Step-By-Step guide:
St. Paulin
• Difficulty level: 
• Cow’s milk
(goat’s milk or sheep’s milk also works)
• Preparation: +/- 5 hours
• Volume: 10 litres of milk yields 3 cheeses of approx. 400g.
• Download the PDF-version
INTRODUCTION
St. Paulin is a semi-soft, short-ripened cheese with a washed rind. This cheese is very forgiving and does not require any special conditions for ripening; a regular cellar is sufficient. It is therefore an ideal cheese for beginners. All the steps of cheesemaking are clearly illustrated in this cheese.
The basic principles of cheesemaking are relatively simple and apply to most types of cheese, both hard and semi-soft. You start by adding a starter culture to your warm milk, and optionally inoculating it with molds or bacteria. The addition of rennet causes the milk to coagulate into a solid mass, known as curd. Cutting, stirring, washing, and/or heating the curd also play a role in determining the type of cheese you will obtain, not to mention pressing and brining.
The remaining whey can be used to make ricotta. Ricotta means “recooked” in Italian. We will indeed reheat the whey from the first cheese in order to recover the remaining proteins. This recipe will be covered elsewhere.
INGREDIENTS
• 10 liters of milk
• Mesophilic starter culture (e.g. buttermilk at 2%, propagated mother culture such as dickmilch at 1%, or Flora Danica, …)
• Rind flora: if desired, a small amount of revibacterium linens or a mixed culture for washed-rind cheeses
• Animal rennet or microbial rennet
• Salt
MATERIAL
• Cooking pot with a minimum capacity of 10 liters
• 3 cheese moulds with base and follower, ideally approximately 12 cm in diameter, optionally with matching draining cheesecloth
• (Digital) thermometer
• Curd cutter or palette knife
• Ripening boxes or a larger plastic container with lid
You can order most of these materials in the webshop.
PROCEDURE
• Heat the milk to 20–22 °C
• Add the starter culture: 100 ml per 10 L of milk (200 ml if the starter culture was previously frozen or if using fresh buttermilk). When using a DVS culture, follow the dosage indicated on the package.
• Continue heating the milk to 35.5–36 °C.
• Add rennet: 4 drops per liter of milk (≈ 25 ml per 100 L of milk).
• Stir once to ensure even distribution, then stop all stirring.
• Allow to rest until the milk has coagulated (30–45 minutes).
• Check for a clean break.
• Cut the curd lightly (hazelnut-sized pieces, approx. 1 cm3), allowing short resting periods between each cutting motion.
• Gently stir for 10 minutes, gradually increasing intensity.
• Let rest for 5 minutes (the curd settles to the bottom).
• Drain off whey (reserve for ricotta!) down to just above curd level and replace it with tap water at 35–36 °C.
• Add warmer water if the curd mass cools down too much. The goal is to keep everything at 36°C during the cheesemaking
• Cut the curd more vigorously until corn-kernel to pea size.
• Stir for at least 20 minutes.
• Drain whey/water until the curd becomes visible at the surface.
• Distribute the curd into the moilds, place the follower on top, and invert (with the follower at the bottom and the base of the mould facing upward). This allows the cheese to self-press and expel most of the whey.
• Remove the cheese from the mould, turn it, return it to the mould, and press under weight, now with the follower on top. Pressing weight: 4–5× the weight of the cheese.
• After 45 minutes, repeat this step and increase the pressing weight to 8–9× the weight of the cheese. Press for approximately 1 hour.
• Unmold the cheese.
• Brine the cheese for 1.5 hours in a brine solution of 150 g salt per liter of water. Use 1 liter of brine per 400 g cheese.
• Halfway through the brining time, turn the cheeses to ensure even salting.
• Ripening: look further
RIPENING/AFFINAGE OF YOUR ST. PAULIN
• Allow the cheese to drain for 1 day at room temperature on a draining mat.
• Ripen for approximately 4 weeks in a cellar or in a location at around 15 °C, relative humidity: 80–90%.
• During the first week, allow the cheese time to dry and develop its rind. Only afterwards, if you desire a more pungent cheese, ripen under more humid conditions (e.g. in a ripening box with lid).
• If you prefer a milder St. Paulin, keep the relative humidity below 85%.
• From the start of ripening (day 2 after brining): Every 2 days, wash the cheese with brine (75 g salt per liter of water) for 2 to 3 weeks.
• Use, for example, a clean kitchen sponge or a soft brush.
• Discard the washing brine after each use.
• Always prepare a separate washing brine in a small container each time you wash your cheeses (the brining bath is too valuable to be used for washing).
• After each use, thoroughly clean the sponge with boiling water or sterilize it by boiling.
• Taste after four weeks.
ON BRINING AND WASHING
St. Paulin is a ‘friendly” washed-rind cheese. The brining step is relatively short and carried out in a brine bath of moderate salinity. During ripening, regular washing will further increase the salt content of the cheese. If the brine bath were too strong, or the brining time too long, the cheese would become overly salty by the end of ripening.
The purpose of washing with a mild brine is to remove unwanted mold growth, keep the rind moist, and promote the development of the red smear bacteria (Brevibacterium linens). This bacterium thrives in humid conditions and tolerates relatively high salt levels. If, after rind formation, you ripen your St. Paulin under very moist conditions (in a ripening box with a closed lid), this bacteria will develop more readily and will result in a cheese with greater character.
If you wish to give your cheese a more pronounced orange-yellow rind, you may add a few drops of annatto (rocou) to the washing brine.
TIPS
St. Paulin with herbs?
Absolutely. Before transferring the curd into the molds, mix in the herbs of your choice (e.g. ground pepper, caraway seed, fenugreek, young nettle, …). Make sure that dried herbs or spices are first toasted or briefly boiled, and that fresh green herbs are blanched, so that only sterile aromatics are added to the cheese.
Fancy a stinky one?
You can transfer the red-smear bacteria from another cheese. If you have a piece of Munster, Herve, Maroilles, or similar, thoroughly wash the rind of that cheese with a sponge soaked in your washing brine. Mix the rinsed-off culture well into the brine, and use this brine to wash your own young cheeses. Voilà — the B. linens transplant has succeeded.Alternatively, you can purchase Brevibacterium linens in freeze-dried form and add it directly to the milk or to the washing brine.
Ripen under very humid conditions (in a ripening box with the lid on), but be sure to provide adequate ventilation by opening the lid daily and turning the cheeses.