Goat's milk Farmstead Cheese, step by step.

 A brand new little one, still covered in caul. Mommy is giving him many kisses!

Born March 6th, 2018.

 With the spring babies born, but the ground still covered in snow, it was time to try my hand once again at the elusive challenge of hard cheese making. The first time I tried, about four years ago, I made three cheeses using the traditional cheddar process - a laborious and not all enjoyable experience. One tasted like feta, one like crumbly chevre, and the third tried to run away when cut... hubbie thought it the best cheese ever, a perfect stinky cheese! Then I met two Viking ladies making cheese the old fashioned Farmstead way and I thought: that actually looks do-able...

After a couple days of googling other farmstead cheese makers and chatting with my viking ladies I "put on my naughty shoes" (another Dutch saying, sadly lost in translation) and went to the store to buy some fresh local goats milk, and a quart of goat's yogurt. As I am cow dairy intolerant, my process did not include any cow dairy products which otherwise could be used to raise the yield of curds, like cream or powdered milk.

 

I heated my 2 gallons of milk to 185 degrees Fahrenheit in a well cleaned stainless pot. Cool down to pitching temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit by placing in a sink of cold water with ice.

 

The recipe then mentioned to add a mesophilic cheese culture. I used a gouda starter as I happened to have one in the freezer. I added half a teaspoon but I think that was overkill, a quarter probably is more than enough. I also added a teaspoon of calcium chloride to help the curds to form, and half a cup of yogurt to increase yield. If I would use same-day backyard milk neither the calcium chloride nor the yogurt would be necessary but as this was store bought milk I wanted to make sure I got a good yield.

I then covered the milk and let it ripen for 45 minutes.

I added a teaspoon of rennet, diluted in a quarter cup of water to the milk, and gently mixed it in with an up-and-down motion. When using cows milk the cream would have separated and floated to the top, in that case the recipe I followed said to top-stir for 1 minute no more than an inch deep to blend the butterfat back into the milk.

The pot was covered again and stood for another 45 minutes, making sure it stays at around 85F. Of course, I immediately forgot I had briefly turned on the stove to warm the pot back up a bit as the temperature had dropped to 82F. By the time I realized it was at 90F and I started to panic! Lucky for my my Viking buddy was on-line and assured me that in history people made cheese without thermometers perfectly fine, and not to worry the small stuff. And in retrospect the cheese turned out fine.

 

Yellowish liquid called whey collected at the top. When the solid curd broke cleanly it was time to cut the curds. Cut the curds with a long knife into one inch cubes. First cut front to back straight down, then side to side straight down, then diagonally up-and-down one way and diagonally up-and-down the other. This way most of the curds are cut into relatively small pieces.

Then I placed the pot in a sink filled with hot water. Slowly heat the pot to 100F, taking about 30 minutes to do so; or about 2 degrees every 5 minutes. Stir gently so the curds do not stick to each other and clump too much. As I started at around 90F my curds did not have as much temperature difference to cure and I did not think this step would amount to much. But it did, and after about half an hour at 100F the curds had noticeably shrunk down. Maybe not as much as they could have, but enough for what I needed.

The curds will slowly shrink in size and become more sturdy. The whey or liquid will be come more yellow from the curds shedding liquid.

 

I gently poured the whey and curds in a cheesecloth covered colander. I always collect my whey, it can be used for many things.

 

Gather the ends of the cheesecloth and hang above the colander (collect the whey) for about an hour in a draft free warm area.

 

With my hands I broke up the curds in small marble sized pieces. I added one tablespoon of iodine free sea salt to the dry curds and mixed it in well.

 

I use a large metal coffee can cylinder, without a top and a bottom, as a mold. A piece of pvc pipe could work as well, as long as it is clean and not rusty or scratched. Line the mold with cheesecloth and add the curds.

I pressed the curds down well, and gently folded the cheesecloth down flat over the top of the curds.

