[Sca-cooks] Halloumi recipe #2

[charding at nwlink.com]

This recipe is from Home Cheesemaking 3rd eition by Ricki carroll, page
130. It is somewhat like the recipe I currently use (I will make comments
where I deviate. One thing I do is make ricotta as I am making the
haloumi) 2 gallons of milk should yield about 2 pounds. (doesn't include
the ricotta, which is generally a small bowl amt.)

I have made this with cow and with goat milk as well as a mixture.

2 gallons whole milk
1 packet direct-set starter or 4 oz prepared mesophilic starter (I tend to
use Flora Danica these days - I like the results flavorwise.)
1/2 tsp liquid rennet or 1/2 rennet tablet diluted in 1/4 cup cool,
unclorinated water
1/4 c plus salt, for brine (non-iodized salt)
1 gallon cold water for brine.

1. Heat milk to 86 degrees. Add starter and mix well.
2. Add the diluted rennat and stir gently for 1 minute (stir up and down)
(I make sure that I stir slowly as not to introduce much air in to the
milk.) Cover and set for 30-45 min at 86 degrees or until clean break.
3. Cut curd into 1/2 ich cubes.
4. Slowly increase heat to 104 degrees over about 5 min. Stiring to keep
curds from matting. (I use a balloon whisk so the curd becomes much
smaller.)  Maintain at 104 for 20 minutes.
5. Ladle curds in to cheese cloth in a colander. Drain whey into a pot and
reserve. (I keep the whey pot on simmer. Aim for 180 degrees.)
6. Pack curds in a mold and press at 30 pounds for an hour.
7. Rewrap and flip curd  and press at 50 pounds for a half hour. (Check
the whey pot, if curds have formed, ladle them off - this is a greek
version of Ricotta - it has no vinegar, the curd is softer.)
8. Remove cheese from mold and cut into strips or blocks.
9. Add blocks to whey 176 to 194 degrees. Hold at this temp for 1 hour,
the blocks should float free.  They will scorch of they rest on the bottom
of the pan.
10. fish out blocks and cool in a colander and let cool for 20-30 min.
(they will be somewhat fragile so be careful. You can ladle more soft
surds for ricotta at this point, you may also use some vinegar  no more
than 1/4 cup for more ricotta - this will be a harder, tighter curd that
just the curd from heating the whey.)
11. Salt the cheese with 1/4 cup of salt and cool 2-4 hours.
12. Soak the cheese in a brine solution (see below) the blocks of cheese
should float freely. Soak for up to 60 days. This cheese nevers last that
long it gets eaten....

Brine
I use a fairly heavy brine about 24 to 26 oz of salt per 1 gallon of water
(non chlorinated.) a fully saturated brine would be about 32 oz of salt.

Ideally you should heat the water and add salt to the pot and make sure it
is all dissolved. then cool.  The temp of the brine and that of teh cheese
should be roughly the same, I get better results that way.

Brine can be reused if you make multiple batches of this cheese - it gets
better as the brine ages.  I add  1 TBsp of white vinegar to the brine as
well as 1 TBsp of calcium chloride.  I sometimes start out the brine with
up to  2 cups of whey that is about 24 hours old.  The pH of the brine
should be about 5.2

Things to watch out for
If the cheese gets slimy the brine pH is too high.  Rinse off and lower pH
by adding aged whey or vinegar and add Calcium Chloride to a pH of 5.2, if
the milk  was a high fat content the pH needs to be lower, about 4.7.