Make French Brie
Cheese making goes back to the start of time. French Brie cheese originated from Brie, the region 60 miles from Paris. Brie has been labeled the "king" of cheeses and was liked by many kings as well. It is said that Louis XVI's last request before his passing was for the taste of Brie. Making your own homemade French Brie cheese will surely impress your friends on any occasion. Many people like to eat French Brie after the seventh month of aging, while others like to eat it as soon as it is made. Your preference on when you eat Brie cheese does not matter as much as how it is made. Learn these simple steps and you will soon be enjoying the soft creamy center of the famous French Brie cheese.
Instructions
1. Buy cheese making supplies or a kit from a kitchen store or online. Buy unpasteurized cow's milk. You will need 6.6 gallons of milk to make one round of French Brie cheese.
2. Add the starter cultures along with our white ripening mold to the milk and then ripening for 45 to 60 minutes. Add rennet for a final very firm curd set in two to two-and-a-half hours.
3. Heat the milk to no more than 37 degrees C, but only during the renneting stage. Dilute the rennet in cool water before adding it to the milk. When adding rennet to the milk, stir gently in up and down motions for one minute. Do not stir vigorously.
4. Separate from the vat when the curd has a thin layer of whey covering it. Carefully ladled in thin layers into the sanitized and preheated molds on bamboo mats. Set the molds quietly and drain in a draft free area with a steady temperature overnight.
5. When drained down to 1/3 original height, loosen and remove the tall inner hoop. Tighten the shorter hoop so it can be flipped over without breaking. Gently remove the original mat.
6. Began flipping for the next several hours. Start salting the surfaces of the French Brie cheese. Move the cheese as soon as the curd dries down and free whey is no longer an issue. Make sure the space has moderate air flow and the drying off continues for the next day or so, keeping the temp at 65 F.
7. Following the drying off, move to 54 F to 90 percent, where the white surface will begin to develop at day five. Continue throughabout day 10 to 12 when the French Brie cheeses can be wrapped and moved to a moister and cooler space (38 to 42 F with 95 to 97 percent humidity) where the white surface begins to die back and the red/yellow streaks begin to show.
8. Eat the French Brie cheese at about four to six weeks when the curd should has ripened to at least the half way point. You can try it at an earlier stage when the taste is quite fresh and sharp, or wait until it really develops some character and the flavor deepens and shows the true flavors of the milk.
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