• About
  • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Press
  • Work With Me
  • Food Writing
    • Brands
    • Editorial
  • Recipe Index
  • In my kitchen
  • Contact Me

Feeding Boys & a FireFighter

Recipes & tips for filling bottomless pits

  • Home
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
    • Packed lunch
    • Soup
  • Dinner
    • One Pot
    • Quick
    • Meat
    • Fish
    • Vegetarian
    • Pasta
    • Sides
  • Sweet
    • Desserts
    • Bakes
    • Drinks
  • Preserves
  • Win
  • Review
    • Book review
    • Interviews
    • Product reviews
    • Restaurant review

How to make halloumi and mozzarella cheese

February 7, 2013 by Katie Bryson

Home made halloumi in a big fat sandwich

Mmmmm a big fat halloumi sandwich… imagine having the power to actually create the salty squeaky cheese that is peeking out of this bread by yourself…

I never thought to try making my own cheese until I saw a demo at Lakeland over the summer and couldn’t believe how simple it looked.

Lakeland kindly kitted me out with the gear so I could have a go at home. Of course it sat untouched in my kitchen for a good few months as I lost my nerve, until Helen of Fuss Free Flavours and I decided to get off our derrières and have a cheese making day round at her place.

Yeo Valley provided us with a range of their fabulous organic milks, creams and yoghurts to work our way through most of the recipes in the How To Make Soft Cheese book from Lakeland.

You don’t actually need that much equipment but here’s the list:

Cheese day equipment

  • Big stainless steel pan
  • digital thermometer
  • stainless steel colander
  • soft cheese moulds
  • muslin squares

In terms of ingredients you’ll need:

Yeo Valley kindly supplied all the dairy for our cheese day

Yeo Valley kindly supplied all the dairy for our cheese day

  • Milk (lots of it)
  • Cream
  • Yoghurt
  • white wine vinegar
  • lemon juice
  • vegetarian rennet

The easiest cheeses to make are halloumi, ricotta and mozzarella, so those are the ones we attempted first.

Halloumi

The process of making halloumi cheese

The process of making halloumi cheese

Our version of halloumi contains skimmed milk (the traditional recipe uses sheep’s milk), white wine vinegar and salt. You heat the milk until it reaches the required temperature. This is made easy using a probe thermometer that you can set to beep at you once the milk is hot enough. You do need to give it a stir as we found out when the milk caught on the bottom of the pan. Ooops!

Then it’s a question of mixing in the vinegar and leaving it to separate into curds and whey. You then strain off the liquid and pop the curds into a muslin lined colander, sprinkle with salt and then press into the cheese mould. You then allow this to drain and firm up.

You are instantly rewarded with a very fresh tasting firm cheese – we couldn’t believe how simple it was. So naturally we had to slice it up and fry it, and stuff it into an indulgent sandwich with salami, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach on olive bread – unbelievably tasty.

Ricotta

Next up was ricotta. Again milk is heated, then lemon juice is added to form the curds. This sits for a little longer before straining for a few hours. You then pop it into a cheese mould and let it sit for a few more hours still.

The resulting cheese was a little firmer than we thought it’d be, but is ready and waiting to be teamed with spinach as a pizza topping this week.

Mozzarella

The process of making your own mozzarella

The process of making your own mozzarella

Making mozzarella was a little more hands on, so made you feel a bit more involved and clever 😉

After heating the milk, you add lemon juice and rennet, then after the curds have formed you have to cut them into cubes before straining.

Then you have to heat portions of the curds until the stringy cheese gradually forms enough for you to be able to form them into balls in your hands. You then plop them into icy water to set. Hugely satisfying!

And even more cheese

We also got some cream cheese and cottage cheese on the go, but these need to sit overnight so require a little more commitment.

Cost

I’d recommend getting milk and cream that’s about to go out of date in the reduced section of the supermarket to keep your costs down.

The equipment is largely stuff you’re bound to have in your kitchen already. The cheese moulds and muslin squares are only a few quid each. The thermometer is probably the biggest investment but can be used for loads of other things too.

Would I do it again?

Well now I’ve got the kit, yes I would. Halloumi is pricy and not always available in the shops so i’ll definitely be making that again.

It’s a really fun activity to do with kids on a rainy day to teach them about the science behind cheese making. Then you could even make your own pizzas and let them use some of their home made mozzarella for the topping!

 A huge cheesy thank you to Lakeland for providing the kit, Yeo Valley for donating the dairy and to Helen for hosting such a fun day at her flat and the sloe gin we rewarded ourselves with at the end.

Sloe gin

A well deserved tipple

Filed Under: 1 Featured Recipes, Lunch Recipes, Product reviews Tagged With: cheese, halloumi, home made cheese, Mozzarella, ricotta

« Win Valentine meal for 2 at Union Jacks
Win steak tartare masterclass for 2 »

Comments

  1. Helen says

    February 7, 2013 at 8:09 am

    It crossed my mind to try& make cheese after I’d seen it in Lakeland but that is a hell of a lot of milk & cream! It would be tempting to try & make that lovely Burrata though!

