January's Dairy Challenge - Homemade Sour Cream

We hope you had an excellent holiday and are ready to get back to forging!

Don't worry if you are behind on anything, you can always link up past forges when you get around to them.

We are starting off the year lightly - with Homemade Sour Cream.

From About.com:
Make your own homemade sour cream from heavy cream and buttermilk or more sour cream. Plan ahead to give the sour cream 24 hours to thicken up and chill.

Prep Time: 24 hours
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 24 hours, 5 minutes

Ingredients:

    * 1 cup heavy cream
    * 1/4 cup buttermilk

Preparation:
Mix heavy cream and buttermilk in a screw-top jar, cover, and let stand at room temperature about 24 hours until very thick.


You can find alternative Homemade Sour Cream recipes here.

And, we are still forging Queso Fresco, recipe here, in case the holidays took up all your time!

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1. Natashyas Queso Fresco! 2. Heather's Queso Fresco 3. Natashyas Sour Cream

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December '10 LINKY...add your Forges Here!

We are just going to continue on this month...everybody is very busy with the holidays, so if you have any past or current forges to link up, then please do so here.  Different homemade cheese and dairy is always welcome, as well.  We wish everybody a safe and peaceful holiday season...

If you happen to make any fun holiday cheese creations (cheese balls, logs, etc.) feel free to link to those this month, as well!

Here's a bit of inspiration for you from the American Egg Board:

picture courtesy CCF

Holiday Cheese Log

• 3/4 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted pecans
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
• 3 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
• 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• 6 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 dash red pepper sauce

 In small bowl, combine first 3 ingredients. Set aside. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese and blue cheese until blended. Stir in eggs, onions, garlic, and red pepper sauce until blended. Shape mixture into a 10-inch log. Roll in reserved parsley mixture. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. Serve with crackers.  (makes ~2c.)

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No forgers this month :(  The holidays got the best of all of us...let's start again in the new year :)

Our November Cheesy Challenge: Queso Fresco

With the holidays dominating most of our time for the next couple of months, we've decided to keep the cheesin' simple and go with another fresh cheese this month...and we're heading to....

...and who better to take us there than my kitchen idol, Mr. Rick Bayless himself?  Yup, his newest book Fiesta at Rick's has a fabulous recipe for Queso Fresco...one of my favorites and staple in our house at all times.  I must admit, though...I haven't made my own in quite some time.  Better get back to it...there's nothing like it!

*Bayless notes that he likes to use the buttermilk in this recipe as a starter...to let the milk culture for a few hours before moving on to the cheesing process.  The flavor reminds more of the artisanal cheeses that he knows and loves.  Good enough for me! BUT, if you don't have the time...or the buttermilk...then you may skip this step.  And I imagine sacrifice some depth.

Queso Fresco

from Fiesta at Rick's by Rick Bayless

makes ~1 lb.

1 gallon whole or 2% milk (remember, the richer the milk/flavor, the better the cheese)

2 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. Citric Acid (sometimes called sour salt, sometimes found in kosher section of grocery stores)

OR

1 c. fresh lime juice

1 tsp. salt (pure, fine-ground sea salt works best)

1. Culture the milk.  Pour milk into a very large pot over med-low heat.  Stir in buttermilk.  Bring milks to 75° F, turn off heat, cover pot and let sit for 3 to 4 hours.

2. Set the curd.  If using citric acid, stir it into ¼ c. cold water, continuing to stir until dissolved.  With lid off pot, turn heat to medium and stir dissolved citric acid or lime juice into milk mixture.  You will immediately see small curds start to form.  Every couple of minutes, stir slowly, gently, & thoroughly over entire bottom of pot until milk reaches 195°F, ~20 minutes.  At this point the curds will be very obvious, floating in the milky-transparent whey.  Remove from heat, let stand five minutes without stirring so all the curd can rise to the top.

3.  Drain the curd from the whey.  Wet a large piece of cheesecloth and line a large colander with it.  Set colander in sink (or over bowl if saving the whey).  Carefully ladle all of the curd into the colander. Gather the cheesecloth around the curd and gently squeeze to expel a bit more whey.  Unwrap curd onto a plate, break it up, and sprinkle w/ the salt...working it in with a spoon or your fingers.

4.  Gather the cheese curds into a 1" thick disk, transfer to a plate, cover, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

...and can I just add...THEN GO USE IT IN A FABULOUS MEXICAN RECIPE!  Or sprinkle it on tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, gorditas...you name it!  I cannot get enough Queso Fresco!

As always, if there's a different Queso Fresco recipe you'd like to use, then please do so.  Link up your posts (or any past forges) to this months linky, which you can find through the sidebar, in the top rh corner!  

Cheese on, Forgers!

November '10 - link your FORGES here!

Hello Forgers!

