Cheese at Home

Shop cheeses are not always of high quality, they often contain vegetable fats and low-use additives. As rennet, they use animal products, which vegetarians do not like, many of whom have nothing against milk consumption. Many housewives are forced to look for ways to make cheese at home. This task is not impossible even for a novice chef. If you get acquainted with the technology of cooking a healthy fermented milk product, it will not be so difficult to cook homemade cheese.

Cooking Features

To a cook who is unfamiliar with cooking homemade cheese may seem like a very difficult task. In fact, the process is simple enough to make cheese at home could even beginner mistress. Knowledge of some subtleties will provide the expected result.

The basis of homemade cheese is milk or fermented milk products (cottage cheese, sour cream, kefir). Like cheese, they are also not always produced from whole milk without any extra additives. Often on sale can be found UHT milk from dry concentrate, cottage cheese product with the addition of vegetable raw materials. Often antibiotics are added to dairy products to prevent the development of lactic acid bacteria and premature souring of the product. All this reduces the cost of products and increases their shelf life, but does not make them useful. Taking them to prepare homemade cheese is not worth it, not only because of their dubious quality, but also because of the unpredictability of the result: such products may not curl up, and then the cheese from them will fail. For cheese, it is better to choose farm products or those produced by companies with a reliable reputation.
For making homemade cheeses, you can find special forms with a grill and press. It is convenient to make cheeses in them, but not every house has such devices. You can do without them. A colander or sieve will replace the lattice form; a jar filled with water can be used as a press.
When preparing homemade cheese, it is important to respect the proportions indicated in the particular recipe. The slightest violation of them can lead to the fact that the result does not meet your expectations.
Of the products with low fat content, there is little ready cheese. Cheese made from fatty curd and milk comes out more tender, oily, tasty.
As a result of making homemade cheese, a lot of whey is formed. This is a useful product and should not be poured. Serum can be used to make okroshka, to make homemade hair care products.
You can add an appealing shade to cheese with the help of a natural and healthy dye - carrot juice.

Externally, homemade cheeses are different from shop cheeses. They turn out more soft, gentle. However, in taste and nutritional value, they often surpass the low-cost products presented on the counters of most retail outlets. After trying homemade cheese at least once, you will start to make it often.

A simple recipe for homemade cheese made from milk

Composition:

milk (at least 3, 2% fat) - 1, 5 l;
water - 120 ml;
lemon juice - 180 ml.

Method of preparation:

Bring the milk to a boil, reduce the heat and boil, stirring, for 10 minutes.
Mix water with lemon juice.
In a thin stream, enter the acidic mixture into the milk, stirring it constantly at this time.
When the milk is curdled, fold the product onto a sieve with gauze folded several times. Wait for the serum to drain.
Rinse the cheese mass with clean boiled water to remove the lemon flavor.
Knead the mass with your hands to give it a tighter consistency.
Cover the mass, resembling cottage cheese, with a plate, set the load on top. Leave for 2-3 hours or for a longer time in a cool place.

It is believed that the cheese prepared according to this recipe belongs to the category of hard or semi-hard cheeses, but in fact it is much softer. To make it more dense, it must be kept under load for at least 24 hours, even for two days.

Classic cheese recipe from cottage cheese

Composition:

cottage cheese with a fat content of at least 9% - 1 kg;
butter - 100 g;
salt - 10 g;
soda - 15 g;
chicken egg - 1 pc .;
water - 2 l.

Method of preparation:

In a saucepan with a capacity of at least 3.5 liters, boil 2 liters of water, put cottage cheese into it. Cook it over low heat, trying not to let the water boil for 20 minutes.
In a sieve or colander, lay gauze folded in several layers, let it drain. Lightly tamp curd mass hands.
In a water bath, melt the butter and put the curd in it, carefully rub it in order to get a homogeneous mass without lumps.
Add soda and salt, mix. At this time, the mass will increase slightly in volume and become lush.
Whisk the egg with a whisk and add to the curd mass. It will help the cheese to harden and give the finished product a light yellowish tint.
Cook the curd for 5-7 minutes, stirring. The result should be a homogeneous consistency cheese lump, viscous, but well separated from the walls of the bowl. Cooking cheese longer will make it harder.
Fill the prepared molds with cheese, carefully tamping it with a spoon.
When the product has cooled to room temperature, it should be removed for 6-10 hours in the refrigerator, after which it will be ready for use.

