Camembert Recipe

Camembert Recipe (Updated October 21st 2018)
(for 2 wheels)

Ingredients

4 liters milk (3.25%)
1 cup cream (35%)
1/4 tsp Flora Danica culture
1/16 tsp Penicillium Candidum culture
Tiny Pinch Geotrichum Candidum culture
1/8 tsp Calcium Chloride diluted in 1/4 cup water
1/8 tsp double-strength Rennet diluted in 1/4 cup water
Cheese Salt (2-3 tsp) - or any non-iodized salt

Equipment

1 large pot that will hold about 6 liters
1 slotted spoon
1 long knife to cut curds (needs to be long enough to reach the bottom of your curds in the pot)
1 ladle
2 Camembert moulds
1 digital thermometer (you can use a regular one, but the digital one makes life easier)
Bamboo mats, plastic mesh mats
1 plastic container for ripening
1 hygrometer - to measure temperature and humidity
**Cheese cave if you're lucky! If not, some room in a spare fridge or you can use the veggie drawer in your main fridge
Soft cheese wrapping paper

Directions

1. Mix your milk and cream together in the pot and heat it slowly to 90F.

2. Remove the pot from the heat source and place in the sink. Add the cultures (flora, penicillium, geo), cover the pot and let dissolve 5 minutes.

3. Stir for 2 minutes gently, cover and ripen 90 minutes (holding temperature at 90F). To hold the temperature, put some hot water into the sink, just a few inches a little at a time. If your milk mixture's temperature goes a little over 90F, that's okay, but keep an eye on it during the ripening process. If it dips, add a little more hot water.

4. About five minutes before the 90 minutes are done, dilute your Calcium Chloride and your rennet.

5. Add diluted CaCl2 and stir gently for 2 minutes.

6. Add diluted rennet and stir gently for 1 minute. Cover and let ripen for 90 minutes, holding the temperature at 90F.

7. Your curds should have formed at this point. If they are the consistency of a thick yogurt or a soft tofu, you can cut them. If not, let them sit another half an hour. Using your long knife, slowly cut the curd into 1/2 inch cubes, let sit 5 minutes.

8. Stir gently for 15 minutes as though you are trying not to break bubbles, keeping the temperature at 90F. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

9. The curds should sink to the bottom of the pot. Ladle off the whey to the level of the curd to make life easier. Keep the whey for other uses!

10. Make sure your moulds & mats are sterilized. Set moulds on mats in a draining pan or in the sink (check out the video for my method). Ladle the curd into each mould, as the whey drains, add more. Try to make sure you evenly distribute the curd into each mould. Let this drain for one hour.

11. Every hour for the next 5 hours, carefully lift the mould between mats and flip your cheese. Wipe off whey and let drain another hour...repeat. You will be flipping the cheese hourly five more times including this one.

12. At the end of the 5 hours, flip the cheese again. Cover and let drain overnight at room temperature.

13. The next morning, flip the cheeses again, discard any whey. Flip another time and leave to drain for another 8 hours.

14. Sprinkle the cheese with salt (top, bottom and sides) and let sit for 10 minutes. Place on a mat in the ripening container (see video for my set up).  Let the salt dissolve another 10 minutes before putting on lid. Tip: wet a piece of paper towel to add to the ripening container to keep the humidity high.

15. Let your cheese ripen at 10-12C, 90% humidity for 12-14 days, flipping and wiping twice daily, making sure mats are wiped and clean. Leave ripening container open a few minutes each time to release any ammonia. When white fuzz has bloomed, wrap cheeses in paper and let age 4-8 weeks at 10-12C (humidity is not an issue once they are wrapped).

***if you use the veggie drawer in your main fridge, the temperature may be a little cooler, it will result in your cheese ripening slower but you can still use that method.

***in perfect conditions, a Camembert is aged from 3-5 weeks. Because I don't have a cheese cave, I've found that anywhere from 4-8 weeks is a good time for my Cams. The longer you age them, the sharper their flavour.

When you're ready to eat your cheese, let it sit out on the counter, wrapper off, for a good half hour to an hour so that it has time to warm up a little!

Trouble:

- if your curd never forms, you didn't use enough rennet or CaCl2; alternatively, you heated the milk mixture too high and killed the cultures

- if your curd looks like pea soup, your milk or cream is sour or on the verge of going sour

- if your cheese never blooms the white fuzz, your cultures have likely expired

- after aging, if your cheese is too sour or tangy, you may have used too much rennet, or your cultures are no good...or you aged it too long