Mary lives outside Houston and prior to reading Vincent D’Souza’s interview, she thought she was the only home cheese maker and bread maker around. She told us she would love to get to meet fellow cheese makers. We hope through this interview, she will have that opportunity.
Mary’s Story
I grew up in a small village in the mountains of Lebanon, a tiny country in the East Mediterranean. Aside from shadowing my grandmother in the family vegetable garden and fruit orchard, I was required to tend to our goats and sheep.
My job was to feed them and provide clean water to drink. I was also tasked with ensuring that they did not get into trouble or gain access to the vegetable garden. My grandmother taught me how to milk them and properly store the milk, in preparation for cheese making.
My favorite meal was Jebneh Baydah with black sesame seeds (White Cheese), lathered on freshly baked bread, accompanied with our home-grown cucumbers.
When I first immigrated to the United States, I missed the taste and smell of my home country food. The cheeses that I ate while growing up in Lebanon were nowhere to be found, or if I was lucky, and found a similar cheese, lacked the rich flavors that I was accustomed to.
I thought of my grandmother, and the lost opportunity of learning the art of cheese making, and decided that I needed to carry on her legacy. I took a few classes in cheese making, and connected with our village elders to learn traditional Lebanese cheeses. I started experimenting and trying different cheese recipes.
Today, I make most of the cheeses I grew up eating, pairing them with home baked sourdough breads. I frequently share these cheeses with my friends and neighbors.
I also get enormous pleasure, knowing that not only my grandmother is smiling down at me with pride, but I have kept her legacy alive by making her favorite cheeses.
I make my cheese from raw goat milk that I get from a farmer in Hempstead.
I also get raw Jersey cow’s milk from a farm called Krenek Stryk located in Schulenberg, about an hour’s drive from Katy.
Types of cheeses I make include: Mozzarella, Feta, Labneh, Halloumi, Ackawi, Nabulsi, Camembert, Gruyere, Provolone, Cheddar, Chèvre, Pepper Jack, and Gouda. However, my favorites are the cheeses I grew up with: Halloumi, Chèvre, Jebneh Baydah and Labneh.
My advice for beginners:
Devote time to enjoy the process of cheese making and to appreciate how milk can metamorphose to a tasty cheese. Cheese making is an art that demands our senses to be open to new adventures.
Start with soft cheeses, like Mozzarella, Feta, etc. to gain a feel for how milk coagulates, then proceed to hard cheeses that require various bacterial cultures.
Finally, regular practice makes perfect. With time, you will be able to tell how the acidity will determine the final taste.
Other hobbies:
I have a citrus and fruit garden.
Also, a vegetable garden…
and a pollinator garden.
This year is my first year at beekeeping, as well.
Anonymous says
I got the braided bread from a recipe book, called Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa. You can purchase it on Amazon. The instructions are very easy to follow. As for the Feta Cheese bagel, below is the recipe:
For the dough:
5 1/2 cups plain flour
2 cups warm milk
2 tbsps sugar
1 1/2 tbsps yeast
1 ts salt
2 tbsps yoghurt
1/2 cup sunflower or veg oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 ts baking powder
Mix the yeast, milk and sugar, and let it sit in a warm place for five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients.
Once mixed, knead for 10 minutes by hand.
For filling:
1 1/2 cup Feta cheese
1 1/2 ts nigella seeds (black sesame seeds)
Lightly oil a container, and cover the dough. Proof for 1 to 1.5 hours. Cut into 75 grams each dough. Let rest for 10 minutes. Shape into a rectangle, add the cheese stuffing, and seal tight. Let them sit for 30 minutes for second proof.
Add egg wash: 1 egg mixed with one tbsp milk. Brush each bagel, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake at 355F for 15-20mins, cover with a clean towel for 5 mins and then enjoy!
Mary, you are my kind of person. I am impressed with everything that you do! Way to go!
Thank you Mary Anne. Do you live in Texas?
I wish you all good luck
I live in La Grange 2 minutes north of Schulenberg. We have a raw milk dairy farm here too call the Jersey Barn Yard. I have made feta, mozzarell, ricotta and camembert.
I am a regular customer of Jersey Barnyard. I buy my meat and cream from you.
That all looks so good! I live in the Houston Heights. Cheese is my favorite food and I’ve experimented making a few kinds, but aging it/storing it in the warm, humid climate here intimidates me a little. So glad to see it is possible. I envy your garden!
Repurpose a wine fridge for aging your cheese. I also use vacuum packing the cheese rather than wax. Guaranteed results.
Hello! I live in Humble, TX but I go to Katy at least once a week. I love your stuffed breads! We share common hobbies! Send me an email or find me on Facebook. I hope to hear from ya and we can meet!
Of course. you are welcome to visit me. email: marykarish46@yahoo.com
Small world! I’m Lebanese-American too, live in Austin TX, and get my raw milk from the same farm in Schulenberg. I don’t have any memories of Lebanese cheeses, and I’ve been making various French-style cheeses for years. My wife bakes the breads and crackers. We grew our own olives until the February Snowpocalypse killed our trees. We haven’t found any other amateur cheesemakers in Austin.
Beautiful pictures of what must be delicious food items!
I’m a long-time bread maker who has just started making cheese.
I live in South Austin!
Time to get a cheese-making group going?