 

 Then I placed the mold in my cheese press with 10# of weight for 10 minutes. I made a cheese press out of 2x8's, galvanized pipes and dumbbell weights from the salvation army (at 25 cent per pound of weight!) - it is cheap and works surprisingly efficient. I am less enamored about the coffee tin, although while it might not work optimal, it does work well enough. I do not have drain holes in the tin can as I can not drill or poke from outside in - that would leave burrs on the inside - and I have not explored the challenge of poking or drilling from the inside out. I often make soft cheese molds out of empty butter containers and melt holes with a nail from the inside out - this makes for easy and very effective, and free!, molds.

I took the cheese out of the coffee mold, took off the cheese cloth, turned it upside down, wrapped it in cheesecloth again and placed it back in the mold. The second time the cheese is pressed at 20# for 10 minutes.

The third time I removed, flipped, redress and pressed the cheese at 50# for 12 hours.

 

I placed the mold on an upside down plate so the extra whey would drip onto the cookie sheet below. When designing your metal bar cheese press make sure the bars are tall enough to securely hold the 3 dumbbells in place when pressing at 50 pounds. This is also why I used a slightly oversized 2x8" as the wider the bottom the less likely it is going to tip over. If I would redo this press I would make the space in between the two bars about the same width as a small cookie sheet so it can sit on top of the wood base for an even sturdier structure, or add two feet to either end so the press shelf has enough space underneath to slide a cookie 'drip' sheet underneath.

Late that evening: the freshly pressed cheese straight from the cheesecloth... it smelled wonderful.

 

The cheese will need to sit and dry for about 3-5 days (depending on humidity). I happened to have some plastic grating so used that, bamboo placemats also works real well.

 

The cheese drying to the air. When it has formed a nice skin it will be slathered in lard to protect it from infection during curing. Olive oil or butter can also be used, as can cheese wax. Store the cheese in an air tight container - it will generate its own moisture - and store in a cool place like a cold storage, a root cellar, or a well house. This will keep foreign molds and other invaders from colonizing your brand new cheese while at the same time enjoying a nice cool and dark environment. Age the cheese for at least a month, and re-apply your oil/fat as needed. If small spots of mold appear remove the spots and redress. And make another one as once you eat your first you won't want to wait another month or more to try your next!

Based in part on information from:

http://blog.cheesemaking.com/farmhouse-cheddar-beginners/

Soft goat cheese making, day 2

Soft Cheese making, day 2:
- sterilize cheese cloth by pouring boiling water over it

- take pot with cultured milk out of warming box (oven)
- the whey will have separated from the curds, which with this cheese looks like a large white pancake floating in watery greenish liquid.

- suspend a colander in/on a stockpot and line with the cheesecloth. 

- pour the whey off through the cheesecloth, and you'll be left with a spongy cheese mass in the pot.
- carefully dump the cheese into the cheesecloth, as not to spill any around the edges.

- tie the four corners of the cheesecloth together, to make two loops
- hang the cheesecloth by the two loops with a hook off a door handle or something similar

- let gravity drip out excess liquid (whey)

I stop when it only drips occasionally.

If you mix it with a standmixer it will become a cream cheese.
If you add herbs and salt while packing it in a mold you can make great herbed cheese (no mold? poke holes inside out with hot nail in small butter tub) - dill makes a good one, as does nettle.
If you mix in honey it makes marvelous honeyed chevre (also keeps longer).
If you keep it on the wet side, you can use it as a "kwark" substitute to make gelatin european sweet cheesecake.

It freezes well.

Soft goat cheese making, day 1

For our Heralds & Scribes dayboard next month I want to use herbed and honeyed chevre. For people not familiar with this insanely easy way of making goat cheese, here is my modern method.

- Heat the goat milk to circa 90 degrees F (or use body warm raw milk straight from the source, my preference).

 - measure out 1/8 tsp of culture (I use MM100) per gallon

 

- add 1 drop of rennet (for up to 5 gallons I think) (or calf's stomach)

- whisk calmly all around and up and down to incorporate culture & rennet

- put in oven, turned off but with (pilot) light on (insulated dough box)

- wait until the next morning...

