Crème de Ciel 101
Brie-esque cheese is deceptively simple to make. It doesn’t require pressing. All cultures and moulds are added during the make. And after salting, you just store the little white fellows until the surface mold develops, then wrap and presto…ready to eat as soon as the cheese is ripe. The P. candidum is what causes the soft white fuzzy exterior mould to develop on the cheese. Surface ripened cheese, such as our Crème de Ciel ripens from the outside in! We use imported wraps from France to store our little cheeses and really, the ripening is the tricky part of this cheese. Many of us in North America, are accustomed to the white look of Brie, but in France and other places different strains of P. candidum are used that produce grey to brownish exteriors. So, although the make is fairly straightforward in this cheese, the ripening is a bit persnickety and challenging. Ammonia buildup is the biggest challenge. The cheese releases ammonia as it ripens. After these cheeses are wrapped, unless there is adequate air movement, the cheese can develop an ammonia smell and taste. Good air circulation is important to dissipate some of the ammonia your cheeses are expelling during ripening. Surface ripened cheese has a limited shelf life: when the Brie is ripe, it’s amazing; if it is too ripe or too young, you may wish to rethink your cheesemaking career. If you haven’t salted your cheese sufficiently, a fluorescent yellow mould can develop that won’t hurt you, but it makes your cheese look weird and I secretly think the cheese tastes funny too. Now I’ve warned you about some of the pitfalls, try making some. You can use the same little molds you purchased for Feta (Part One) or try larger molds for a big wheel. You’ll be hooked on making Brie the first time you experience your first perfectly ripened, delicious, buttery and creamy heavenly pie.

You will need:  all the cheesemaking equipment used in Feta 101 plus
Molds:  two round approximately 9 inches in diameter and about 6 inches high (or use the 6 soft cheese molds for Feta)
Starter:  Mesophilic type II powder
Inoculation:  Lacto-Labo Penecillium Candidum powder
Rennet:  liquid calf rennet
Milk:6 quarts of ewe’s milk

Warm 6 quarts of ewe’s milk to 86º F.

Add:
1/8 tsp Meso II
¼ tsp P. Candidum dissolved in 1/8 cup distilled water
3/8 tsp of rennet diluted in ¼ cup distilled water
(NOTE: this seems like too much rennet to me. Everytime I use this much, the curds are firm in 1/2 hour! Last time I used 1/4 tsp granular rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup water, still an early set, but the cheese was good)

Work ingredients well into the milk.

Allow the milk to ripen until curds form (about 1 ½ hours) while maintaining start temperature of milk.

Test curd for a clean break. Cut curd into ½ inch cubes and stir gently with a ladle for about 3 minutes while cutting any largish curds with your ladle.

Allow curds to settle for 10 minutes.

Ladle into molds placed on ripening mats, sitting on a cake cooling rack over a pan to catch the whey drippings. The curds will settle to about half the height you ladle into the mold.

Allow cheeses to drain at room temperature overnight covered loosely with plastic wrap or cheesecloth. Flip the cheeses a couple of times when they are firm enough to be handled.

The next mornig, when the cheeses have completed their draining time, remove them from the molds. Sprinkle ½ tsp coarse salt on each of the top and bottom of cheese.  Place the cheese onto clean ripening mats in a plastic storage box with a lid. Close the lid but not tightly (to allow some air circulation). Air out the cheese daily and wipe any excess moisture from the plastic box.

Transfer cheese to ripening room (temperature range of 52 – 56 º F/we used one of our kitchen cupboards that was cool before we built a ripening room!) Check your cheeses daily and wipe out any excessive condensation/moisture in the storage box. The characteristic white mold should begin to appear day 5 – 7. This is dependent on the humidity in your box. A relative humidity of about 70 – 75% is desirable. Once the white molds appear, the cheeses must be turned daily to ensure the white crust grows evenly on the surface.

Once the cheeses are completely crusted with Penecillium mold, wrap them loosely in cellophane paper (cellophane works best; you can use saran wrap though or you can get fancy and purchase imported cheese wraps). Store in the fridge or the ripening room/cupboard. The cheese will be ready to eat when the center of it feels soft under the thumb (about 6 weeks depending on ripening temperatures).

Note: If you want to make “Camembert”, warm your milk to 84º F in Step One.