Haloumi - Part Two

So here's the cheese after a total of an hour and a half in the press. It spent one hour being pressed at 30 pounds pressure and then a half hour at maximum press of 50 pounds. The next step was to cut it in to three smaller wheels about 3 inches tall each. After that it was put back in to the whey to cook at a higher temp. of 176 degrees for one hour. This served to further firm the curds and expel any whey still left in the curds. I rubbed it with salt after it came out of the whey bath and it will age in a brine for up to 60 days to develop a complex flavor. This is a good warm weather cheese to make because it doesn't need a super cool aging temp. and it doesn't melt so it's a prime candidate to grill or pan fry. From start to finish, this cheese took around 7 hours to make including non-active time. It's one of the simpler cheeses. Some take a full day or two of micro managing and then months of aging and turning.