DIY cheese press

Easy to make Cheese Press from threaded pipes, dumbbells and a coffee can...

Dimensions don't really matter much, width depends either on the diameter of the cheese mold (coffee can) or the diameter of the largest dumbbells, whichever is largest.

You'll need:
one 2x6x24ish piece of hardwood (larger than width of sink)
one 1x4x24ish piece of hardwood for pressing board
two 1/2 inch by 18" pieces of threaded galvanized pipe (lowe's)
one 1/2 inch 8" piece of pipe for pressing plate
four pipe end plates; two for bottom board, two for pressing board
50lbs in weight; need to be able to make 10, 20 or 50lbs at a time

Drill two 3/4 inch holes in the pressing board to allow the pipes to stick thru.
Attach one end plate to middle of underside of pressing board
screw the short 8 inch pipe in, attach another end plate to end
this creates a nice pressing plate to divide force

Use new coffee can, 6-8 inch diameter, and remove both top lip and the bottom with can opener.
You can make an aluminum pie pan into a drip pan if you cut a small triangle out of one side and bend it down.

Funny enough; with all the expensive and elaborate cheese presses available, this one is actually easy to make, relatively cheap and works like a charm!
I got the hardware from Lowe's, each piece is about $5, and the dumbbells from the Salvation Army, at 25c a pound weight.

Now all I need is a decent Cheddar recipe...

firm goat yoghurt recipe

... with a little help from my gelatin friends :-)

Initially I used a recipe from an article out of countryside magazine, but it did not stiffen correctly. I kinda wondered about that anyway (plus, it used sugar) cause the way I use gelatin for cheesecake sure is different. I retried the recipe but followed the gelatin directions this time and the yogurt looks great!

Heat milk to 185 degrees and hold there for 5 minutes (kills off competing cultures).
Cool milk rapidly in sink of cold water to about 115 degrees.
Add two table spoon fulls of yogurt live culture.
Sprinkle 1 packet of gelatin in some cold water, let sit for 1 minute.
Add milk with yogurt to dissolved gelatin, whisk very well.
Pour into yogurt maker jars, let incubate for 12 hours.
(the longer the incubation the more bitter the taste)
Refrigerate, which stops incubation and sets gelatin.

like I said, it's yogurt for dummies!

very easy hard cheese recipe

A new recipe I found in the Barnyard in your Backyard book Goat section page 225... I made a batch today and have the curds setting in the (home made) molds in the fridge... we'll see about the claim it's a grateable cheese in about 2 and a half hours!

Heat one gallon of raw goat milk to 185 degrees F and keep there for 5 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of lemon juice to separate the curds.
Drain the whey and stir in a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Press the drained curds into molds and set the molds in a strainer to drain further.
In about 2 hours you should have about 1.5 lbs of mild tasting hard cheese to grate...
Wrap the cheese in plastic wrap and keep in fridge for up to two weeks!

I made the molds from butter containers (food grade plastic) by melting holes with a heated piece of metal about 1/16th of an inch thick (piece of galvanized fencing).

Very curious to see what it will become!

>>>Tried the recipe, two times, once with my new cheese press, and the cheese does not get hard... It's more like panir; not soft cheese, but not hard either. Does not grate but does crumble. I use panir for curry since it does not melt like chevre - but it definitely is not grateable hard cheese :-( The resulting whey is great though!

I started to herb, salt and shape the chevre (2 gallons makes about 7 herbed cones) which I then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for the rest of the year until milking resumes in spring. I also made cream cheese by whisking not too dry chevre in the kitchenaid (very good!). If only I could make a decent hard cheese :-)

goat milk ice cream

I'm also looking into home made goat milk ice cream - we've had an ice cream maker sitting in our kitchen for almost 10 years now - but are having trouble with the ice cream recipes. For instance, what to do about half and half and whipping cream if it is not available in goat milk and one can not use the readily available cow's milk over the counter versions?

