I haven't been keeping up with the Forum as much as I like lately (my goat herd keeps me pretty busy, along with making cheese!), but I'd like to contribute my recipe for Feta with details about the 2 kinds of brine I use. I make my feta with goat's milk--which is very mild in flavor due to the breed I have and their diet. I have also made it with store-bought cow's milk, both using whole milk and a combo of whole and 2%. For both kinds of milk I use lipase added to get the distinctive 'feta' flavor, which is mostly from the traditional use of sheep's milk (or a combo of sheep and goat) in Greece.
Yield: per gallon of cow’s, goat’s or combination milk, ~1 lb + a couple of ounces of cheese (better than 10% yield)
4 gallons milk
¼ tsp MM100
¼ tsp lipase (your choice on whether to try kid or lamb lipase)
¾ tsp CaCl2 (essential for pasteurized milk, goat milk whether pasteurized or not, and if you are going to store in brine)
½ + 1/8 tsp single strength rennet (kid, lamb or veal/calf) if using goat’s milk and ¾ tsp if using cow’s milk
Saturated brine (2.5 lb salt per gallon water/whey) with ½ tsp CaCl2 solution. The calcium chloride ‘firms’ the milk and cheese structure and will help prevent the cheese breaking down in storage brine, if used.
Storage brine = a light brine (13% salt); to 1 gallon boiled water (or distilled water – even better 3 qts water + 1 qt feta whey), add 13 oz kosher salt and ½ tsp CaCl2 solution
Heat milk in a waterbath to 86°F for goat milk, 88°F for cow milk, gradually over a 20 min. period, stirring occasionally. When target temperature is reached, sprinkle culture and lipase over the milk surface and cover pot to allow hydration, for 5 min.
Stir gently, up and down, 20 strokes with cheese ladle. Ripen for 60 minutes, maintaining temperature. Leaving the pot in the waterbath may increase the heat, so either remove the cheese milk from the waterbath or add cool water to the bath.
Mix CaCl2 with ¼-1/2 cup of lukewarm water and stir into cheese milk as with the culture.
Mix rennet with ¼-1/2 cup of lukewarm water and stir in.
Cover and let rest until clean break (CB), which may be 30-60 min, depending on milk used (species, stage in lactation)
Cut curd into ½” cubes and let rest 5 min to heal cut curd
Very gently stir while reheating to 86-88°F (goat and cow milk, respectively), if curd temperature has declined. Stirring (with or without heating) firms the curd and encourages whey drainage. Do not stir too vigorously or the cheese will be rubbery. Total time of stirring (off and on) = 45 min. Allow curd to rest for 10 min.
Remove whey to curd level and drain in cheesecloth hanging (this speeds drainage) for a ‘rustic’ formed cheese that can be cut into large cubes, or in square molds (with or without cheesecloth). If using molds, these may be stacked 2-3 high, rotating order of molds in the stack at every flipping .of the cheeses. This presses the cheeses, much like hanging. Ripen the cheese at room temperature to develop acidity (won’t occur in the refrigerator), but preferably not above 78°F. The acidity will help the cheese maintain its shape in the brine
Flip the cheese after 10-15 min for even whey drainage, then again at 30 min and 1 hour. Drain 24 hours at room temp to develop acidity. If hanging to drain, flip at 30 min. and 1 hour for the first 2 hours.
Remove cheese from mold(s) or cheese hung in cheesecloth.
Brine in the saturated brine for 8 hr per 1# of final weight, flipping halfway through and salting the exposed surface.
Air-dry the brined cheese at 50-55 °F for 1-3 days, turning daily. Store in ‘storage brine’ in the refrigerator.
Any very open mold like the square ones would be fine (e.g. ricotta mould) and stacking types work well.