Homemade cheese is a perishable product, it must be consumed within 7-10 days, otherwise it will deteriorate.

Homemade cheese from milk and curd

Composition:

cottage cheese with a fat content of at least 9% - 1 kg;
milk with a fat content of at least 2, 5% - 1 l;
butter - 100 g;
chicken egg - 2 pcs .;
salt - 10 g;
soda - 15 g.

Method of preparation:

Pound cottage cheese, adding milk to it.
Put on a slow fire and boil until the curd-milk mass is divided into curd flakes and whey. Try not to digest, otherwise the cottage cheese will become hard as rubber, which will negatively affect the organoleptic qualities of the finished cheese. Too early to remove the milk from the fire is also not worth it, otherwise the cheese from it may not work.
Fold the cottage cheese on a sieve with gauze, wring out.
Pour the serum into a separate container.
At the bottom of the pan, in which milk was brewed with cottage cheese, put the butter. Over low heat, melt it and combine with cottage cheese, grind to homogeneity.
In a separate container, whisk the eggs, add soda and salt to them.
Enter the egg mass into the curd. Boil, stirring, until the contents of the pan turn into a lump of cheese.
Spread the cheese in containers, let it cool to room temperature, tightly close the containers and place in the fridge for a day.

In terms of taste and appearance, homemade cheese made from milk and kefir is not inferior to the store product, but consists solely of natural ingredients that are beneficial to the body.

Adyghe cheese at home

Composition:

milk (maximum fat content) - 1, 5 l;
kefir (not fat free) - 0, 5 l;
salt - 5 g.

Method of preparation:

Pour kefir into the pan, put on a slow fire. Heat, stirring until the yogurt is rolled up and divided into cottage cheese and whey.
Fold the cottage cheese on a sieve, collect the whey in a jar or other container - for the preparation of cheese in the future it will need it. Curd can also be eaten, it is not needed to make cheese.
Cover the serum with gauze and leave to sour at room temperature for two days.
In a clean saucepan, boil the milk, put the whey in it, add salt. Cook over low heat, stirring for 6-8 minutes.
During cooking, the milk will be divided into fractions. Flip it on a sieve to separate the whey from the whey.
Press it through gauze folded in several layers.
Leave suspended in a gauze bag over the sink until excess serum is drained.
Without taking it out of gauze, send it under a press and put it in the fridge. Released liquid periodically.

In a day, the cheese can be taken out of the cheesecloth, wrapped in cling film and stored in the refrigerator just as shop Adyghe cheese. To taste the home product is not inferior to the purchase. Kefir in this recipe can be replaced by another fermented milk product (yogurt, matsoni).

Homemade cream cheese from sour cream

Composition:

sour cream with a fat content of at least 20% - 1 l;
salt - to taste.

Method of preparation:

Fold a large piece of gauze in 4-6 layers, lay in a bowl.
Mix sour cream with salt, place in a bowl in which the bottom is covered with gauze.
Lift the edges of the gauze and tie them over the sour cream.
Hang the gauze bag with sour cream over any container. One option is to tie the gauze to a wooden spoon and put it across the pan - then the whey will drain into the pan.
Leave for a day at room temperature. This time is enough to serum glass.
Put the gentle cream cheese in a container and put it in the fridge.

Cheese made according to this recipe can be used to make sandwiches.

Cheese, cooked at home, can be used just like shoplifting. It can be eaten in its pure form, cut into pieces, used for the preparation of sandwiches, salads and other dishes. The process of making homemade cheese is long and has a certain specificity, but is not complicated. Even an inexperienced cook will cope with this task.