Provolone

I was fortunate to find that Trader Joes carries cream line milk.  It is not quite as good as raw milk, but for half the price and only a slightly lesser quality I am quite happy with my find.

I finally belted down and on a whim I made Provolone with 1 gallon of cream line milk and 2 cups of buttermilk.

Here is the process

Heat the milk to 97 degrees, sprinkle the thermophilic powder over the top, let set for 2 minutes then stir in and let ripen for 60 minutes.

Add 1/4 teaspoon lipase powder that has been disolved in water for 20 minutes, stir in and let set for 10 minutes

Mix in 1/4 teaspoon rennet and let set for 20 minutes

Cut the curd into 3/8 inch cubes and let set for 10 minutes

Heat and stir the curds while heating it to 144 over 45 minutes and let set for 15 minutes

Remove the curds to a colander and let it sit above the whey, covered for 30 minutes

Then you move onto the stretching process and this is where things, once again, do not go quite right

So, I gloss over the stretching process, put the curds in a mold and squeeze out the extra whey for about half an hour with 5 lbs of pressure

Then I brine it in a solution of 1 lb kosher salt and 2 quarts water for 2 hours

I have to say it turned out pretty well, with the exception of the stretching thing.  Though I think I know where I went wrong.  I think that instead of going for short, cubes of curd I just need to make long curds and see if they pull well.

The experiment will be duplicated sometime in the future using the longer curds and hopefully that will fix my stretching issue.

Anthoinette