you want to make softer cheese, leave for longer time, no more than 1h).
Cut the curd into 2cm cubes, approximately, and leave for 5 minutes
Stir the mass every 5 minutes during 30 minutes. Remove the whey time of the time.

Pressing and salting

Put the cheese in a mold with large holes and leave it for 20 minutes.
Turn around the cheese and leave for another 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, turn the cheese and leave it in the mold for 3 hours, turning it occasionally.
Turn it around and leave it in shape for another 4 hours (you can also leave it overnight, only the result will be slightly different).
Remove the cheese from the mold (PH is 5.15 - 5.30), gently rub the entire surface of the cheese with salt and put cheese back in shape no fabric. It is better to rub the salt gradually - in 3 passes.
Leave to salt for 12 hours.
Dry the cheese a little and leave it at room temperature so that the surface is not wet.
Prepare containers: put paper towel, then a cheese mat and cheese.
Turn the cheese 1-2 times a day in the first week.
After a few days, mold will start to appear on the surface.
After 7-10 days, the cheese should be exposed with blue mold completely. That's when you have to make holes in the cheese with a sharp object, such as the end of a thermometer, to open the mold pores faster in.
Aging 3-4 months, 10-12C, high humidity (closed container), food can also be used faster if you want a less spicy cheese.
In order not to infect other cheeses with mold, mold cheeses must be ripened closed in containers or in another refrigerator by constantly drying the walls of the container from condensate with paper towels.

We look forward to your feedback!

* Freshly milked milk has bactericidal properties for a few hours, during the so-called bactericidal phase, when bacteria suppress reproduction. Cooling the milk prolongs the bactericidal phase. If the milk is obtained in strict compliance with sanitary regulations and rapidly cooled to +40 °C, the duration of the bactericidal phase is 24 hours and more. At the same temperature bactericidal phase period, impure milk has at least two to three times shorter temperature. The duration of the unrefrigerated milk phase is, on average, 2 hours.
(Source: http://www.ezerzeme.lv/lv/zinas/noderigi/5222/par-piena-kvalitati)

** The time of milk coagulation (thickening) depends on the quantity of calcium chloride and rennet. It can be adjusted for best coagulation time, which should ideally be 12 minutes. For instance, if the first time your milk has thickened after 20 minutes, then increase the next dose of enzyme.

Necessary ingredients for cheese making

Loading products...