This weekend I upped my home cheese making by attempting Fromage Blanc. It is a mild, spreadable cheese (sort of like cream cheese or the herbed Alouette you can get at the store). I was pretty excited to try my hand at something other than mozzarella or ricotta.
I started by ordering the formage blanc starter from the New England Cheese Making Supply Company. I read the recipe – which consists of four steps – a number of times. And yet, as I set out to start my cheese I realized that, although I saw the part about it draining for 6-12 hours, I missed the part about it setting up for 12 hours prior to that! I looked at the clock and decided that this was a sacrifice I would make for cheese - I would stay up until 12:35AM so that I could drain and hang that fromage blanc, and then get up at 7AM to check it. Done and done.
And, that's exactly what I did. I made the cheese with organic whole milk from Lund's. It turned out beautifully. I only drained it for about 6 1/2 hours because I wanted the consistency to remain soft and spreadable. After removing it from the butter muslin it had hung in, I folded in a tablespoon of Herbes de Provence, put it in an airtight container and moved it to my fridge. I'm going to let it sit for a day or two, so the herbs really flavor the cheese, then it will be cheese meet cracker! I cannot wait.
Too yummy! So, this weekend, I stayed up really late and made white cheese with french herbs. So very fancy...
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