    • Katie Bryson says

      February 7, 2013 at 9:05 am

      Hi Helen 🙂 yes it was a lot of dairy but if you get it on offer or reduced then well worth it. Mmmm still dreaming of that burrata….

  2. Jacqueline says

    February 7, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    Brilliant!!! I cannot believe it is so easy. Is the halloumi similar to what you buy? I want to make some too! It sounds like you both had great fun.

    • Katie Bryson says

      February 8, 2013 at 6:29 am

      It was brilliant fun Jac – the cheese was fresher tasting but had the same texture. It made me realise how much salt must be in the stuff in the shops!!!

  3. Arabella Bazley says

    February 8, 2013 at 6:26 am

    .I have made soft cheeses before using a saucepan and a cotton hankerchief to strain it through in the absence of muslin (very slow and I have muslin now) and no thermometer so you can dabble with smaller amounts. But I’m really intrigued by the Halloumi, we always have a block in the fridge and I had not realised how ridiculously easy it would be to make. Time to invest in a thermometer?

    • Katie Bryson says

      February 8, 2013 at 5:36 pm

      Definitely worth the investment!!!!! Halloumi is such a delicious cheese 🙂

  4. Jan Bailey says

    February 8, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    Like the comments above it’s the halloumi that intrigued me. Soft cheese like cottage cheese I can picture making in a domestic kitchen, but thought halloumi & would be a longer process, require weights/pressing or something. ( the salt thing is an eye opener in some cheeses -I love pecorino, but bought a Tesco version which was so salty as to be inedible, even for me who loves salt!!)

    • Katie Bryson says

      February 8, 2013 at 5:32 pm

      It’s great when something turns out to be much simpler than you imagine – especially when it’s pricy to buy. I have such a salty tooth it’s terrible!!!!

  5. Fiona Harris says

    February 15, 2013 at 1:37 am

    Great post!! Have me interested now! Many many years ago whilst in india I learnt how to make Paneer, ( barely remember of course…but it involved straining through muslin cloth,I may have to dig out the receipe and instructions!!

    • Katie Bryson says

      February 15, 2013 at 6:01 am

      Thanks Fiona! Love the sound of cheese making in India – wow! You must give it a go – a lovely easy project 🙂

  6. Allison says

    December 21, 2016 at 1:11 am

    From what is recorded,this is ricotta,not halloumi

    • Katie Bryson says

      December 21, 2016 at 1:49 pm

      It was definitely halloumi cheese that I made.

Trackbacks

  1. Veggie burger recipe: Mushroom and halloumi says:
    February 15, 2013 at 8:02 am

    […] course you can make your own halloumi if you’re in the mood – it’s really pretty […]

About Katie

I’m Katie Bryson – Freelance Food Writer, wife of a strapping vegetarian and mum of two boisterous boys – keeping them all fuelled and trying to stay sane is a daily challenge so I thought I’d share my experiences. Read More...

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

I’m Looking for…

Receive new posts + exclusive news by email

Pinterest Food Awards

Jam Masterclass for Total Beginners

Jam Masterclass for Total Beginners
The Feeding Boys kitchen helpers

Tips for cooking with kids

my foodgawker gallery
Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100
I'm a Netmums Influencer

Connect with me

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

cookingkt

This is a giant @reesesuk birthday cake for my gia This is a giant @reesesuk birthday cake for my giant 15 year old son Arlo… pretty bloody pleased with myself!!!! Many thanks to @thebakingexplorer for a fabulous recipe… 🎂🥳🎉🎁🎈🎊 Now it’s time to celebrate!!!!!!
Bank holiday weekend complete. #fishnchips #jackru Bank holiday weekend complete. #fishnchips #jackrussellterrier #whitleybay
Just what I needed this morning… it doesn’t ma Just what I needed this morning… it doesn’t matter what shizzle is going on in my life, the beach is always there to soothe me. #whitleybaybeach #upwiththelarks #seatherapy🌊
Feta-stuffed peppers with colourful couscous from Feta-stuffed peppers with colourful couscous from the latest @slimmingworld magazine…. Smells amazing!!!! #slimmingworlduk #slimmingworldfood
Beautiful little book the audience were all given Beautiful little book the audience were all given at last night’s performance of #Here from @curious.monkey_ at @northern_stage. Such a powerful performance from the talented cast bringing together individual stories of what it means to seek sanctuary in the North East, the friendships that are forged and the spark of hope that refuses to be snuffed out. With the plight of refugees so visible right now,  the timing of this performance was impeccable. #RefugeesWelcome #togetherwithrefugees🧡 #StoryCollectors
Follow on Instagram

Receive new posts by email

  • About
  • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Press
  • Work With Me
  • Food Writing
    • Brands
    • Editorial
  • Recipe Index
  • In my kitchen
  • Contact Me

© 2010 - 2022 Katie Bryson | All Rights Reserved | Website by Callia Web