I've always wanted my own round of brie. I love brie and one wedge cut from a round of Brie de Meaux is never enough for greedy cheese-munchers, it won't even see the weekend out. No, we need whole rounds of the stuff, so I decided to make one. We cut into it with trepidation last night and we're pleasantly surprised that it's actually very good.a brie matures in a distinctive way due to the shape: the round should dry to at least 20cm in diameter and should be made with about 7 litres of milk. it takes at least 6 weeks to mature, with most of the maturation activity occurring towards the end of the resting period.
this attempt was something of an afterthought when I was making other cheese and had some cows milk left, so it was made with only 4 litres of milk. the result is a full diameter round but not as thick as a proper brie, which matured much faster with a firm, slightly dry paste. the cheese was probably perfectly ripe at about 17 days, but we cut into it at day 22 and it had begun to dry out and firm up. it's like a very soft, smooth cheddar with a brie rind and flavour, rather than an oozing, creamy paste.
brie relies on rennet for curd formation more than lactic fermentation, so the initial fermentation period is only about 90 minutes. the curd is then cut (left) and gently turned over a few times in the whey over about 40 minutes. it's then poured into the ring or hoop which will form the round, lined with cheesecloth to allow the whey to drain off. the curds gently compact into a smooth paste as they drain under their own weight, being inverted a few times over about 8 hours. the round then sits overnight to dry.salt is an integral part of cheese, for preservation, tempering the action of bacteria and of course flavour. there are different ways of salting: brie is placed in a saturated brining solution when it is about 24 hours old. cheese absorbs salt from brine at a rate determined by the size and shape, so we reduced the recommended brining time for a full sized brie (2.5 hours) to 90 minutes for our flat round. JG shouldered the hefty responsibility of this stage alone (one of my colleagues thought that was a touching sign of trust). the cheese then dries for another day.
as with all mould-affected cheese, brie then goes into a humid environment for about 8 days to allow the Penicillum candidum to bloom. after this phase the cheese just needs to rest somewhere at roughly 12°c while the enzymes digest the protiens and lactose in the curd. the bottom of the cupboard behind the coffee mugs is the coolest place I could think of, but probably not 12°c. this may have contributed to the accelerated maturation, but the results are good nonetheless.next cheese update: more crottins
