Artisan Vegan Cheese

daisysunshine · **Joined:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:25 am **Posts:** 382

thanks.
I'm going to remove the extra water now. Hopefully it's not too late.

Gulliver · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:50 am

As long as it's not been more than a day, they'll probably be fine.

Seeds are clever little things and mostly know when to sprout and not sprout. They do need air to do so, though.

daisysunshine · **Joined:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:25 am **Posts:** 382

my second batch - not so much, my first batch. yeah, I think i drowned them.. hm i think what I'll do is make a THIRD batch with just wheat berries, and just remember to wet them and test all 3. i know there's no rush but :) just to make sure I've gotten it all in hand.

ijustdiedinside · **Joined:** Sun Sep 05, 2010 8:43 pm **Posts:** 8538

if you want to practice with the cheeses, you could always buy rejuvelac. I bought some at a health food store last week to try out some cheese and it was $2 for 8oz. totally worth it in my opinion.

jdfunks · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:04 pm

I'm now on day three of rejuvelac myself and waiting for sprouting!

Gulliver · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:05 pm

I usually:

1. Wash the seeds or grain.

2. Soak them overnight.

all

4. Wash twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening. After about three days, you'll have lots of sprouty sprouts.

5. PROFIT!!!

Cgvegan · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:35 am **Posts:** 452

I totally drowned my quinoa and it sprouted anyway!

Cgvegan · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:35 am **Posts:** 452

Another question- can I freeze the melty mozerella? I have frozen pizza dough and frozen pizza sauce to pull out for quicky kid meals, so mozerella too would be A Good Thing...

daisysunshine · **Joined:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:25 am **Posts:** 382

Gulliver wrote:

I usually:

1. Wash the seeds or grain.

2. Soak them overnight.

all

4. Wash twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening. After about three days, you'll have lots of sprouty sprouts.

5. PROFIT!!!

heeee I like number 5 the best!
I'll try this if nothing happens.

thanks for the help!

ijustdiedinside = i'm going to be on the hunt for it. :)

jdfunks · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:39 pm

Should there be *noticeable* water in the waiting-to-sprout grains? Or just moistened?

daisysunshine · **Joined:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:25 am **Posts:** 382

jdfunks - that's what is confusing me. i have a bit of noticable water (or i had). but it sounds like it just needs to be moist.

starrynight87 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:54 pm

I brought sprouted quinoa, because it was the only package that mentioned anything about being raw. Will this affect my rejuvelac making?

miyokoschinner · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 6:35 pm

Cgvegan wrote:

Another question- can I freeze the melty mozerella? I have frozen pizza dough and frozen pizza sauce to pull out for quicky kid meals, so mozerella too would be A Good Thing...

I have frozen most of the cheeses successfully. The only one that I've found that suffers a textural change is the almond ricotta. Still, I freeze it if I have to (it just gets grainy).

By the way, since writing the book, I've changed the way I make pizza dough. I've adopted Jim Lahey's no-knead method. Follow the recipe for the pizza dough through the mixing stage. Don't bother to knead it. Just refrigerate it. The gluten will develop by itself overnight. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks, and it still works. Makes pizza-making really simple.

As for the mozzarella, I've taken to marinating it in an Italian herbed vinaigrette. Spear it with cherry tomatoes and have a great appetizer. Works with either the one in the first chapter, the melty mozzarella, or the one from VegNews.

jdfunks · **Posted:** Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:09 pm

No sprouting yet, but I'm making yogurt cheese in a mesh strainer bag.

Cgvegan · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:35 am **Posts:** 452

miyokoschinner wrote:

I have frozen most of the cheeses successfully. The only one that I've found that suffers a textural change is the almond ricotta. Still, I freeze it if I have to (it just gets grainy).

Brilliant, thanks. I'll have to make a big batch, it made spectacular pizza. My kids ate it without looking at it sceptically and saying 'is this vegan?'!!

Cgvegan · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:35 am **Posts:** 452

Another quick melty mozerella question: it was to soft to slice or grate, so I sort of crumbled it on and it melted and tasted great. But is there something I can do to make it firmer next time? My home made yoghurt is good but definitely on the pouring-yoghurt end of the spectrum- could that be the problem? Or do I need to cook longer?

bekki · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:23 am

Cgvegan wrote:

Another quick melty mozerella question: it was to soft to slice or grate, so I sort of crumbled it on and it melted and tasted great. But is there something I can do to make it firmer next time? My home made yoghurt is good but definitely on the pouring-yoghurt end of the spectrum- could that be the problem? Or do I need to cook longer?

