From making kombucha to growing my own sourdough starter, I have always loved doing tons of

different food projects. So in today’s video I’m bringing you along with me and showing you what I get up to at the Pro Home Cooks studio. I mill wheat and spelt berries to make my first ever flavored olive and fig sourdough, taste test my home brewed beer, and even gave cheese making a shot!

Cheese making has always been something I wanted to do but the problem was that I didn’t have enough space in my old apartment. But ever since I got my studio I have tons of room to start making cheese and now I have a goal to fill up my cheese cave with tons of different cheeses! For this one, I created an aged truffle cheese that will be aged for about 3 months. However, I wanted a little bit more instant gratification so I decided to experiment with the whey that got strained off and created truffle ricotta! I get up to tons more crazy and cool food projects that you can check out here.

Aged Truffle Cheese

Ingredients:

• 3 gallons of milk

• ½ pack of Mesophilic Culture

• 1 pack of Thermophilic Culture

• ½ cup of water (Divided into two)

• 1 teaspoon of calcium chloride

• 1 teaspoon of rennet

• ½ gallon of water

• 1 pounds of salt

• 1/2 tablespoon of calcium chloride

• ½ teaspoon white vinegar

Instructions:

1. Start by washing the pot that you plan on making cheese in. It’s important to make sure everything you use for cheese making is clean and sterile.

2. Add 3 gallons of whole milk to the pot and heat milk to a constant 98 degrees fahrenheit. The best way to do this is to create a double boiler using two pots. Check out my setup here.

3. Once the milk comes up to temperature add in both of the cultures and let ripen for 60 – 90 minutes.

4. In the meantime get two small bowls and add ¼ cup of water to each of them. In one bowl whisk together 1 teaspoon of rennet (used for coagulating : separating the curd from the whey) until it dissolves and in the other add in 1 teaspoon of calcium chloride (used for helping the curds separate) and whisk until it dissolves.

5. After the 60 – 90 minutes are up drop in the rennet and calcium chloride. Let this sit for 20 minutes before cutting it into ¾ inch cubes.

6. Let the cubes sit for 3 – 5 minutes and then whisk to break them into smaller cubes for 10 minutes.

7. While continuing to stir, heat the curd to 118F over a 30 timeframe because the curds will want to clump together.

8. Once heated, continue stirring for another 20 minutes. As you continue to stir the curds more acid will develop, and the curds will continue to lose more whey.

9. Drain the whey down out so you just have curd leftovers. Transfer the final curd into a large bowl and mix with truffle! Press the truffle & curds in cheese molds and press down with 8 lbs for 1 hour.

10. Once the hour is up, increase the weight to 25 pounds and leave for 4 – 6 hours. Then leave overnight with no weight on.

11. The next day, make the brine by combining the water, salt, calcium chloride, and white vinegar and whisk until everything has dissolved.

12. Take the cheese out of the mold and place it into the brine for 1 ½ hours. The cheese will float above the brine surface so sprinkle another teaspoon or 2 of salt on the top surface of the cheese.Flip the cheese and re-salt the surface about half way through the brine period.

13. At the end of the brine bath, wipe the surface and allow the cheese to surface dry for a day or two before aging. The surface will darken somewhat during this time.

14. After about a week a thin but strong rind should form. The final aging time will be about 3 months.

15. Note: The extra care and effort needed to prepare a proper tight, clean surface, with few openings for mold to grow will be rewarded in easier maintenance in the cave. Any mold that does develop can easily be brushed away

https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/toscano-pepato-cheese-making-recipe

Whey Truffle Ricotta (190 degrees)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ – 2 gallons of whey

• ½ cup of vinegar

• 1 – 2 tablespoon of black truffle

• Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. In a large pot heat the whey on a medium high heat to 190 degrees fahrenheit while constantly stirring. Be sure to stir constantly because you do not want this mixture to boil nor do you want the bottom to burn. You can increase little by little as the whey comes closer to 190 degrees.

2. Once you have reached 190, take it off the heat, and stir in the vinegar. Let this sit for about 10 – 15 minutes and you will see curds start to form.

3. In a large bowl layer a couple large pieces of cheesecloth over and strain out the whey. Hang the curds (I hung mine from the kitchen fan) so that gravity can push out the excess whey and leave a pot right below it to catch the excess.

4. Once the whey stops dripping out, dump your ricotta out into a bowl and stir in the truffle and a sprinkle of salt! Mix and spread on some sourdough bread!

Blueberry & Banana Bran Muffins:

Ingredients:

• ¾ cups of coconut sugar

• 4 ripe bananas

• 1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour + bran

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

• ½ cup of melted coconut oil

• ½ cup of blueberries

• ¼ cup of crushed walnuts

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

2. In a large bowl mash together the coconut sugar and bananas until you break down the bananas a bit.

3. Next add in the whole wheat flour, bran, salt, baking powder, and coconut oil and mix until everything has been absorbed.

4. Gently fold in the blueberries and walnuts. Top with a few more blueberries and sprinkle on some bran.

5. Spray a cupcake tin with a little bit of oil and scoop the batter into the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.