The Ease of Goat Cheese

Finally! Something I can sink my teeth into!

Having no fortune (so far) with my hard cheeses, it's nice to finally make something so simple that comes out incredibly awesome. Well, after the first try anyway.

For any of you out there interested in making cheese, I highly recommend goat cheese. It is so easy, so tasty, so mmmm....The only challenge involved is finding the right milk. At first I looked for goat milk at my local natural foodie-type stores, and all I could find is produced by Meyenberg and to my chagrin, ultra-pasteurized. (If you haven't been keeping up, UP milk is bad - doesn't lend itself to making cheese of any sort due to denatured proteins.) But I decided to try it anyway. "I'll just add a bit more rennet, I thought," though I now can say that it doesn't work that way.

Soon after realizing that I would have to resort to making goat cheese with powdered goat milk in a can, I found real non-UP goat milk at my local Trader Joe's. This was actually shocking because TJ's is a sort of prepared foods-type market commonly known for it's "Two Buck Chuck" (cheap wine) selection and I never expected it to be my only source for goat milk. As an aside, I do not intend to trash-talk the powdered goat milk. For some it is the only option and as such should never discourage one from making goat cheese. (I bought the can. I have it in my pantry. And though I haven't yet tried it, I have every intention of doing so.)

The first time I made this was actually back in June; I haven't written anything about it until now because there were no pictures or fun stuff to go along with it. This was such an instant gratification cheese that it never lasted more that a few days. This stuff rocks!

The very first batch, yes that one wherein I decided to kick up the rennet, even that one turned out okay. Great flavor for a cheesy goat spread - that whole denatured protein thing kept it from becoming anything more substantial than that. The next batch was a "Fresh" goat cheese meaning that the culture itself was a fresh culture, not a "Chevre" culture. I did cheat though. I didn't have the patience to prepare a fresh culture; too involved - sterilization and mason jars, no thanks. Instead I added a direct set (meaning not prepared) freeze-dried culture that I read was sure to give me the same results. Not only did it work, but YUM! Curiously enough, this cheese had a very light and creamy texture and flavor. It wasn't like the drier and firmer texture of store bought goat cheese and it didn't have that tang. While I enjoyed it, I missed that goaty flavor I am accustomed to. I chalked it up to a lower quality goat milk (= less flavor). It wasn't until I made my next batch with a "Chevre" culture that I realized just exactly what role a culture plays in the process. This cheese tasted like that stuff you get in the stores, it even had the texture I expected. Ya think maybe those all of those books out there that suggest beginning with softer cheeses, playing with vastly different milks and cultures (lemon juice to vinegar to fresh to direct set) did so for a reason? Nah. But I was wrong (gasp!). It wasn't poor quality milk, it was fresh culture that left that cheese tasting so...fresh; and the "Chevre" culture is what made that other cheese taste like...Chevre!

And talk about easy! This stuff is nearly foolproof and so simple to make! All you need is to heat the milk to a particular temperature (depending on the culture), add said culture, cover, and let it sit! When the curd has coagulated, you gently scoop it into either plastic molds or butter muslin and allow it to drain. No problemo! Someday, I will take pictures of this process for all to witness its ease.

And what could be better than goat cheese-wrapped goat cheese, you ask? In this recipe, a pie crust-like pastry was made of goat cheese and flour and wrapped around more goat cheese. I sprinkled chopped thyme over the surface of the goat cheese round prior to wrapping and gave it a brush of egg wash before baking. I baked this sucker forever and it never really browned. (I'm still looking into that one.) Next time I'll drain the goat cheese even longer; I believe it was the steam emanating from the baking cheese that created this gooey canyon, and the cheese itself seemed to separate. Piping hot, this actually wasn't that good. The cheese was too watery and the delicate flavor of the pastry didn't come through. After cooling significantly, I found this treat to be at its best slivered like a piece of pie and eaten out of hand with no accompaniments necessary.

Did I say YUM?