Pumpkin Chèvre Cheesecake
Although many people love chèvre on crackers or crumbled on a salad, they don’t know what else to do with it. It can make a wonderful replacement for cream cheese in many recipes, including cheesecake. Intern Jane Davis perfected this recipe when she spent the fall with us in 2013.
Crust:
20 graham crackers
⅛ cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
Pulverize the graham crackers in a food processor, then add the melted butter and sugar, mixing until it becomes crumbly. Press into the bottom of the pie dish then bake for 12 minutes at 350°F.
Filling:
1 pound chèvre (goat cheese)
1 to 4 tablespoons milk
½ to ¾ cup sugar (depending upon how sweet you want it)
1½ tablespoon flour
½ cup cooked or canned pumpkin
½ tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
½ tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs (at room temperature)
Cream the cheese and sugar, adding milk slowly until the mixture is consistently smooth. Add the flour. Don’t overmix — you will be less likely to have cracks in the finished product. Mix in the pumpkin, spices, salt, and vanilla, again just mixing until it is incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time.
Pour the mixture into the baked graham cracker crust and bake at 300°F for 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in there to cool gradually. Quick cooling can cause the top of the cheesecake to crack. You can remove it from the oven 2 hours after turning off the heat. Cool in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.
Flocculation
Many cheese recipes specify a waiting time between adding rennet and cutting the curds. It is usually somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour. Typically, recipes that specify the waiting time also say “or when you get a clean break,” which means when you can cut the curd cleanly and it stays cut. Cutting the curds too soon results in a weak curd that will not produce a cheese with a desired texture.
The amount of rennet used, the temperature of the milk, and the composition of the milk can all affect the flocculation rate, which is the moment at which the milk begins to gel. The point of flocculation will help you determine when to expect a clean break. This means that the optimal waiting period can be different for your milk or your goats’ stage of lactation. You can figure out the ideal waiting time by checking flocculation. Using an eyedropper, put a drop of milk into water. If the milk retains its shape as a little ball, it has begun to gel. If it disperses into the water like liquid milk, wait a couple of minutes and try again. You can also check flocculation by floating a lightweight plastic container on top of the milk. If you can spin the container, the milk is liquid. If the container won’t move, the milk has begun to gel.
You have a clean break when the curd holds its shape when you cut into it.
To determine the number of minutes that should pass before cutting the curds, multiply the flocculation time by a number that will vary depending on the type of cheese you are making, as indicated below. For example, if you are making Camembert, you should see flocculation at about ten minutes. If you do, then you multiply 10 by 5 or by 6, which means that 50 or 60 minutes should pass between the time you added the rennet and the time you cut the curds.
Cheese Flocculation Times
Cheese
Flocculation factor
Target cutting time
Alpine, Parmesan, and other extra-hard cheeses
2–2.5
20–30 minutes
Cheddar, Gouda, and other semi-hard to hard cheeses
3–3.5
30–50 minutes
Feta and blue cheese
4
50–60 minutes
Brie, Camembert, and other bloomy rind cheeses
5–6
50–60 minutes
If you find you need to cut much earlier or later than the target cutting time, something is not quite right. If you are following the temperature suggested in the recipe and flocculation is happening earlier, reduce the amount of rennet in future batches. If you are going beyond the target time by more than 10 or 15 minutes, increase the rennet slightly or try replacing the rennet with a fresh supply. Rennet can lose its potency if it is stored improperly or kept beyond the expiration date. Following the estimated times in recipes usually produces good results, but determining the optimal time to cut the curds and adjusting the amount of rennet accordingly will produce a cheese that melts better and has a smoother texture. When we learned about flocculation, we discovered that we could reduce our rennet by more than half of what we had been using! The change immediately created a cheddar that melted better.
After being cut from top to bottom, the surface of the curd mass will look like graph paper. Now it is time to make the horizontal or diagonal cuts to create curds the size required by the recipe.
Cutting Curds
All aged cheese recipes and even a few fresh cheese recipes tell you to cut the curds into a specific size, usually an inch or smaller. When you have a clean break, cut the curd mass from top to bottom into strips using a long knife. Turn the pot 90 degrees, and cut again to create a grid, as shown in the picture. Next, cut horizontally or diagonally to create curds of the appropriate size. You can use a knife and go at it diagonally, or you can use an egg turner and slide it into the curds horizontally.
Cutting the curds is more of an emotional challenge than a physical one because the curds won’t all be the perfect size. The moisture content of the cheese is related to the size of the curds. The smaller the curd, the more surface area is exposed, allowing whey to drain. So, smaller curds equal drier cheese, and larger curds equal moister cheese. Chèvre is as moist and spreadable as it is because the curds are not cut at all; you are simply spooning them into molds.
Traditional Curd Cutting
Jim Wallace, technical advisor at New England Cheese Supply, modified a whisk to create his own version of a traditional Italian spino, which is used to cut the curds. “The name is derived from an ancient tool that was simply a long stout branch with four-inch to six-inch stubs remaining from side branches that were cut off,” says Jim. “Cutting with this is a bit of an art and hard to explain. You just have to see it work. It does a beautiful job once you gain some practice with it.”
