I Make Cheese: Hippychick’s Smokedy Chipotle

This is a cross-post from my friend Michelle, aka Shelly aka Hippychick -- she's been blogging about her incredible experiences towards sustainable hapiness, and was kind enough to allow me to re-post this. She's been raising chickens and bees and growing her own fruits and vegetables... and making cheese. Thanks, Michelle!

hippychick’s

smokedy
chipotle
aged
cheese

/ rich, smokey flavor /
/ russet in color /
/ a homestead recipe of my own /

ingredients

1 1/2 gallons of raw milk (if available)
ta61 thermophilic starter – 1/8 teaspoon
organic vegetable rennet - just short of a 1/4 teaspoon (diluted in 1/8 cup chlorine free water)
lipase - just short of 1/4 teaspoon (diluted in 1/8 cup chlorine free water)
home grown, smoked and dried chipotle peppers - ground to a fine powder
smoked sea salt

process

in a clean cup mix 1/4 cup of chlorine free water with 1/4 teaspoon of lipase - mix and set aside. lipase takes a good 15-20 minutes to dissolve in water
in a clean cup mix 1/4 cup of chlorine free water with 4 drops liquid rennet or 1/2 tablet of rennet - mix and set aside
in a container larger enough to hold your pressed cheese, add 1 cup of smoked sea salt to 2 cups of water. stir until salt is fully dissolved and set aside. this is your finishing salt bath.
line a colander with high quality cheese cloth (note store bought cheese cloth is too loose a weave).
place the colander over a larger sized pot or a large sized bowl. the bowl will catch the whey when straining the curds. a good note is to use a bowl or container that can catch as much liquid as you use milk - 1 gallon, 2 gallon, etc.
prepare a hot water bath set up – set a smaller pot (*1 gallon sized) in a larger pot (*2 gallon sized) – place water in the large pot – place milk in the small pot.

* use pots sized to those that you have on hand

heat milk to 90˚f - use a cheese or candy thermometer to measure
turn heat off and remove pot from heat
add 1/8 teaspoon of ta61 thermophilic starter
stir in starter for 2 minutes using a non-reactive spoon
cover and let set for 30 minutes
stir in lipase/water solution for 1 minute
cover and let set for 5 minutes
stir in rennet for 3 minutes (If using store bought milk you need stir only 2 minutes)
stir in 1 tablespoon of fine ground *chipotle pepper - modify amount for your own taste.

* i grow, smoke and dry my own. you can purchase dried chipotle peppers at a local market and grind them down in a coffee grinder. Remove the stem and seeds from the dried peppers. Break the peppers up into penny sized pieces. Set your coffee grinder to the espresso/fine setting, then grind them up.

ps. i am saving my seeds for next year's peppers

cover and let set for 35 - 45 minutes or until the curd gives a clean break
with a clean knife, cut the curd to 1/4 inch sized cubes.
heat the curds to 100˚f slowly increasing the temperature by 2˚ every 5 minutes. slowly stir your curds
throughout this process. this is a good time to think or to relax quietly or ponder something deep.
when the curds reach 100˚f, remove from heat but keep stirring for another 30 minutes to maintain
temperature and to keep curds from matting.
set the curds aside for 15 minutes to rest.
drain curds from whey
once the curds are fully drained gently mix in the pepper bits to the curds - gently gently
line a cheese press with fresh cloth and load curds into press
press curds at 10lbs pressure for 10 minutes
remove cheese from press, flip it over, reload cloth and cheese into press
press curds at 10lbs pressure for 10 minutes
remove cheese from press, flip it over, reload cloth and cheese into press
press curds at 40lbs pressure for 12 hours
remove cheese from the mold
remove cheese cloth
place cheese into smoke sea salt bath and set aside for 24 hours - flip the cheese every 4 hours or flip the sealed container every four hours - whichever works for your set up
remove cheese from sea salt bath and set aside to air dry for 3-5 days flipping the cheese each day.*

*wrap loosely in a cloth if you have kiddos, pets or counter investigating creatures about. best to place cheese on a wood cutting board. the wood absorbs moisture.

once the cheese has formed a rind, wax cheese
allow the cheese to age for 3-6 months
enjoy

waterbath set up - note the large post hosting the smaller pot - the larger pot is filled with enough water so as to surround the smaller pot but not so much as to over flow. the smaller post hosts the milk.