Mode:
- Warm 2 gallons milk to 32c
- add 1/4 tsp MA400
- Ripen for 30 mins at 32c
- Add CaCl2 diluted in cold water
- Add 3/4 tsp of animal rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup distilled water
- After 45 minutes cut curds into 1/4 " cubes and let it heal for 10 minutes (preventing matting)
- While stirring increase temperature to 38c over 30 minutes. Hold at 38c until the curd is at the right texture. You can tell this by pressing This can be checked by squeezing some curds in your hand. If the curd matts it's ready, if it breaks, leave for a few minutes and try again.
- Drain in a mould (pH should be 6.35 or higher) and let it press under its own weight turning every 30 minutes, then every hour for 5 hours.
- Press overnight or until pH is 5.4
- Brine in 20 % saturated bring for 8 hours turn after 4
- Leave at room temperature. Once dry move to the cave and leave to age for 3-6 months at 10-12c, 85-90% (or higher if using special b linens)
http://cheeseforum.org - Linuxboy
"This cheese should have a relatively high (relative to other meso cheeses, similar to alpine styles) mineral content, meaning that calcium phosphate will not be degraded, and whey drain pH will be high (6.3+). This results in the curd sticking to each other and matting quickly. If you settle under whey too long, you will have a wheel already formed. Suggestion is to use a pot with the same diameter as the mold so you can plop it right in to the mold"
"For a washed curd tomme, follow the process through cutting, healing, but raise heat much more slowly for the first 15 mins. Target 92F, and stir gently for those 15 mins. The whey should separate enough to where you can draw off enough whey to equal 1/3 of the total milk amount. Before you draw it off, heat a volume of water that is 1/3 of the milk amount to 130F. Drain off the whey and add the heated water in two stages. Add the first half and stir gently for 5-10 mins until the curd firms up a little more. Then add the second half. Your final temp should be the same as with a normal tomme, right around 100F. Do not heat to the high end of mesophilic (105). You do not want acid production to be that fast. If concerned about temp, add the heated water in three stages so you hit 100F. Then stir the curds until they are the right texture, as noted above in the list"
"Just a suggestion....to my taste I have always preferred a washed curd tomme. It's less acidic, more plastic bodied and I have always found it to bring out the nuttiness of the milk. To wash you simply remove 1/3 of the whey before heating the curd to 100F and replace that whey with 135F water (raising total temp to about 100F). The rest of the recipe is the same. I'm thrilled to see someone else using flocculation, I have had heated ebates in the "industry" about this. Automation and large scale production seems intent on making everything set times, but with variable milk supply (like here in NZ) it's impossible to do that and get consistent result. With that said 3 is a great multiplier for Tomme, most of the time. If your wheels can't hold their shape cut the multiplier in half and go from there. If you make the cheese often you can try and extend the multiplier and see how far you can go to get the ideal moisture content of the curd"
