How to make Halloumi Cheese
- Feb 2
- 5 min read
Halloumi cheese has become more popular and widely available in the UK over the past decade. People have realised that halloumi, with its high melting point, can be grilled, fried or barbecued very successfully. That means it is a great alternative to meat, and I love that it's now found routinely on restaurant menus.
Halloumi is one of the simplest cheeses to make.You will be heating milk, adding rennet to curdle it, pressing the curds then poaching them in the whey, then storing the cheese in brine until you're ready you use it. Or, of course, you can use it right away. None of this takes very long and the results are delicious.
What is Halloumi Cheese?
Halloumi is a semi-hard, unripened cheese originating from Cyprus. I make it with cow's milk, though you could use sheep or goat's milk too. If you've eaten Halloumi before you'll know it's quite salty. That's because of the salt you add to the cheese and the brine in which it is stored.
Halloumi is easy to find. Why Make It?
If you make your own, you can make exactly what you need with no waste. Also you can adjust the saltiness of homemade Halloumi. I'm not suggesting leaving the salt out altogether because Halloumi is traditionally salty, that's one of the things that makes it so delicious to eat. But adjusting the salt to your taste is a big reason to make your own if you're watching your salt intake. And when you plan to use it, you can then roll it in herbs and spices of your choice too. Incidentally don't add anything other than salt before storing Halloumi because you could end up with mould. Instead add whatever you like when you're ready to use it.
What kind of milk should I use to make Halloumi?
I use organic, pasteurised milk. It doesn't have to be organic of course, I just try to source organic when I can. It is best to avoid homogenised milk, which means the milk has gone through a small nozzle to break down the fat and distribute it evenly throughout the milk. Whilst this process doesn't in any way detrimentally affect the milk itself, homogenised milk can lead to a soft, weak curd, so the cheese may not form as you want it to.
If homogenised milk is your only option then you could add calcium chloride to it, 1ml per every 2 litres. But as most of us don't have calcium chloride laying around, it's easier to simply use pasteurised milk in the first place.
How to make Halloumi Cheese
You will need:
2 litres of organic milk - full fat or semi skimmed
You will also need:
Cheese cloth, muslin or a straining bag
2 saucepans which fit one on top of the other, with a lid for the larger pan, or a bain marie
2 old chopping boards to press the cheese or a cheese press if you have one
Method
Add water to the saucepan which will sit on the bottom.
Put the milk in the other pan and place it on top of the pan with water.
Heat the bottom pan gently which will automatically heat up the milk in the top pan, without boiling the milk.
Put your thermometer in the top pan and keep an eye on the temperature.
Dissolve one rennet tablet in 30ml water.
When the milk has reached 45 degrees C or 110 degrees F, mix the dissolved rennet into the milk.
Stir well to ensure the rennet is distributed, for half a minute or so.
Remove the large pan with milk from on top of the small, and put it somewhere with the lid on undisturbed. Leave the milk for 45 minutes to cool.
After 45 minutes, check whether it looks set. If not quite, leave until it does.
Once the milk is set - pop a (clean!) finger in if it's difficult to tell - gently cut the curds into 1cm blocks inside the pan with a knife.
Gently move the cut curds around the pan with the slotted spoon. Then put the lid back on and leave to rest for another 5 minutes.
Whilst gently stirring the pan, heat the pan to 30 degrees C on a very low heat. Keep gently stirring with the slotted spoon and heating until the pan gets to temperature. If you spot any large curds which you missed the first time, cut then with the knife as you spot them.
Keep heating and stirring and watch the curds reduce in size. The curds will become smaller as they continue to separate from the whey.
After 20 minutes, leave the pan another 20 minutes. The curds will sink to the bottom, and it will be much easier to manage the liquid which will have partially cooled.
Line a colander with cheese cloth and drain the curds into the cheesecloth over the pan.
Wrap the corners of the cheesecloth over the curds. Keep the curds to one side in the large saucepan as you'll need them later. If you want to use some of the whey for another recipe, such as Blaand, keep some to one side as once it has been reheated, it will no longer ferment. The rest of the liquid will be used to poach the halloumi a bit later.
Flatten your cheesecloth to about 4 cm thick on an old chopping board, and place another one on top. Use tins or plates or whatever you have as a weight on top of the board.
Check your cheese after about 10 minutes. Whey will be coming out of the cheese cloth on to the old board beneath. Clean up the whey, turn your cheese over, place the board and weight on top again for another 20 minutes.
Unwrap the curds, cut into 6 pieces.
Heat the whey you saved earlier to 95 degree C, ie just below boiling point.
Skim any bits of scum and weigh off the top as the whey heats up.
When the whey is at 95 degrees, poach the 6 pieces of curd in the whey for as long as it takes for them to come to the surface, which means they're cooked (4-5 minutes or so).
Leave the pieces of halloumi on a rack to cool.
Sprinkle them with salt.
You can either use the halloumi straight away or store it in the brine until you're ready to use it. If you want to roll the cheese in dried herbs and/or spices, do it just before you use it to avoid mould forming.
And so you'll have halloumi cheese to eat alone or make whatever you like, and some whey (the part you set aside before you boiled it) to make blaand, and whey (the part you boiled) to add when baking bread and muffins or making pancakes. Yum.
Want to learn more about Cheesemaking?
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