Author Topic: Feta - My first attempt at making a real cheese!  (Read 3048 times)

wcaprar

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Feta - My first attempt at making a real cheese!
« on: January 29, 2011, 07:51:25 PM »
I finally had time to make my first attempt at a real cheese. I made Feta. I used the basic recipe from cheeseforum.org.

Ingredients:
1 gallon whole pasteurized, homogenized milk
1 gram of lipase (dissolved in 1/4c water)
1/4 teaspoon or .25mL of calf Rennet (diluted in 1/4c water)
1/4t and 1/8t or 1.8mL of Calcium Chloride
1/2 a packet of Mesophilic Culture (1 pack is supposed to be good for 2 gallons of milk)

I didn't really chronicle my whole process, but I did take pictures.

wcaprar

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Re: Feta - My first attempt at making a real cheese!
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2011, 07:53:55 PM »
more photos

wcaprar

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Re: Feta - My first attempt at making a real cheese!
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2011, 08:09:45 PM »
Im not sure what is up with the formatting of the first post, maybe pics are too big?

Let me point out some of my mistakes that I made.

First, I used the wrong type of pot, lol. I realized right when I was about to start cutting the curd. I have a vertical walled stainless steel pot, but it had leftovers in it in the fridge, and it didn't cross my mind that I needed vertical at the time.

Second, when I cut the curd, for some reason I was thinking that I only needed to cut through the top 2 inches-ish and underneath is all whey. Since I had never made cheese before I never realized that the WHOLE thing sets up. So I ended up with inconsistent sizes for the curd.

The recipe called for a 12-15% brine and I made a 14% and it is way too salty after 2 days of sitting in the brine.

I added vinegar and CaCl to the brine, but the cheese ended up a little slimey :( and the cheese is too soft also. I'm thinking its because of my poor attempt at cutting the curd. I'm thinking I will pull the curds out of the brine, rinse it off, and throw it into a tubberware container. Will they help to stiffen it up a bit?

All in all, I made quite a few mistakes, and the end product isn't very amazing, but I don't intend on making those mistakes ever again in my life :) - such as poor timing resulting in me having to wake up at 3am to cut up my cheese to put it in the brine, lol. I think my next attempt at a cheese will be Gouda.

P.S. I know people complain that everyone starts snoring when talking about cheese, and so on, but has anyone ever experienced people suddenly thinking they have the solution to all your cheese making problems? My parents were both born and raised in Romania and apparently after they got all their, 'oohs and ahhhs and whats that and whats that and why are you doing that' out they have suddenly become cheese experts.   o.O  What the heck!?

mtncheesemaker

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Re: Feta - My first attempt at making a real cheese!
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2011, 10:21:46 PM »
Congratulations on your first cheese!
I had problems with my feta dissolving in the brine until I started letting the chunks harden up in the fridge for 24 hours first. Now I cut them into 2" cubes, salt them, and put them in a covered container in the fridge. I got that tip from http://fiascofarm.com/ where they have a feta recipe.
Your pictures seem to have come through fine on the post.
Pam

KosherBaker

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Re: Feta - My first attempt at making a real cheese!
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2011, 04:54:42 AM »
Hey wcaprar.

Great photos. A lot of people use the whey as the brine to avoid the softening and sliminess of the rind, and also a lot of people complain about the cheese being too salty in the 12% - 15% brine. :) You'll see both discussed extensively in the archives for this forum.
I also noticed that some people turn the cheese at least once while it is hanging and draining. Just to get a uniform drain.
Last thing I noticed is that a whole lot of people use the recipe Pam linked to above, especially the technique of leaving the cheese at room temp to harden up and develop additional flavor.

Don't give up on Feta though :). To me it looks like it turned out much better than you think. Plus now that you got all the mistakes out of the way you can make it perfect from now on. :) ;D
Your parents will be emptying you out of your cheese in no time at all. :)