Making Cheese: Halloumi

FrenchTart said:
I reckon that 45-50 days from making is good for a really mature brie. Unless what I've read is wrong, after 60 days it will be a bit much even for mature brie lovers :p

I'd love to hear how you get on if you make it. I think we may make it next week or so.
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I like it so you can dip crackers in it and it comes out like melted cheese.:D Will stick some results in here...
 
valve90210 said:
Does the milk need to be unpasteurised for the Halloumi?

Or can I give it a go with bog standard supermarket stuff?
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I used pasteurised but if you can get hold of unpasteurised you will get better results. It may not be such an issue with halloumi but I imagine the improvement in taste would be more pronounced with brie and hard cheeses.

godinman said:
I like it so you can dip crackers in it and it comes out like melted cheese.:D Will stick some results in here...
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Mm :) Looking forward to seeing that.

Ahleckz said:
What temperature is ideal for storing the cheese whilst it ages?
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I've read between 6C and 8C if memory serves. Most cellars will work okay though I worry about the cheeses getting other mould spores on them. It's probably fine though, especially if you wax your cheese.
 
King Damager said:
What is the difference between making cheese this way and getting halloumi, or making any other cheese?

kd
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I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. Do you mean what would you do differently to make other cheeses?

If so, some of the main differences would be:

1) Adding a culture (or cultures) to the milk at the start to help ripen the milk and eventually develop flavour. One example of this is using yoghurt.

2) Not heating/boiling the curds after they come out of the moulds. This is done for halloumi only I think.

3) Much longer pressing/moulding and eventual aging in the fridge. Halloumi needs very little (maybe a week), brie at least 30 days, cheddar and the like needs at least a few months or more.

There are probably more but those are just a few examples I thought of.
 
FrenchTart said:
curd_moulds.jpg
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LOL!
 
King Damager said:
What is the difference between making cheese this way and getting halloumi, or making any other cheese?

kd
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Some cheeses require semi skimmed milk (Parmesan) and other cheeses require whole milk and cream (Stilton) and some just whole milk (Cheddar). Different cultures are also used to ripen the milk (mesophillic, thermophillic, vinegar etc).

Cheeses that are aged tend to need milling (break up the curds into small pieces and adding salt) pressed and sat in brine over night.

Soft cheeses aren't pressed but just turned in their moulds so they compact by themselves due to their own weight and the draining of the whey etc etc.

Cheese like ricotta can be made using the waste whey you have left over from making other cheeses.
 
My rennet has arrived... But they've sent me vegetarian stuff instead of the animal one I ordered! Before I send it back, and will it work the same as the animal stuff?

It says on the bottle to use a drip in cooled boiled water, and that should be added along with the starter, does the animal stuff say the same?
 
valve90210 said:
My rennet has arrived... But they've sent me vegetarian stuff instead of the animal one I ordered! Before I send it back, and will it work the same as the animal stuff?

It says on the bottle to use a drip in cooled boiled water, and that should be added along with the starter, does the animal stuff say the same?
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It'll be pretty much the same, especially for halloumi/brie. For really long-aged cheeses you want to stick to animal rennet as vegetable rennet can apparently produce a slight bitterness after it breaks down (takes months and months and months to happen).

In regards to adding a drip to pre-boiled and cooled water, yeah, that's the same for animal rennet.

I would just keep it and use it tbh. Though you could always contact the seller and complain + ask them to pay for return postage. If you're lucky they'll tell you to keep it and send out some animal rennet too.
 
Thought I'd give it a go this morning...

Gently heated milk up tp 32 degrees, mixed a couple of drops of the rennet with some cooled boiled water, mixed it very thoroughly into the milk...

Left it for an hour and what do i get...milk...no signs of separating, nothing it's exactly the same as it was when it started!!!

Not sure what has gone wrong, not sure to do, can i heat it again and try again addinbg a bit more rennet or should I bin it and give up as I have no more milk?
 
I decided to give it another go, made sure everything was at the right temperature, added more rennet this time and left it again. It has separated a bit and cutting through with a knife has left marks but it's no where near as separated as the pics in the op.

Don't know whether would be due to the failed first attempt or the milk or the rennet or quite what but I have one lot hung up and draining off. The whey is pretty cloudy but we'll see.

Am heading out for lunch now, and so will come back and see how it's gone. Not too fussed about about this batch as it's been left out so long I'm not sure I'd even really want to eat it but I want to see how the process goes.

Will see if I have enough time to give it a go again i the week, and maybe with different brand of milk...
 
Ah, sounds like the milk wasn't great, yeah. A little calcium chloride should help. I'd also just give it longer and reheat it a little maybe.
 
Just got home after being out rather longer than planned. The batch I hung up is still really wet and squishy, much as it was when i left it.

The other lot is pretty much exactly the same amount of separation as when i left it too.

Might I ask what brand of milk you used? I was using Morrisons...

Just looked at the Calcium Chloride, seems a bit pricy....
 
valve90210 said:
Just got home after being out rather longer than planned. The batch I hung up is still really wet and squishy, much as it was when i left it.

The other lot is pretty much exactly the same amount of separation as when i left it too.

Might I ask what brand of milk you used? I was using Morrisons...

Just looked at the Calcium Chloride, seems a bit pricy....
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I used Sainsbury's own brand blue top milk. I can't imagine that there's that much difference. It could be the vegetable rennet I guess?

When it was in the pan after we'd mixed it a little during the separating process the consistency of the curds was a little like scrambled egg. Possibly slightly more jelly-like in fact. Once it went into the moulds it stayed that way for a good while. Now and again we squeezed it a little whilst in the moulds but nothing major as we were worried about breaking the shape.

Once it came out of the moulds the shape was solid but it still felt like it might fall apart if you didn't handle it very carefully. It was only after cooking and subsequent cooling that it felt like it had any strength to it at all.
 
My curds were more like a yogurt than anything, and not separated from the whey at all really.

I might give it another try but use a tad more rennet this time... Was hoping it'd be nice and simple so I could make some for the my parents for Xmas.
 
valve90210 said:
My curds were more like a yogurt than anything, and not separated from the whey at all really.

I might give it another try but use a tad more rennet this time... Was hoping it'd be nice and simple so I could make some for the my parents for Xmas.
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You could always try sticking more rennet in the one you've already made. I did this for one of the 4 pans of stuff I made last time as there wasn't enough in that one.

Even if it sounds like it wouldn't be optimal you've at least then tested it for next time.
 
Just had a look at the batch which I had left and I think the consistency is a bit better now, and the top is best described as very sloppy jelly, once I started to gently spoon it out into a muslin, the rest was like sloppy scrambled egg, I'm now leaving it to dry out for a while and see if it firms up at all.

I did wonder if using muslin was not helping as it holds quite a bit of moisture whereas tights would probably not hold so much.
 
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