Homemade Halloumi

Name: Homemade Halloumi
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 110 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: You will need some full cream milk; some vegetable rennet; calcium chloride and salt; It is also quite beneficial to have a probe thermometer

Kartik Madan (@kartik7179)

4.8

From 4 ratings

Greek Appetiser Vegetarian Gluten-Free

Halloumi is a fresh salty cheese used a lot in Mediterranean cuisine and has gained popularity amongst different cultures in different variations. But making at home is really simple. Grab a couple of ingredients from your local cheese shop and get to work.

Prep Time

1hr 30min

Cook Time

20min

Total Time

1hr 50min

Ingredients

10 Servings

Mise en place

You will need some full cream milk
some vegetable rennet
calcium chloride and salt
It is also quite beneficial to have a probe thermometer

How to make Homemade Halloumi

Curdling the milk

Heat 5 lts of full cream high quality milk to 42 degrees celsius slowly and stirring continuously.
Add 1.2ml of each of rennet and calcium chloride and stir vigorously for 30 secs
Leave the milk at 42degrees undisturbed for 1 hour

Cutting the curd

Take the milk of the heat. By now it should be set. Using a long knife cut the set milk all the way to the bottom into 2x2cm pieces. Leave undisturbed for 30 mins
Stir the curds to break them down further and leave undisturbed again for 30 mins
Drain the curds in a strainer lined with a cheeseclothand leave hanging overnight. Make sure to save all the whey.

Cook/brine the cheese

Cut the set halloumi into preferred size of portions. I usually go generous with 150gms. Bring the whey to a simmer and gently put the halloumi in the whey. Wait for it to start floating indicating that the cheese is cooked. Take it out of the whey with a strainer and straightaway place it into a 3.5% salt brine. Repeat process until all halloumi is cooked. Leave the cheese to brine overnight minimum
Serve up by pan frying some well drained halloumi with some toast and pat yourself on the back for trying to create something from scratch. You will never use store bought halloumi again

Tips & Tricks

Invest in good cheese making equipment such as muslin cloth, rennet and calcium chloride. They will last for ages and will motivate you to try the process more often. Yes it takes 2 days. Yes it'll take up extra space in your fridge. But it will definitely be worth it and it maybe time consuming but it isnt labour intensive.