I had this problem with my last batch and I just made it a warmer environment to culture in by leaving the oven open for a bit after being used and popping it in there once the heat had mostly gone. Then I periodically checked the temp and would turn it on briefly (30 seconds or so) to give a nice injection of warmth. Before you know it**, beautiful, thick yogurt. But when I made the melty mozzarella I had the exact same issue. It was really good, but completely unsliceable.

I have a technical question. After culturing, doesn't cooking it kill off all of the friendly bugs? I'm just wondering what magic keeps the cheese good for so long after.

**before you know it may be a bit of an overstatement. It did take a few hours.

miyokoschinner · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:23 am

Cgvegan wrote:

Another quick melty mozerella question: it was to soft to slice or grate, so I sort of crumbled it on and it melted and tasted great. But is there something I can do to make it firmer next time? My home made yoghurt is good but definitely on the pouring-yoghurt end of the spectrum- could that be the problem? Or do I need to cook longer?

The cheese should be sliceable. You may not be cooking it long enough. Make sure you're using kappa carrageenan, and cook it a bit longer. If necessary, increase the carrageenan by a half-tablespoon. Remember, this is still a buffalo mozzarella type of meltable cheese, so it's not going to be hard-hard, but you should be able to slice it.

miyokoschinner · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:25 am

bekki wrote:

Cgvegan wrote:

Another quick melty mozerella question: it was to soft to slice or grate, so I sort of crumbled it on and it melted and tasted great. But is there something I can do to make it firmer next time? My home made yoghurt is good but definitely on the pouring-yoghurt end of the spectrum- could that be the problem? Or do I need to cook longer?

I had this problem with my last batch and I just made it a warmer environment to culture in by leaving the oven open for a bit after being used and popping it in there once the heat had mostly gone. Then I periodically checked the temp and would turn it on briefly (30 seconds or so) to give a nice injection of warmth. Before you know it**, beautiful, thick yogurt. But when I made the melty mozzarella I had the exact same issue. It was really good, but completely unsliceable.

I have a technical question. After culturing, doesn't cooking it kill off all of the friendly bugs? I'm just wondering what magic keeps the cheese good for so long after.

That's why you salt the cheeses before air-drying. The salt content of the cheese also helps preserve them.

**before you know it may be a bit of an overstatement. It did take a few hours.

Cgvegan · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:35 am **Posts:** 452

miyokoschinner wrote:

Cgvegan wrote:

Another quick melty mozerella question: it was to soft to slice or grate, so I sort of crumbled it on and it melted and tasted great. But is there something I can do to make it firmer next time? My home made yoghurt is good but definitely on the pouring-yoghurt end of the spectrum- could that be the problem? Or do I need to cook longer?

The cheese should be sliceable. You may not be cooking it long enough. Make sure you're using kappa carrageenan, and cook it a bit longer. If necessary, increase the carrageenan by a half-tablespoon. Remember, this is still a buffalo mozzarella type of meltable cheese, so it's not going to be hard-hard, but you should be able to slice it.

Thank you, this was my first attempt- I am using Kappa Carrageenan, I'll try aiming for a thicker yoghurt to start and cook it longer. I have to say that soft as it was it was still amazing on pizza, a few more attempts and I'm sure I'll have it perfected... We usually have pizza every week so I reckon I'll get there fast enough!

starrynight87 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 1:36 pm

starrynight87 wrote:

I brought sprouted quinoa, because it was the only package that mentioned anything about being raw. Will this affect my rejuvelac making?

I'm just going to use it and let you know what happens!

daisysunshine · **Joined:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:25 am **Posts:** 382

I've got little baby tails happening! :D

I am going to give it another day to really "grow out" and then give it a go.

jdfunks · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:58 pm

No sprouting yet, but I had a nice consistency with my yogurt cheese after draining. I had 2 cups' worth and used it all for the parmesan, which will start its 24 hours of drying today. I checked my coop, New Seasons and a natural kitchen store for rejuvelac today to no avail.

Erinnerung · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:09 pm

I've got sprouts this morning! Pretty excited because it happened way faster than I'd expected- only about a day and a half of soaking. I've also just ordered some carrageenan online. I went to a home brewing shop here but the old man there said they only had carrageenan with flavour additives for different beers, which wouldn't be of any use to me. He was also rather amused by the prospect of vegan cheese-making- I guess he doesn't get questions about it often.

Gulliver · **Posted:** Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:12 am

This is more a broad cheesemaking question that a book-specific one, which I hope is okay.

Has anyone ever added wheat gluten to their cheeses? I thought it might have a casein-y function as they're both stretchy binders. Maybe I'll try it when I feel like ruining something and my rejuvelac batch has rejuvelated.

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