Now that you have tried out the chevre, you are ready to move on to the next step in cheese making by stirring the cheese curds
to expel whey and firm up the final product.  In this installment, I’ll explain how to make feta cheese which has all the basic elements
of making any of the hard cheeses, yet can be eaten after only a few days of ripening.

Here’s the ingredient list for feta (this recipe can be doubled or halved):

1 gallon goat milk
If you do not have your own dairy goats, you can use cow milk from the grocery store.  Do not waste your money
on organic milk.  Organic milk is often ultra-pasteurized which means that it is heated under pressure to a very high temperature.
This affects the proteins in the milk and makes them unable to form a curd.

1/8 tsp direct set mesophilic culture (or ¼ cup buttermilk)

½ tsp liquid rennet

¼ c cool water

Kosher salt

Wire whisk

 
First, warm your milk to 86°F.  Remove ¼ cup of milk from the pot and add to it the direct set culture.  Stir well, and
then return the mix to the milk pot.  Or, if using buttermilk, add this directly to the milk.  Stir well.  Cover the pot, and allow
to ripen for 1 hour.  Notice that, unlike the chevre, you are allowing acidity to build up during this ripening process before adding the rennet.

Add ½ tsp liquid rennet to ¼ c cool water and add to the milk.  Stir gently, but thoroughly.  Cover and allow to set for 1 hour.

After this second resting period, the milk should be firm.  Take a long knife (a bread knife is fine) and cut all the way to the bottom
of the pot in long, slicing movements.  You will cut a grid of ½” squares.  After making one set of cuts across the pot, turn the pot 90°
and make another set of cuts across the pot.  The curds are then ½” columns.  Now cut on a diagonal to break up the columns into cubes. 
Do not worry about cutting perfect ½” cubes.  The idea is to increase the surface area of the cheese so that whey can be expelled from the
curds.  However, do not cut the curds into very small pieces, either, as this will result in too much whey being expelled, and the cheese will
be excessively dry.  Remember to treat the curds gently.  Goat milk curds do not have as much surface tension as cow milk curds, and they
will break apart if treated roughly.

At this point, you are going to use the wire whisk to stir the curds.  Do not whisk the curds as though you were beating eggs.  The object
is to gently break the curds up.  Many recipes will tell you simply to stir with a ladle or a spoon, but you will not get curds of the proper consistency
without the wire whisk.  Push the whisk to the bottom of the pot and gently bring the curds to the surface.  Shake the whisk slightly so that the curds
fall through the wire back into the pot.  Continue doing this for 10 minutes.  If you don’t stir the curds, they will mat on the bottom of the pot and will
not lose enough whey to make a firm cheese.

This cheese making technique of stirring the curds will appear in all the more advanced recipes that you try.  Colby, Cheddar, Gouda and the
other aged cheeses, as well as fresh Cottage cheese, require that the curds be stirred.  You will notice as you stir that the curds gradually shrink as
they lose their whey.  You should end up with a pot of curds that looks like large curd Cottage cheese.  Don’t forget to use the whisk, and you will
be consistently happy with your results.

After stirring the cheese for 10 minutes, allow the curds to settle for another 5 minutes.  Now you do want the curds to mat together at the bottom
of the pot since it will make it much easier to drain them in the next step.  Line a colander with cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl.  You’ll
notice in your cheese pot that the whey has risen to the top, and the curds have all sunk to the bottom.  Pour off the whey.  Then gently lift the curds
out of the pot and place them into the colander to drain.  Make sure that your hands are clean!  Tie the cheesecloth at the corners and hang the cheese
to drain for about 6 hours.

Next, slice the ball of curds in half.  If you’ve doubled the recipe, you might want to slice the ball into thirds.  Place the slices on a clean rack over a
dish to catch the whey.  Salt both sides of each half of the cheese ball with about 5 T of Kosher salt.  Cover the cheese with plastic wrap and let sit at
room temperature for 24 hours.  After 24 hours, salt all surfaces again and let rest for another 2 hours.  Wrap the cheese and place in the refrigerator
to age for 5 days. 

Here’s something gourmet to try with your feta:

Marinated Feta

Cut your feta into 1” blocks.  Pick out whatever herbs are to your liking, but I use crushed garlic, basil, and oregano.  Place a layer of cheese
cubes on the bottom of a quart jar.  Add a layer of herbs.  Continue to layer the herbs and cheese to within an inch of the top of the jar. 
Fill the jar with a mixture of  ½ olive oil and ½ canola oil being sure to completely cover all the cheese and herb layers.  Allow to marinate for
at least a few days.  Use the marinated cheese on salads, pizza, or in quiches.  Use the flavored oil for salad dressings or pasta.  Store in the refrigerator.