Have you ever made your own cottage cheese from scratch?

abbynormalartist

I really love dry pressed cottage cheese... it's like a really firm cheese cake when you top it with fruit. Yum!!! But I can't really find it in grocery stores, except for expensive individual serving sizes. Have any of you ever made your own cottage cheese from scratch? I see recipes online but I'm wary.

Geocitiesuser

Buy a kit!

I love mozzerella so bought a mozzerella kit, they also sell cottage cheese kits. Cheese making is a "skill", it might take you a few tries to get it just right.

This is the brand I used. You can probably get these kits at any online retailer, I've seen them at the grocery store before too

https://www.cheesemaking.com/store/c/1-Kits.html

The quality of the milk you use will have a major impact on the over all flavor of your curds.

The reason it's a bit of an art is you'll need to play with curdle times and how much acid/renin to use, because the natural acidity of everything from your milk to the residual chemicals in your pot can vary just a wee bit.

abbynormalartist

crazyravr wrote: »

abbynormalartist wrote: »

I really love dry pressed cottage cheese... it's like a really firm cheese cake when you top it with fruit. Yum!!! But I can't really find it in grocery stores, except for expensive individual serving sizes. Have any of you ever made your own cottage cheese from scratch? I see recipes online but I'm wary.

All the time. I always look out for a grass fed cow milk on 50% off sale close to expiry for this exact reason. I do this.

1 gallon whole milk (preferably grass fed organic) at room temp
35 oz (large tub) full fat Greek yogurt at room temp
2 Tbsp sour cream at room temp

Day 1:

In a large stainless steel pot, whisk together 1 gallon milk, 35 oz Greek yogurt and 2 Tbsp sour cream. Cover and place in a warm 100˚F oven for 1 hour until luke-warm. (For many ovens, the lowest temp setting is 170˚F, so if that is the case for you, keep an eye on the mixture and take it out of the oven as soon as it's just warm).
Place the covered pot in a warm room for 24 hours (I put it next to a heating vent on the floor). When it’s done, it should become the consistency of sweetened condensed milk and pulls when you lift it up with a spoon. DO NOT STIR.

Day 2:

Place on the stove again over low heat for 40 minutes or until warm. DO NOT STIR. Heat it slowly, since high temperatures destroy the nutritious protein. Remove from stove and place in a warm room for another 24 hours. It should be consistency of regular yogurt.

Day 3:

Place on the stove over medium/low heat 40 minutes or until hot. The cheese will separate from the whey. Turn off the heat and let it sit covered for an hour (this helps for the curds to separate as well). DO NOT STIR.
Place 2 layers of very fine mesh cheesecloth over a large colander set inside a large bowl. Pour cheese mixture over cheesecloth. Keep the leftover liquid - this is called whey - refrigerate it and use instead of water for making the best bread you've ever had!
Tie a knot with your cheesecloth. To squeeze out excess liquid, place a cutting board either in a baking dish or in the sink. Place tied bag of cheese on top. Set another cutting board on the cheese and place a heavy weight over the top (i.e. a heavy cast iron pot or a large jug of water) and let stand 8-10 hours.

Day 4:

Unwrap your cheese and it's ready to enjoy! Refrigerate if not using right away

The recipes I found online mostly just called for milk and vinegar and it looked like a process that just took just half an hour or so. Wonder if that's for a completely different sort of cottage cheese. I like your recipe but I'm a little hesitant about leaving a big pot of milk out for 3 days. Might just need to give it a go and see!

Geocitiesuser

The recipes I found online mostly just called for milk and vinegar and it looked like a process that just took just half an hour or so.

This is conventional cheese making. Typically the process for various cheeses is:

Take a bunch of unhomogenized milk, and curdle it with some sort of acid (in the case you said vinegar)

bring the milk up to a very specific temperature and partly "digest" it by adding renin or similar agent/enzyme.

Allow the enzyme time to turn the curdles into a more solid curd as it separates from the liquid whey

From there you can take various approaches from straining, to waxing, to stretching, both the curds and the why can normally be used separately for two different types of cheeses. Aged cheeses like cheddar require waxing and additional enzyme.

The types of enzymes and acids you use will help dictate the type and flavor of the cheese, as will the method of final extraction (ricotta comes from straining whey, mozz comes from reheating, folding, and stretching curd).

There is so much to cheese making some people make it an out right hobby. It's a little smelly though.

I will repeat the suggestion of grabbing a ricki's kit to get started. Freshly made cheeses are delicious. Have you ever had mozzerella so fresh it's still warm? I have, and it's amazing.

clicketykeys

I tried an online recipe and it was pretty good. How much you squeeze it definitely makes a difference!