Making a substitute for half and half is as simple as mixing two everyday ingredients. Replace one cup of half and half with 1 tablespoon melted butter, plus enough milk to equal a cup. From Frugal Living at About.com

A substitute for heavy whipping cream can be 1/3 cup butter plus 3/4 cup of milk for 1 cup of cream, in baking or cooking. From WikiAnswers, though I am not sure if cow dairy butter can easily be substituted with plant based margarine (but we'll find out!).

The recipe I'm going to try:
Vanilla Ice Cream (2 qt)
2 cups (goat) milk
1 cup (cane) sugar
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

plus
1 cup half and half (substitute)
1 cup whipping cream (substitute)
or
ca. 1 3/4 cup goat milk and 1/3 plus a table spoon of butter
though I'm contemplating substituting the cream with chevre, it seems much closer in texture and requires less butter.

Scald the milk until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat. Add sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Stir in (half and half and whipping cream) butter and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Freeze as directed.

5 cups of crushed ice plus 1 cup of rock salt or
5 trays of ice cubes and 2 cups of iodized table salt and 2 cups of water

depending on texture desired freezing is from 20 to 40 minutes.

Hope this will work!

Dutch Cheese Press

Goat Cheesecake

for the bottom:
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup or one stick (and a tbs) of vegetable butter
1/2 cup of organic cane sugar
1 tsp salt

microwave butter on high for 45 seconds in glass container
combine flour, sugar, salt and mix well; add butter and mix well until it just about forms a ball

if the dough does not stick to each other, add a little orange juice - but not too much! it is a crumble dough type, it should not smooth out like bread dough, otherwise it will taste sticky.

fill one 10" spring form evenly, but only the bottom, not the sides
optional: use a prepared Graham cracker crust (if you do, cut the filling recipe in half)

for the filling:
2 envelopes unflavored gelatine
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 cup boiling water
32 oz (home made) soft goat cheese / chevre
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix gelatin powder and sugar; add boiling water and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Beat chevre and vanilla in KitchenAid / mixer until smooth; remove mixer and by hand slowly beat in gelatin mixture.

Pour into spring form and refrigerate until firm (ca. 3 hours but preferably the next day).

optional: add a 1/2 pint of home made jam to the chevre to make a sweet cheesecake.

Crust recipe from Het Nieuwe Kookboek, page 422 (zandkoekjes)
Filling recipe adapted from Knox It's-a-Snap Cheesecake

Good cheese making resources

The two companies I was referred most, which specialize in cheese making supplies are:

New England Cheese Making Supply Company
with tons of equipment, workshops, books, gift ideas and beginner kits. I like their equipment prices and got my thermometer, ladle and cheese cloth here.

The Dairy Connection
more focused on the advanced hobbyist and (small scale) professionals. I like their bulk cultures, and got my MM100 mesophillic and rennet here.

I am planning on building a Dutch Cheese Press myself, and when I locate suitable building plans I will add them here. New England Cheesemaking sells plans, if you are interested right now ;-)

For the sake of our local merchants, I got my cheese knife, stainless steel colander and stainless steel small measuring cups at B&W Restaurant Supply Company located at 510 Third Street which is off of Route 13 and opposite Aldi. They also carry a large selection of stainless steel pots (do not use aluminum pots & pans) though I was able to get mine at the New Jersey Ikea for a much better price (long drive, though).

A very good website, with lots of goat husbandry tips and cheese recipes, is found at Fias Co Farm. I like this site because the design is low key and the focus is on dairy goats, not cows.

A blog I just discovered: Hein en Nellie; cheese making adventures in Brooklyn, lists lots of resources, anecdotes and experience (but is cow dairy oriented).

