Feta Cheese Recipe

2 gallons skim milk
1 quart heavy cream
1/4 tsp. mesophilic DVI Culture "MM" or "MA"* -OR- 4 oz. mesophilic culture (from a mother culture) - (I use "MM" DVI)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Kid or Kid/Lamb Lipase powder
1 tsp. Liquid rennet dissolved in 1/2 C. water - (NOTE: I use 1/2 tsp. double strength vegetable rennet)
Kosher salt
Brine: 1/2 C. salt (Kosher, of course) per 1/2 gallon of water (boiled and cooled to below room temp.)

Of course you should sterilize all your equipment before you begin.

In a "double boiler" pot set up, warm the milk and cream to 86b (88b for cow milk) (In the summer when my kitchen is hot, I can bypass using the double boiler to keep the milk at the correct temperature). Add the culture and lipase. You should be able to substitute live cultured buttermilk if you wish, though I have never tried this recipe using buttermilk. You definitely want to use the lipase in this cheese. Lipase is the enzyme that gives Feta that great Feta flavor.

Stir well and let ripen, covered, for one hour.

Keeping the milk at 86b (88b for cow milk). Add the rennet and stir briskly for 15 seconds. I then kind of "stop" the milk from moving with my ladle. Cover and let set about 30-40 minutes, or until you get a "clean break".

You can check for a clean break by sticking your knife, or thermometer, into the curd at an angle. Pull straight up out of the curd; if the curd breaks cleanly around the knife and whey runs into the crack that is made; you have a "clean break." Once you see this for the first time, you will know just what I mean.

Cut the curd into 1/2" pieces.

Cutting the curds can be the most confusing part, but just don't worry so much. Use a long knife held vertically and cut 1/2" slices in the curds. Then turn the pot 90b and cut across in 1/2" slices the other direction, making a kind of checkerboard pattern. Now hold the knife at a sideways 45b angle and retrace your cuts. Turn the pot 1/4 turn and retrace the cuts. Turn it again and cut and then one final turn and cut. By the last turn you probably won't be able to see the original cuts, but just do the best you can. If you don't think you cut the curd perfectly, don't worry.

Do not stir yet.

Cutting the curd

Let the curds rest for 10 minutes (5 minutes for cow milk).

After this rest period, stir the curd gently and cut any pieces that you missed when you first cut the curd (don't worry about being too perfect). Hold the curd at 86b for 45 minutes (88b for cow milk), carefully stirring occasionally to prevent the curd from sticking together (I stir every 10 minutes). This process of "cooking" the curd helps the curd "toughen up" as well as release it's whey.

Place a big colander over a big pot and line the colander with a large piece of dampened cheesecloth. I use fine cheesecloth. if you dampen it, it will stick slightly to the colander, holding it in place.

Carefully pour the curd into the colander.

Tie the corners of the cheesecloth together and hang the bag to drain. Be sure to save the whey to make some Ricotta later.

After 3-4 hours, take the cheese down and turn the cheese over in the cheesecloth (top turned to bottom). At this point I actually switch to a different piece of slightly "courser" (medium weave; a little more open weave) cheesecloth. You don't have to feel you have to change to a new cloth if you don't want to.

This turning will "even up" the cheese into a nice form. If you don't turn it, you will have a rough, "stalagmitish" side to the cheese; it is edible, just not so attractive.

Let your cheese hang and continue draining for about 24 hours, at this point it will start to develop a distinctive odor. Make sure to warn your family that you are making cheese or they may start looking around for what the heck that smell is. I had some cheese hanging once and Larry said to me, "Did Purknz (our cat) vomit or something?" "No," I replied, "it's just the cheese." "Oh," he said, "then that's OK, as long as I know what it is. If it's a cheese, it smells good. If it's not cheese, we have a problem."

After your cheese has hung for about 24 hours or so, remove it from the cloth and cut it into usable size cubes/blocks (about 2-3 inches). Sprinkle all the sides of the cubes with kosher salt and place them in a sterilized, large, sealable, container. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 2-3 days to "harden up" the blocks. The blocks will continue to release whey during this time; that is normal.

Transfer the blocks (and their whey if you wish) to a large sterilized glass container (I like to use a really big, gallon pickle jar). Add the brine. I have found that if I add the brine too soon, the cheese sometimes starts softening up. If this starts happening to you, pour off the brine, it will only get worse. The cheese is still good; you may just want to use it in cooking instead of for crumbling.

Age for at least 1-4 weeks before use (to develop flavor). I age at least a month. Your Feta cheese will keep in its brine (refrigerated) for a very, very long time (up to a year), and will only keep getting better (stronger). On occasion, you may find some mold forming on top of the brine. When this happens, just skim it off, the cheese is still fine. If a piece of the cheese was sticking above the brine, it may mold. Just remove it and feed it to the dog, the rest of the cheese is still good.

You should always be aware that it takes a lot of milk to make a little cheese. I make my cheese in batches determined by how much milk my big pot will comfortably hold, which is a little over three gallons of milk, and get about 3 pounds of finished cheese per batch. How much cheese you get will vary depending on many factors: type of milk used; fat content of milk; stage of lactation of the animal that produced the milk; your style of cheesemaking (handling of curds, temperatures during cheesemaking, hang time, etc).

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