Gouda is one of the most popular cheeses in the world. It comes from the Netherlands and owes its name to the town of Gouda, which was the first market for this exceptional cheese.
It is a semi-hard cheese that is characterized by its elastic-creamy consistency. The taste is initially delicate and slightly acidic, but as it matures in the ripening room, it becomes more pronounced, and sweet and caramel notes come to the surface.
Gouda cheeses available in stores have little in common with the original Dutch Gouda. They are usually produced from normalized milk with low fat content, and aging takes place in thermo-shrink bags - those red or yellow ones that you certainly associate with stores.
Below is a recipe for Gouda cheese.
The milk can be pasteurized or raw provided that milking hygiene is at a high level.
The water for rinsing the curd can be bottled, filtered, boiled, or possibly directly from the tap provided that there is no chlorine smell.
Ingredients needed to make Gouda cheese
10 liters of milk
2ml of calcium chloride
Mesophilic cultures according to the dosage on the package
Calf or microbial rennet according to the dosage on the package
3 liters of water for rinsing the curd
Brine with a concentration of 18-20%
Gouda cheese recipe
Add calcium chloride to the milk and heat to 32°C, stirring constantly to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Note: If using raw milk, calcium chloride is not necessary.
Once the milk reaches 32°C, turn off the heat and add mesophilic cultures according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Sprinkle the cultures on the surface of the milk and mix thoroughly for one to two minutes.
Cover the pot to prevent the milk from cooling and let sit for 30-60 minutes.
After this time, add rennet according to the manufacturer's instructions and mix thoroughly but briefly.
If the temperature has dropped by more than 2°C, reheat the milk to 32°C before adding the rennet.
It is important to allow the milk to settle and not disturb it during coagulation. Let the milk sit for 30-35 minutes until a curd forms.
If the curd is still weak after 35 minutes, let it sit for an additional 5-10 minutes.
Cut the curd into approximately 2cm cubes and let sit for 5 minutes to strengthen.
After 5 minutes, cut the curd into about 0,5cm cubes.
Gently mix the curd for about 15 minutes to release some of the whey and let sit for 5 minutes.
In the meantime, heat 3 liters of water to approximately 40°C.
After 5 minutes, drain off 30% of the whey.
Replace the drained whey with the heated water (preferably in 2-3 batches while stirring continuously).
Heat the mixture to 38°C over approximately 30 minutes while stirring continuously.
Maintain the temperature and continue stirring for an additional 30 minutes.
Perform a test:
Take a handful of the drained curds and lightly press them into a single mass. Properly drained curds should easily stick together in hand and then break apart into individual curds when lightly pressed with finger.
If the curds smear in your fingers, continue stirring for an additional 10-15 minutes and perform the test again.
Once the curds are properly drained, pour off the whey until it reaches the level of the curds.
Transfer the curds to a cheesecloth-lined mold and let sit for 15 minutes without weight.
After 15 minutes, flip the cheese over and let sit for an additional 30 minutes without weight.
Flip the cheese again and press under a weight of 5kg for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, flip the cheese and press under a weight of 10kg for 3 hours.
Optionally, flip the cheese every hour.
After 3 hours, remove the cheese from the mold and let sit, without the cheesecloth and weight, until the next day.
The next day, immerse the cheese in brine for 8 hours per 1kg of cheese. The cheese will float, so sprinkle salt on the exposed portion and flip it halfway through the brining time.
Remove the cheese from the brine and pat dry with paper towels.
Transfer the cheese to a ripening room with a temperature of approximately 12-14°C and a humidity of 80-85% for a minimum of 4-6 weeks.
Of course, you can let the cheese mature longer, but with a small amount of cheese maturing at the same time, it is difficult to resist cutting into it ;)
After the surface has dried, you can cover the cheese with a coating such as PVA cheese coating or wax.
Done. As you can see, making Gouda cheese at home isn’t that difficult, and you can handle the aging conditions, for example by moving the cheese to a cool place in your home or keeping it in the warmest part of the fridge. Even if the cheese doesn’t fully mature, it will definitely be delicious.
Photo by Dmitrii E. on Unsplash
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