I would love to have a Texas South based cheese making group, just not sure how to go about it. Even South Texas a big area to cover. I managed to save my 3 olive trees, by wrapping them. They lost all their leaves, but they are making a big come back.
Cheese and bread go together, and that is why I started trying out combination recipes. They each compliment each other beautifully. I believe food is history, perhaps when you sample Lebanese cheeses, you will jump start your childhood memories. If you are ever in Houston, please come visit me, and will have you taste some of them. Most of them are very simple. We used Ackawi cheese to make Kenafeh and Manouche ( our traditional Lebanese breakfast made with a flat dough, and somthered with zaatar and cheese)
Ellen: How can we share email addresses without posting them online here?
If you want someone to have your email address, send it to me (jeri@cheesemaking.com) and I will forward it to whoever you specify.
Ellen,
Steve Smaha would like to get in touch with you but I have been unable to send you his email (my email was returned). Do you have a different email address than the one from which you made the comment? If so, please send it to jeri@cheesemaking.com. Thanks.
Good luck
Hello Mary I have cow dairy in Willis (North of you) we milk and sell raw cow’s milk and make cheese here which is sold through our on farm shop. Please stop by when you are in Montgomery County we love to talk about cheese as much as we like to eat it! Camille from Goodgrass FarmLlc, Willis Texas
I live in Baytown, on the other side of Houston. I also like to make bread and cheese but haven’t had a lot of time to perfect anything. I’ll be retiring soon and hope to turn a refrigerator into a cheese cave and start perfecting some of the things I want to do. The cheese filled bread looks so good and your bee garden is really beautiful.
I live in Winnie, my husband works in Baytown. Not too far from the Houston region but far enough we don’t go there often.
I also make my own bread, have my own cows and started making cheeses! My cows this year won’t be fresh until September though. This is my second year of bees I caught! I also have a horizontal hive. My one hive swarmed three times this year! Good luck in your adventures!!!
Mary, I want to take a minute to personally thank you for sharing your story with our readers. You are generous in heart and spirit. I think your grandmother would be both proud and delighted with what you are doing on so many levels. It fills my heart with joy to hear stories passed down from generation through generation, reminding us of our heritage and our continued journey in the world. As you pass these traditions on through your teaching of others the joy spreads and new bonds are created, making both new and old traditions within this ever expanding community. Thank you, and many blessings.
In Peace and Love, Ricki
I am in Spring, near The Woodlands, but the Grand Parkway would make it easy to meet up. I bake bread and grow vegetables, but lost my citrus trees in the recent freeze. I’ve always wanted to make cheese, I have a kit never used, and have read up on beekeeping but never took the plunge. Please email me if you’d like to get together.
Certainly would like to meet up with people who are interested in homesteading. My email: marykarish46@yahoo.com
mloustalot1@gmail.com
Melinda,
We lost 6 orange and lemon trees during the last freeze as well in late February. This is the second time in 7 years, the first time was when our property flooded during the hurricane Harvey event. This time around (3rd round!!) we’ve decided to grow them in large pots till they get established and then transfer into the ground.
A real pain despite taking precautions like winterizing those trees 😊.
Vincent
Wow, that has given us all some great ideas for combining bread and cheese. You make such a wide variety of cheeses, that is fantastic. Thank you for sharing, Amanda.
That was the most delightful post. I’m inspired to try some cheese-filled breads now. Thank you for sharing some of your life with us!
Mary, your cheeses and breads look mouth-wateringly good! Such attention to detail goes without saying. Beauty in cooking is your grace!
I envy you of your beehive! Such regenerative efforts fail most of us. Your gardens, composting efforts, and pollinating garden all are to be admired.
I live in Fancy Gap, Virginia. I lived in Clear Lake and Pasadena, suburbs east and south of Houston proper. I’m sure you can find fellow cheese makers there in the Houston vicinity. I grew up in San Antonio, and many a drive was done through Schulenburg going to see my family in SA.
Well done, sister! I hope yet to make Halloumi this summer, and feta in the fall. I drive 180 miles to get raw cows milk. You are blessed in your milk sources! Be well, and thank you for your encouraging story.
I loved reading your story. Your breads and cheeses look so wonderful. I wish we lived next door as we have so much in common with cheese making, gardening and bee keeping. I wish you and your family all the best
Hello. I don’t speak English, I am writing this post using Google Translate.
We have read your contribution with interest and I just wish you success in your interesting work.
I was very interested in the fact that you come from Lebanon and that you try to make cheese the way you enjoyed your grandmother. I would like to ask if you can get closer to Lebanese cheeses, including their production and taste.
Thank you in advance for the other readers.
Franta Machac
Franta – Unfortunately, Google translate sometimes does not make sense. I am not sure what you meant, “get closer to Lebanese cheeses, including their production and taste.” Do you live in Texas? Do you want to know where you an purchase them?
As I look at your cheeses & breads, my mouth is watering & my mind is going back to my time in Cyprus, Egypt & Saudi Arabia. I sincerely hope you will share your recipes with us in the near future.
Of course. You tell me what like, and will be happy to share recipes. Food is history, and by sharing, I keep the legacy of my ancestors alive.
What a beautiful and kind response! I chime in to ask for a recipe for the beautiful braided bred with spinach and cheeses inside. Also the Feta cheese with black sesame seeds stuffed in brioche bread looks amazing. All of it looks fabulous!