Some good books on the subject:
"Goats Produce Too! The Udder Real Thing Volume II Cheesemaking and more" by Mary Jane Toth

"Making cheese, butter and yogurt" by Ricki Carroll (a Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin)

"Making Artisan Cheese: Fifty Fine Cheese That You Can Make in Your Own Kitchen" by Tim Smith

Some local resources to buy goat milk:
Side Hill Acres sells raw goat milk and wonderful goat cheeses made from raw goat milk. They are located in Candor, NY 13743

West Creek Family Farm sells raw goat milk and homemade goat milk soap, you can contact them by email at westcreekfamilyfarm@hotmail.com

Greenstar Ithaca carries pasturized goat milk as part of their regular inventory in the refrigerated section.

Keep in mind that goat milk stores well frozen. Most two goat families have a milk freezer to store their gallons from the productive season for the off season (winter) when the goats are dried up in preparation for the next breeding.

Panir / Paneer / Queso Blanco

Panir is an ideal beginner cheese using vinegar to separate the curds.

You can use either goat or cow milk for this cheese. You can use as much milk as you'd like. You can use 1 gallon, or two gallons, or three gallons. It just depends on how much milk you have, and how big your pot is. Don't use an aluminum pot.

Over direct heat, warm the milk to 183°- 185° (not any higher), and maintain that temperature for 10 minutes. Stir it often to keep it from scorching. If it does scorch, use a stainless steel scrubby to clean your pot later.

With the milk still on the heat, while stirring, add about 1/4 Cup of white vinegar per gallon of milk. I find the taste is better with white vinegar than cider vinegar. To be honest, I don't even measure the vinegar, I just pour in a glug, stir, look, pour in a glug, stir, etc. until the curd separates. The separation should happen right away. When the curd separates cleanly from the whey (it will look like very fine, white particles floating in the greenish whey & stuck to your whisk tines), pour it into a cheesecloth lined colander. I put the colander over another pot, to save the whey for later use. Use real cheesemaking cheesecloth here, not the stuff you can buy at the grocery store.

Tie the corners of the cloth together and hang the bag to drain for a few hours. The longer it drains the dryer the panir will be. Refrigerate your cheese after it has drained. It will keep for a couple of weeks.

Now that you have this rubbery ball of cheese, what do you do with it? Panir is like tofu: it will take on the flavor of the food it is cooked with. Just cut it into bite-sized cubes and throw it into chili or spaghetti. You can cook the noodles in the leftover whey. You can marinade the Panir and throw it on top of salads or use it in stir-fry. Panir is really in its element when used in curry. Serve the curry over rice cooked with whey instead of water and add a handful of raisins and a clove to the rice as well, to make it really authentic.

Excerpt from the Fias Co Farm website

Chevre - soft goat cheese recipe

Chevre / Fromage Blanc is an ideal beginner recipe that uses starter bacteria instead of vinegar to seperate the curds. You can buy mesophilic culture and liquid rennet at the Dairy Connection

Ingredients:
• 1/2 gallon of fresh (raw, unpasteurized if available) goat milk
• 1/8 tsp. mesophilic DVI Culture "MM"* or 1 oz. mesophilic culture
• 1/5 of a drop of liquid rennet

In a stainless steel pot, warm the milk to 72°.
Add the culture and stir well. Now you need to add 1/5 of a drop of rennet. Measure out 5 tablespoons of water into a small cup. Add to the water 1 drop of liquid rennet and stir well. Now measure out 1 tablespoon of the rennet dilution (this one Tablespoon contains 1/5 of a drop of rennet) and add it to the milk. Stir well.

Cover the milk and place the pot somewhere that it can sit undisturbed and will stay about 72° for about 18 hours (sometimes I let it go 24 hours). What I do is place the pot in the cold oven until the next day. Try to remember that the milk is in the oven and don't plan on doing any baking that day.

When the milk has coagulated (it will look like thick yogurt, or a floating thick pancake) you are ready to drain the curds. Pour the curds into a cheesecloth lined colander. Tie up the ends and hang the bag and let drain 6-8 hours or longer, depending on how dry you'd like the cheese to be. It is amazing how much chevre you'll get from one $6 gallon of goat milk, compared to the tiny, expensive logs for sale at your local cheese department. Salt to taste and enjoy!

Excerpt from the Fias Co Farm website