Kefalotiri/Kefalotyri Cheese Making Recipe?

[rsterne]

Thanks, Bantam, for the advice, and in particular the clarification about the need for a culture with pasteurized milk (and the safety lesson, too).... I'll use 1/8 tsp. MA 4002, which is both.... AC4U.... 

Bob

[DeejayDebi]

I would go with the Thermophilic culture if you are going to go for the 120F temperature. You really shouldn't exceed 113F with mesophilic cultures.

[rsterne]

Thanks, I was wondering about using a Mesophilic to develop some acid and then kill it off with the 120*F ?.... The MA 4002 has both, would that be OK, or would you use the Su Casu?.... Oh, and AC4U for your assistance.... 

Bob

[rsterne]

We made the Kefalotyri yesterday, or at least what I hope ends up like a Kefalotyri.... 

I used the MA 4002 culture, a Floc. multiple of 2.5, and then scalded the rice-sized curds to 120*F, and direct salted them instead of brining (hoping to halt the acid production before pressing).... It has a nice creamy colour because of the high BF content of 4.9% from the 8 litres of Homo milk plus 1 litre of Coffee cream.... We had an excellent yield, the weight out of the press was 2 lbs. 14 oz. (1.30 kg.).... 



It has a nice aroma from the 1/8 tsp. of Lipase.... After drying and aging, I am hoping that it will have a high enough melting point for a good Saganaki.... I'll let you know.... 

Bob

[rsterne]

OK, so 6 weeks ago we made a Kefalotyri, and it is now ready to go into a colder storage location, at 44*F instead of the 55*F it has been at.... The initial aging was "naked" for about a week, but after constantly chasing mold, we vacuum bagged it.... Today we opened the bag, dried out the small amount of moisture, cut off 1/4 to try and rebagged it to be opened again at 3 months....

And here is a photo of the piece we are going to try as Saganaki tonight.... There was no off smells from the vacuum bagging....



This 1/4 weighs 10 oz., and has the delightful aroma of a mild Lipase cheese.... The texture is firm, creamy and slightly open.... Next time I will press it harder, and we will use a rectangular mould so it will be easier to cut into tidy Saganaki sized slices.... It slices well, and is delicious, a bit like a mild Manchego....

We heated a cast iron pan to about 400*F, and then added some EVOO.... When it just started to smoke, we turned the heat down to medium and added the cold, flour dreged Kefalotyri slices, cut about 1/2" thick.... It didn't take long to start to brown, and here is a photo after the first time it was flipped....



You can see that the cheese has not melted, and the inside is still not warmed through.... We turned it frequently until it was golden brown on both sides and the middle was soft and just starting to melt, then removed it from the heat.... We squeezed fresh lemon juice on top, flipped it on the pan, and put it on a trivet on the table.... This keeps it warm and soft during the meal.... Here is a photo of a piece cut on the plate....



It is soft, moist and delicious, with no signs of the disastrous melting that Gavin experienced with his.... Having the pan really hot before you drop the cheese on it is a must!.... The Kefalotyri is delightful served this way, although at only 6 weeks it is still pretty mild.... I expect it to improve with age, although it will be hard not to devour it immediately.... 

Bob

[mikekchar]

AC4U!  Looks amazing!

[rsterne]

Thanks, Mike.... it would not have been possible without your help.... 

Bob

[mathewjones]

This looks great! Would you be willing to post the full recipe?
AC4U!

-Matt

[rsterne]

We will be doing another in a month's time, I can do it then if that works for you....

Bob

[mathewjones]

Hi Bob,

That would be awesome. Whenever is convenient for you.

I've previously tried a feta and a halloumi, with cow's milk, which both came out as slimy salty rubbery disasters, and both ended up going straight in the bin. There's a kasseri recipe in Mary Karlin's book, but that's just not the same as kefalotyri. I've made saganaki with both types (store bought), and kefalotyri wins, hands down. FYI, in a pinch, manchego can make a decent saganaki as well. Better than kasseri, anyway.

Cheers,

Matt

[rsterne]

We tried Halloumi, so very bland we won't do it again.... I'll work on doing a detailed post of the Kefalotyri recipe when we make it next month....

Bob

[rsterne]

We have done our second Kefalotyri, and I posted the Recipe here:

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,19573.0.html

Bob

[mikekchar]

which both came out as slimy salty rubbery disasters, and both ended up going straight in the bin.

Assuming you stored these in brine, I can give you a tip.  Normally, slimy cheese is the result of too much "ion exchange" in the brine.  In simple terms, your cheese is full of "stuff" and the brine is not, so the brine sucks the "stuff" out to the cheese.  Similarly, your brine is full of salt and your cheese is not, so it suck all the salt into the cheese.  This is what dissolves the cheese.

I recommend making a storage brine out of whey.  Make your cheese and then make a whey ricotta (with no added milk or acid) from the whey.  Timing is a bit ticky, but do your best (ideally you make the ricotta at a pH of 6.0, so about 3 hours into the make, usually).  If making feta, reserve a small amount of whey before you make the ricotta because you'll need the culture from it.  For halloumi, you don't want to do that -- just simmer your halloumi in the whey and cool it down.  Add the reserved whey with culture back to the cooled whey when making feta and let it sit for 24 hours. 

This gives you a whey that has about the same pH as the cheese (very low pH for feta and very high pH of halloumi).  This is very important.  Measure out the amount of brine that you want and salt it to 7% (this is the official PDO spec level for feta and halloumi).  Most recipes suggest a brine that is *way* too high.  Pasteurise the whey (bring it up to 72C for 20 seconds) and then let it cool.  Store it in the fridge.

Next, with the cheese, dry salt it to 3% (weigh the cheese and measure out 3% of that weight in salt).  Sprinkle on half of that salt.  Wait an our and then sprinkle on the other half.  Leave the cheese at room temperature for a few days until touch dry.  If it dries quickly, then put it in your cave/fridge until at least 3 days have passed.  This allows the salt in the cheese to fully penetrate the cheese and for the rind to equalise the moisture.  Then you first salt cheese, the rind expels water quickly and gets hard.  Then over the next few days it reabsorbs the water and has a similar texture to the paste inside.  You want to wait until that has happened.

Then finally you put the cheese in the brine.  No need to adjust calcium (in my experience) when using whey as a brine.

Brines are tricky things to get right, but once you get the hang of it, it's not that difficult.

[mathewjones]

We have done our second Kefalotyri, and I posted the Recipe here:

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,19573.0.html

Bob

Ohhh, groovy. Thank you so much, Bob!. I was literally searching this board for a Kefalotyri recipe earlier today!

I'll definitely post pix of how I get on with your recipe, when I finally get up the gumption to try it. I hope you'll keep us updated too, with how yours is going all along the way. And the saganaki in the end!

Cheers and thanks very much!

-Matt

[mathewjones]

which both came out as slimy salty rubbery disasters, and both ended up going straight in the bin.

Assuming you stored these in brine, I can give you a tip.

Oops, sorry, I may have made a Cheese Forum faux pas here. I responded enthusiastically to Bob's Kefalotyri recipe (hell yeah!), but I missed the whole detailed explanation from mikekchar about what can go wrong with such cheeses and why my previous attempts might have failed (aw, hell no!). I'll read these both very carefully and probably come back with further questions. But thanks to both of you!

Cheers,

Matt