You will need....
- Equipment: cheesecloth, large pan with lid, knife, slotted spoon, colander, thermometer, mixing bowl
- Ingredients: 4L Milk (full fat, homogenized), ¼ rennet liquid , 2-3 tsp salt, mint
Making Halloumi...
- Dissolve rennet in 60ml of cold water. (Make sure it is fully dis - solved)
- Heat milk to 320C. Str occasional to stop it burning on base.
- Water bath: in your sink mix hot and cold water to achieve 320C. When the milk has reached 32 degrees then place the pan into the water bath. If the milk has gone slightly over 32 0C then allow it to cool before proceeding.
- Forming curds: Gently, but quickly stir the rennet into the milk. (Halloumi relies upon strong curds so make sure you've read the sec - ton on forming curds)
- Wait: leave the milk in the water bath for 45 minutes. Keep an eye on the temperature of the water bath, topping up with hot water if needed. Be careful not to disturb the milk.
- Cutting: after 45 minutes, check the curds, they should have set, if they haven't then just given them a bit more time. Cut the curds into Halloumi 1.5cm cubes. With the pan still in the water bath. Leave the curds for 5 minutes to start forming up.
- Cooking curds: transfer the pan to a stove and heat to 400C. Using a low heat (this should take approx. 15 minutes) After 5 minutes of heating start to str the curds, being very gentle and trying not to break them up. Make sure you reach the spoon all the way to the bot[1]tom of the pan. When the temperature is reached, switch of the heat and let the curds cook for another 10 minutes. They should contract as they cook.
- Collect the whey: in this stage don't forget to collect the whey! Line a colander with a cheesecloth and place it in a large bowl to collect the whey, you'll need to use all of the whey you collect in the next stage. Gently lif the curds into the cheesecloth using a spoon or ladle.
- Turn: let the curds drain for an hour, turning over half way through. During this time as well as the curds draining, they will coa[1]lesce into a single mass.
- Heat the whey to 930C. Any remaining fragments of curd will float to the surface, skim and discard these.
- Cut the single large curd into 10 equal sized pieces and gently lower them into the hot whey
- Boil: Keep heating the whey until it boils, then turn of the heat and cook the curds in the whey for 20 minutes.
- Cool: remove the curds and dunk for a few seconds into cold water to stop the cooking and speed up cooling. Then transfer to a cooling rack and pat dry.
- Salt: sprinkle the pieces of cheese with the salt, trying to cover each piece of cheese equally on all sides
- Eat: the cheese is ready to eat as soon as it is cooled but it will improve after a day because two things happen; firstly the salt will diffuse into the cheese and secondly, water will evaporate from the surface leaving it slightly drier so it will brown beter when cooked. For a drier cheese then don't cover the cheese for the frst day in the fridge. For for a moister halloumi use a covered container.
- Keep: halloumi is a fresh cheese so it should be stored in an air[1]tght container in the fridge and eaten within 5 days.
Extra information...
- Be patent: no acid is added to the milk and no starter is used to acidify the milk at the beginning, because of this then the rennet will work more slowly than with other cheeses. Be patient, it might take as long as an hour before curds fully form. For the same reason, the temperature is more important than with other cheese recipes, hence the water bath.
