While cheeses #2 & #3 are still aging, I made a Neufchatel to take to an Independence Day picnic. What is a Neufchatel? It is a creamy soft cheese from the town in France of the same name. It's almost identical to cream cheese, but with less fat. Sometimes, it is called farmer's cheese. Essentially, it's cream cheese (which is traditionally made with cream, duh) made with milk, thus healthier. Philadelphia Cream Cheese sells it as reduced-fat cream cheese with the word "neufchatel" in small print in the corner
I started with this recipe from Dr. Fankhauser, chemist and cheese enthusiast , but made some changes. That recipe takes two days to prepare and I wanted my cheese sooner. I used a press to speed up the separation of the whey. The result was a consistency more like a Boursin, which I preferred. I'm calling it "Spreadable Neufchatel."
Spreadable Neufchatel
- 1 gallon store bought pasteurized whole milk
- 1/4 cup buttermilk with active culture, from two buttermilk ice cubes
- 1/4 teaspoon CaCl (my addition)
- 1/2 tablet rennet (recipe called for 1/4, but I upped it)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Warm milk and buttermilk to 65 degrees (room temperature).
- Add CaCl, mixed first in a quarter cup of water
- Add rennet, mixed first in a quarter cup of water
- Cover and let sit 12-18 hours, until a solid curd forms
- Cut the curd, strain through cheese clothe
- Hang over bowl or sink for two hours
- Press for an two hours at 10 pounds
- Turn, press for 4 hours at 10-20 pounds. I put the press in the fridge during this.
- After pressing, the cheese should be solid, but crumbly. Scrape into a bowl. Fold in salt. Mixing the cheese with a large spoon gives it the desired texture.
- I recommend seasoning here. I put 1 teaspoon of dried garlic powder in half the cheese and 1 teaspoon of Green Goddess herbs in the other half.
- Serve with crunchy crackers and white wine.