This modified whisk emulates a traditional curd-cutting tool.
Feta
Most feta sold in the United States is made from cow milk, but it was traditionally made with sheep milk and sometimes blended with goat milk. Lipase appears in feta recipes that assume pasteurized cow milk is being used, but this recipe assumes you are using your own goat milk that has not been heated to more than 145°F during the pasteurization process.
Makes 1 to 1¼ pounds, depending on butterfat content.
1 gallon goat milk
mesophilic culture
½ teaspoon liquid rennet
cheese salt
1. Add the mesophilic culture at the rate recommended by the supplier to milk that is at 86°F and stir gently. Cover the pot and let the milk ripen for 1 hour.
2. Add the rennet and stir for about a minute. Check for flocculation and multiply by 4 to determine when to cut the curd. After waiting the required time, check the curd for a clean break.
3. Cut the curds into ½-inch cubes. After cutting, let the curds rest for a few minutes, and then begin stirring them. Keep the curds at 86°F either by placing the pot into a water bath or by turning on the burner for brief periods of time. Stir for 30 minutes.
4. The curds need to be drained after stirring. You can use either a cheesecloth-lined colander or plastic molds. The curds can be left to drain by gravity, or, for a slightly drier cheese, weight can be added on top of the curds to force whey out under gentle pressure.
When two
molds of feta are draining, you can stack them on top of each other to provide a little pressure during draining that will force more whey out and result in a drier cheese.
5. When using two plastic molds, I set one on top of the other for 30 minutes and then switch them so that the one that was on bottom is on top, and I leave this for another 30 minutes. After each mold has been on the bottom, take the cheese out of the mold, flip it over, and put it back into the mold. Allow the curds to drain for 6 to 12 hours unstacked, during which time they will have matted together into a solid piece of cheese.
6. Cut each cheese round into quarters. If the cheese is to be eaten within a week, salt all sides liberally and store the cheese in the refrigerator.
7. If you are planning to age your feta, remove it from the molds, liberally salt all sides, and place the cheese on a cheese mat to continue draining. The cheese should dry at 50–55°F for a couple of days before brining. If you don’t have a cheese cave for aging, you can put it into the refrigerator at this point. At refrigerator temperatures, cheese does not really age, meaning that it does not develop a rich flavor.
A cheese mat helps your cheese drain by keeping the cheese from sitting in whey.
A wide-mouth, half-gallon canning jar is one option for storing feta in brine because the opening is large enough for the wedges of cheese to fit.
Mold may start to grow on salted feta after a couple of weeks, depending on how heavily it was salted. The more salt you use, the lower the risk of mold. However, brining will preserve cheese and keep it from molding because the cheese is submerged in salt water. To brine the cheese, put the quarters into a brine solution of 2–3 ounces of salt to a quart of water. Use a container that is filled to the very top to avoid mold growth on the top of the cheese. The cheese can be stored in the solution for months.
Camembert
This bloomy rind cheese is an easy one to make. Traditionally a mold that is open on both ends is used, but a plastic basket mold can be used.
Pasteurized milk is preferred for this cheese because the cheese is usually aged only a month before being eaten. The short aging period means this cheese is more likely than most aged cheeses to develop bad bacteria because it has not aged long enough for the good bacteria to beat out the bad guys, if there are any in the milk.
Makes 1 to 1¼ pound, depending on butterfat content.
1 gallon pasteurized goat milk
mesophilic culture
penicillium candidum
geotrichum candidum
⅛ teaspoon liquid rennet
cheese salt
The first time I made a mold-ripened cheese I made two mistakes in aging it. First, I put the cheese on a cookie cooling rack rather than on a cheese mat, and second, I didn’t turn the cheese regularly. Consequently, the soft cheese oozed between the wires and the mold grew around the cooling rack.
1. Heat the milk to 90°F and add the amount of culture and mold specified by the manufacturer. Stir well after each addition, and let the milk ripen for 30 minutes. Add the rennet and check for flocculation after 15 minutes. It should happen after 15 to 20 minutes, which means a clean break will occur after 50 to 60 minutes. Cut the curds into 1-inch pieces, and let the cubes rest for 5 minutes. Then stir the cubes 5 minutes to release a little of the whey.
2. Spoon the curds into 2 or 3 molds for draining. If the butterfat is not terribly high, use 2 molds. If you have Nigerian Dwarves or Nubians, or if it is fall, when goat milk tends to have a higher butterfat content, use 3 molds. Do not overfill the molds. Mold-ripened cheeses need to be fairly thin after draining so they can develop a creamy interior throughout.
3. After 1 hour, remove the cheese from the mold carefully and flip it over. Flip it again at 1-hour intervals until the cheese has rested on each side twice. Let the cheese drain for 24 hours, and then sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt on each side.
Camembert is usually considered ready when the interior is creamy. You will know this by feel when you are flipping the cheese daily. The cheese initially feels quite firm, but after three to four weeks, you will notice it softening to the touch. If when you cut it open the texture is not ideal, note whether you would like it softer or firmer, and next time adjust the aging time accordingly.
