Today is my first attempt at Halloumi. After researching my own recipe book (Home Cheesemaking by Neil & Carol Willman), and then comparing to the recipes detailed in John's very useful post
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2912.0.html, I decided to use my own recipe, which is the same as Tea's (Recipe"a" in John's post), with some minor variations.
8 litres of fresh cows milk
Heated to 34C
Added 1.6 ml rennet diluted in 100ml cool, boiled water.
Left to coagulate for 45 mins
Cut into 20-30mm cubes
Left to heal for 5 mins
Gradually heated to 40C over a 25 minute period, stirring gently
Left for 5 mins for curds to settle and form a solid mass
Drained all whey
Worked the curd by hand to help it knit together and expel more whey.
Placed into 2 of my square fetta hoops
Placed the hoops on top of one another to act as a gentle press, swapping them every 5 minutes to ensure an even, homogenous knit.
After 45 minutes, removed from the hoops, producing two 650 gram blocks
Cut the blocks into varying size slices, ranging from 110g to 200g, in order to trial different thicknesses and cooking styles.
Boiled the blocks in whey until they rose, then added 15 minutes. Average cook time was 28 minutes
Removed and cooled for 20 minutes
Sprinkled each piece with approx. 1/8th teaspoon of salt
Cooled to room temperature
Placed in saturated brine
A couple of observations: Boiling the blocks made them very soft and pliable, and some of the blocks folded over on themselves. I needed to be delicate when handling them. Getting the curd into hoops while still warm is important to get a good knit.
Looking forward to the first taste test at a BBQ tonight.