Directions
Feta is a type of cheese with a delicious flavor and is
neither too soft like chevre or ricotta nor too hard like cheddar or jack. It
lies in between and can be made very easily. It does not require much time or
fancy equipment and is quite similar to making hard cheese.
Although considered as hard cheese, feta does not require to
be pressed in a cheese press with heavyweights like other hard cheeses. The
whey which is necessary to be expelled is done so easily when the weight of the
curds is drained in a cheesecloth sack.
But like all other cheese, feta cheese can
and will go bad depending upon its initial packaging and
storage.
Equipment required
Feta does not require a number of equipment. All it needs is
a list of home cheesemaking supplies.
Ingredients
●
1-gallon milk obtained from goat
●
¼ tsp Flora Danica culture or any mesophilic culture
●
¼ tsp strong or mild lipase powder, dissolved in 3 tbs
unchlorinated cold water
●
¼ tsp calcium chloride diluted in ¼ cup of
unchlorinated cold water
●
¼ tsp liquid rennet diluted in ¼ cup of unchlorinated cold water
●
1-3 tbs of salt
Choice of milk
Initially, the feta was made from milk of sheep or goat but
nowadays often cow milk is used, especially those cheese which are available
for commercial purposes. The final texture remains similar irrespective of the
type of milk used but cow milk fails to bring the original flavour of feta
unless a bit of lipase is introduced.
Goat milk possesses lipase naturally and thus feta made from
goat milk does not require it to be added additionally. However, if the goat
milk being used was pasteurized, then the effects of lipase die out and the
flavour does not come. Hence in such cases, the lipase enzyme needs to be added
to the milk in order to get the true taste. When to use Calcium Chloride?
Calcium Chloride (CaCl) is not an ingredient that must be
added to make feta but if pasteurized milk is being used, it should be added to
obtain a more firm curd. Pasteurized milk is not as beneficial as normal milk
as the main benefits of the milk gets reduced. The protein levels are damaged
and the amount of calcium is also reduced.
In such cases, when the rennet is added, the curd fails to
knit well together. So adding calcium chloride helps in maintaining the calcium
balance in the milk and helps the curd to create stronger bonds. Cheese lacking in calcium is softer and crumbles. So it is
important in feta as it provides a different texture to the cheese. Directions
1. Cleaning
the equipment and preparing the recipe:
Before starting to make cheese,
you should clean the kitchen and all the equipment like pots and utensils with
soap and water. The steam evaporated from boiling water also sanitizes the
utensils. The utensils should be allowed to cook for about ten minutes before
laying on a clean towel. Now they are ready to be used. 2. Start
cooking:
The process of cooking starts by
heating the milk. Any temperature between 86 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit is good
enough for the mesophilic bacteria to function. Then the Flora Danica should be
sprinkled upon the milk, allowed to rehydrate for about a couple of minutes and
then stirred well. The stirring should be done
gently so that it mixes well with the milk. If one needs to add lipase powder
or calcium chloride, this is the best time. Then the mixture should be covered
and allowed to ripen for an hour.
3. Add
rennet:
The diluted rennet solution
should next be introduced and stirred well upwards and downwards for about a
minute. 4. Let
it settle:
The curd should be allowed to sit
for an hour or at least until a clean break can be spotted. A break is that
time when a thermometer tip or a knife can easily carve through the curd
creating an edge or a break rather than a tear. 5. Cutting
the curd:
After a clean break was spotted,
the next task is to cut the curd. The curd should be cut into ½” cubes with the
help of a sharp knife. Curd knives are the best in this regard which is
specially designed for these purposes with sharp edges on both sides and a
curved bottom, which would not cause any harm to the pot while gliding smoothly
through the curd.
The knife should be placed ½”
from the edge of the pot and drawn slowly through the curd. First the slices
should be ½” across the pot and then the next slice should intersect the
initial slice horizontally. This process should be repeated until the pot is
full of rectangular slices.
Next, the knife should be held at
a 45-degree angle and cut across the previous lines from the opposite side. After the cutting is complete,
the curd should be stirred gently to float in the whey and any large cubes
should be cut into smaller pieces. The same sizes would lead them to lose whey
at a similar rate. Vigorous stirring could lead to loss of butterfat, leading
to a change of texture of the cheese.
6. Hanging
the curds:
The curd should be stirred for
about 20 minutes so that matting does not occur. Then it should be poured in a
colander lined cheesecloth, tied and hung for about 6 hours to drain. 7. Add
salt:
The drained curd should be
brought down and cut into small pieces. Salt can be sprinkled on the surface of
the cheese according to taste. The salt will spread throughout the cheese
within a few days, giving a much better taste and should ideally be stored for
4-5 days in a covered bowl in a refrigerator. Thus your delicious feta cheese is ready to be served and
enjoyed. It is a recipe that can be easily made at home and does not require a
long list of ingredients or a number of equipment. But one should be aware that
feta cheese can and will go bad if not refrigerated properly.