This cheese should be aged at a temperature between 50°F and 55°F with very high humidity. This cheese needs to be isolated from other cheeses while being aged so that the candidum molds don’t migrate and mold-ripen everything nearby. Storing the cheese in a plastic container solves the problem. Place the cheese on a cheese mat in the container so that the cheese won’t be sitting in water, and turn the cheese daily. If you forget to turn it, the mold could wrap around the cheese mat, and separating the two would require ripping the mold off the cheese, effectively ending the aging process. Within a few days, white mold is visible growing on the surface of the cheese, and by 2 weeks, the cheese will have a nice fuzzy coat. Unlike a true aged cheese, Camembert does not continue to improve with age and is usually best eaten around 3 to 5 weeks after making it.
Semi-hard and Hard Cheeses
Once you have perfected a variety of soft cheeses, you might want to try a hard cheese, such as cheddar. Hard, aged cheeses are made using a cheese press, which forces moisture out of the cheese. Recipes that use a press will tell you how long to press the cheese and at what pressure, measured in pounds.
Line the press with cheesecloth before putting the curds in it. The lining serves two purposes. First, it keeps the curds from sticking to the press, and second, it wicks away moisture and helps the cheese drain.
After putting the curds into the press, fold the cheesecloth to cover the top of the curds. Then place the follower on the covered curds, and press. After the initial pressing, remove the mass of curds from the press, remove the cheesecloth, flip the cheese over, and put it back into the cheesecloth-lined press.
This time, don’t fold the cheesecloth lining over the top of the cheese. Instead, use a new piece of cheesecloth that has been cut to fit on top of the curds. Folding the cheesecloth over the top of the cheese results in pockets and divots in the cheese, and you want a smooth finish. You can leave the ends of the cheesecloth hanging over the edge of the press during pressing.
Most recipes recommend pressing several times, flipping the cheese over between each pressing, and using a heavier weight with each successive pressing.
Antiquity Oaks Heritage Cheddar
This is the recipe that we use most often for the cheese that we call cheddar because it tastes like cheddar when made with our Nigerian Dwarf goat milk. Unlike an authentic cheddar, this recipe omits the cheddaring step, and unlike most cheddars, it is a washed curd. It all started with a Colby cheese that we aged far longer than Colby is normally aged. We took it to a party and wouldn’t tell anyone what kind of cheese it was. Everyone said the cheese was an aged cheddar. Over the past few years, we have changed a number of things about the cheese to suit our tastes. In early fall, as the butterfat increases in the milk, we gradually decrease the amount of milk and rennet we use in the recipe, and by mid-winter, we are using only 1½ gallons of milk and ¼ teaspoon of rennet, and we are still getting a 2-pound round of cheese.
Makes 2 pounds.
2 gallons goat milk
¼ teaspoon MM100 mesophilic culture
½ teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in ¼ cup water
cheese salt
1. Heat the milk to 86°F and add the mesophilic culture. Let the milk sit for 1 hour. Add the diluted rennet to the milk. Stir for 1 minute, and then let the milk rest for up to 30 minutes. Check for flocculation after 5 minutes. When flocculation occurs, multiply by a flocculation factor of 3 to calculate the resting time for the cheese to reach a clean break. When the cheese has reached a clean break, cut the curds into ½-inch pieces. Let the curds rest for 5 minutes, and then gently stir them for 5 minutes. Continue stirring every few minutes to keep the curds from matting together while you raise the temperature 2°F every 5 minutes to 102°F. Maintai
n the temperature at 102°F for 30 minutes and continue to stir occasionally.
2. To “wash” the curds, pour off the whey to the level of the curds and add 1½ to 2 quarts of 60°F water to the pot. The goal is to reduce the temperature of the curds to 80°F. Maintain the temperature at 80°F for 15 minutes while continuing to stir occasionally. Drain the curds and whey through a colander. Let the curds sit in the colander, draining, for 20 minutes. The curds will have matted by this time. Gently break them apart and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of salt into the curds and mix.
3. Put the curds into a cheese press and press at 20 pounds for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the pressure and adjust the pressure gauge as needed to maintain 20 pounds of pressure because the cheese will compress considerably in the first few minutes. Remove the cheese, flip it, rewrap it, put it back into the press, and press at 30 pounds for 20 minutes. Remove the cheese, flip, rewrap, and press at 40 pounds for 1 hour. And for the final press, remove the cheese, flip, rewrap, and press at 50 pounds for 12 hours.
4. Remove the cheese from the press and air-dry in the cheese cave for several days. Seal the cheese in plastic or wax it and store it for at least 60 days if you used raw milk. Although you can eat it sooner if you use pasteurized milk, the flavor improves dramatically with time. We’ve aged many blocks of this cheese for well over a year and have even aged some for more than two years. If you plan to age the cheese for six months or longer, use cheese wax rather than sealing in plastic. Age the cheese between 50°F and 55°F.
Raising Goats Naturally Page 30