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Hi, Everyone!

I thought I'd introduce myself so people would be familiar with me so when I'm doing the "help-me-pretty please!" whine, you guys would be more apt to come to my rescue.     My previous topic was a casualty of John's trigger-happy spam-deleting fingers.    It's awesome to have such a dedicated guardian though, no?  Some sites get so bogged with spammers & whatnot, it's annoying!

Anyways,  I'm Steff, from the middle of Illinois.  I moved here from the west coast (lived split between Washington & California), and I also lived in the Philippines..and was fortunate enough to visit other Asian countries (love military hops!).  I found this site googling about making feta, probably my most favorite cheese.  I know, my tastes are a bit on the pedestrian side, but I make a lot of Mediterranean dishes & add feta to a lot of them.  Second would be parmesan.  Nom.  So, anyway, found you guys..and have been voraciously reading since!   I've already posted on another forum area before finding this.  And thanks, btw, for the people who were so nice to answer my questions.  I'm still a bit bewildered by the whole when-to-add, when-to-know, etc bit, but I'm determined to get better!  I'm a DIY-er, mostly sewing at the moment (I made the apron I have on in my avatar pic).  I take a class a year in..something, whatever catches my eye or keeps me out of trouble..idle hands=devil's workshop & all that (it's like my grandma's voice inside my head all the time!).  I've done pottery, upholstery, woodworking, bonsai, gardening workshops, etc.  The community college has some pretty good classes, mostly in the fall.  Unfortunately, no cheesemaking classes around these parts..so I turned to the interweb!  A wealth of information, mostly overwhelming, but, a deep breath & copious amounts of coffee will get me through, I'm sure.  (I hope)

I hope to get to know you guys more in the future, as you will be my cheesemaking "buddies" albeit virtually.   

Hope you have a lovely day!

Steff

Hi Steff, again welcome and very sorry I went too fast and deleted your OP, which really was great!

It may take a lot of coffee to digest this forum assuming 1 min per average post x 47600 posts = 98 eight hour days!!! And at out current 60/day post rate at the end of the 98 days there would be another 12 days to read!

Happy cheese making and that IS a great looking apron!

Hello "again" Steff. Good to know you better

How are your Fetas going?  Have you tried Bulgarian Feta yet? ...may I also suggest trying Haloumi and another very simple Israeli cheese called Tzfatit.  Having grown up on the Mediterranean coast, there was always lots of that. Oh, and Labaneh too of course. That's the easiest cheese in the world to make.

Hi, again! 

I make a batch of feta a week, granted, it's a small batch that gets consumed in a few days.  I've used it in place of other cheeses, in my salad, for example.  I eat 1-2 bowls of salad a day, the kids eat fajitas, quesadillas, etc a couple of times a week (they don't seem to tire of it), as well as home made sub sandwiches.  One of these days, they will probably say, "Ugh feta..again???", but not yet.    

I would like to make halloumi this summer, as well as Tzfatit-do you have a recipe for this?   I've made labaneh, too, several times, as it's my hubby's favorite.  There was a really good restaurant in Springfield (Illinois)-the Holy Land diner, that had such good food..but they've been closed for over a year now.      I try to make homemade stuff as much as possible, we love Mediterranean food, prefer to eat it more, especially middle Eastern cuisine...on that note, I have not had that much success making hummus from scratch, according to the hubby...there's just "something missing" with mine, apparently. 

How is Bulgarian feta made?  I could probably look here, couldn't I?   

What a healthy household.  The way it should be!

Try making your own pitas, really easy and the hummus always tastes better

What do you put in your hummus?  You need to first make a good Tahini and then base your hummus on that.  The garbanzo/chickpea beans you use - use any recipe that calls for dry םnes that are being put in water overnight.  Don't go for the ones in the can.  When you purchase the beans, select the type that is small. It's a different breed of them that is best for hummus.

As far as spices are concerned, simple stuff: Chopped parsley, salt, pepper, tons of lemon juice and crushed garlic. You can mix a bit of olive oil, sweet paprika and/or sumac but at the end of the day it's all about how much salt, garlic, lemon and tahini is in it.  Traditionally it also shouldn't be too smooth. I see American supermarket brands selling it as if it was some mousse or sauce. It's supposed to be slightly chunky and hard enough to stand on a plate, make a channel that remains there to pour the olive oil...

Bulgarian Feta is milder and creamier. Typically made of Sheep's milk but can be made with goats or cows. It is usually in far milder brine and is a lot smoother too. As the name suggests, you would use any thermophilic that contains Bulgaricus bacteria. It's a different flavor profile.

You can buy Tsfatit in Israeli and kosher markets to try it first. It's a very simple cheese. Molded and shaped and not aged but rather put into a brine. Israelis cut it to cubes and serve it with breakfast, in salads, with omelets, in sandwiches etc. It's a table cheese; not something you would put on a cheese plate. Perfect use for that MA4002 or LH100 cultures you have, or those ones from New England Cheesemaking!

GVINA TZFATIT (Cheese of Sefed)

• Warm up milk to 100F-104F. Put in farmstead culture at the rate of 1/8 t0 1/4 tsp per gal. You can use that C201 (perfect for this) or MA4002 or LH100.
• Wait 60 min for acid to build up.  This cheese can also be made very quickly by using buttermilk and vinegar as if you make quick mozzarella but this isn't the proper way...
• Mix Calcium Chloride and rennet in half cup of water (at the rate of 1/4 tsp per gal), combine thoroughly in the milk.
• Wait 1 hour and cut curd at about 1/2" cubes.
• Let rest for 5 minutes, stir. Let rest for another 5 minutes and transfer the curd into a colander. (preserve whey for later!)
• Now you can mix in the salt (about 2.5% = to taste) and other spices. (very popular, Nigella seeds - AKA Black Cumin or Black Sesame or black Caraway. Normal caraway is also popular, sometimes herbs, paprika, crushed peppers too).
• Scoop the curd into a basket type mold (typical size is about 4"-5" round). You can apply a bit of pressure to knot the curd into a more solid cheese faster. This isn't a gentle or pesky cheese...
• Use the whey to make storage brine. Use 25%-50% whey and the rest water. Put about 3% salt (to taste) and add some CalCl2 so that the cheese won't wall apart... Store the cheese in the brine. Cool in refrigerator and it is ready to eat.

Garlic and Dill

Paprika and crushed peppers

Plain

Black Caraway / Black cumin (Nigella seeds)