This month we're forging Queso Fresco!  We also have Colby and Cheddar from the past few months ripening...possibly... 

Link any of those cheeses, or any PAST forges that you post in November 

RIGHT HERE!!

We can't wait to see what you forged this months!

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Rebecca's Mizithra Sue's Mizithra & Roasted Aubergine Salad Mizithra @ girlichef Natashyas Cheddar!

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How to Make a Mesophilic Starter Culture

Sometimes a cheese recipe will give you the option of using a starter culture, rather than a direct-set starter. Here is how you do it!

PREPARATION OF MESOPHILIC STARTER CULTURE

• Sterilize a clean 1 litre mason jar and lid in boiling water for 5 min. Cool, then fill jar with fresh skim milk leaving a ½ inch head space. Secure lid firmly into jar.
• Place the jar into canning pot and fill with water to the same levels as the milk in the jar.
• Bring the pot to a rolling boil and hold for 30 mn
• Remove jar of sterile milk carefully from the canning pot and allow to cool to 20-22 C or 72 F. To check if the milk in the jar is adequately cooled, hold the jar next to your cheek and it should feel tepid or just slightly warm. It takes about 6-8 hrs after removing from hot water bath.
• Innoculate the sterile milk by adding 3/8 tsp of the freeze dried mesophilic starter culture to the 1 litre mason jar of sterile milk. Sprinkle the culture evenly on the surface of the milk and quickly re-secure the lid. Allow the culture to dissolve for 2 mn and gently agitate the culture into the milk until fully dispersed. To ensure the culture is adequately mixed, look at the bottom of the mason jar to see if there is any yellow granules. If so, continue to rock the jar until they have disappeared, as this represents culture powder that has not dissolved into the milk.
• Place the jar in a warm place where the temp. is stable at 72 F or 22 C, up as high as 77 F or 25 C. Keep it there for 12-24 hrs until the milk has thickened. The most ideal location is in the cupboard over the refrigerator, the jar wrapped in a hand towel.
• After 12 hrs from the time of innoculation, check to see if the milk has coagulated or thickened. This usually takes about 16 hrs under favorable conditions but it can be sooner if the temperature is warmer. When the culture has the consistency of a good firm yoghurt you have reach the coagulation point.
• Chill the culture immediately by placing the jar in the fridge. It will keep as a fresh active culture for 3-4 wks. The fresher your culture the better your cheesemaking results. The culture can be used for cheesmaking right after the coagulation point is reached. 10 grams of mesophilic culture can be made into 10 litres of mother culture. Do not freeze your prepared culture!!!
• Keep the unused portion of your culture package in the freezer where it will remain active for 3 years.
• It is not necessary to prepare a culture in order to make cheese. The freeze dried cultures can also be used as a direct set culture at the recommended rate of the recipe. You can prepare cheese by adding the powder into your cheese pot or vat for direct inoculation.
• The above procedure can be used to prepare mesophilic and aroma cultures only.

information from Glengarry Cheesemaking Co. 

October's Cheesy Challenge - Greek Island Mizithra

Greek Island Mizithra
adapted from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes

3 quarts whole milk
1 tbsp pickling (canning) or kosher salt
½ tsp liquid rennet

Sterilize all equipment.
In a large stainless steel pot, heat milk gently to 90°F, stirring gently to prevent scorching.
Remove from heat and stir in salt

Dilute rennet in ¼ cup cool water. Add to milk and, using an up-and-down motion, draw rennet down into milk until well blended. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour, or until a firm curd has formed.

Using a whisk, gently break up curd, stirring until curd pieces are approximately ½ inch in size. Let stand for 2-3 minutes. Using skimmer, stir gently for 5 minutes.

Gently pour curd into a cloth-lined colander and let drain for 1 hour. Scrape cheese into center of cloth. Gather the four corners of the cloth together and tie to create a bag. Hang the bag and let drain over a bowl or the sink for another 5 hours at room temperature. Place a colander in a bowl; place bag in the colander and let drain in the refirgerator for another 12 hours. Twist the cloth tighter from time to time to aid draining.

Remove cheese from cloth and place in a bowl. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.


There you have it! October's cheesy challenge. Here is a link to the book if you wish, you can use the recipe we provided or one of your choosing. There are many variations of Mizithra.

Link up to the October linky when you have some great cheese to share!

Want to suggest recipes for Forging Fromage? Just let us know! 

email us at forgingfromage at live dot com

How are your colby and cheddar doing? Mine are still hanging out, suffering benign neglect in my beer fridge. The colby should be ready soon!

Link up your October forges HERE!

Hey Everybody!! This is the place to link up anything you forge during the month of October! Can't wait to see what everybody comes up with!!

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Homemade Ricotta - two batches for the price of one Paneer ~girlichef Natashya's Colby! Natashyas Greek Island Mizithra!

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