From cottage cheese, cheese at home is made quite easily. The main thing is to comply with all the requirements of the recipe and use only natural and fresh raw materials (milk, cottage cheese, etc.).
Today we will tell you about how to make fatty, fat-free, and also processed cheese from cottage cheese. It should be noted that all these products differ markedly in taste, as well as in their consistency.
We make cheese from cottage cheese at home
Nowadays, eating healthy and wholesome foods is getting harder and harder. After all, finding safe products in stores is almost impossible. In this regard, many people are forced to cook some of them on their own (for example, yogurts, ice cream, bread, kefir, fermented baked milk, desserts, etc.).
Thanks to the article presented, you can replenish your arsenal of home recipes with another dairy product - cheese. We recommend it with fatty or fat-free cottage cheese. But first things first.
So, to make cheese from cottage cheese at home, we need:
- fresh cow's milk (preferably fatty, rustic) - about 500 ml;
- fine-grained, non-acidic cottage cheese - about 500 g;
- softened butter - 50 g;
- shallow salt and table soda - ½ dessert spoon.
Milk preparation
Before making cheese from cottage cheese at home, you should prepare a milk base. To do this, fine-grained cottage cheese must be carefully rubbed with a fork so that there is not a single lump left. Next, you need to put it in a pan, where fresh milk was boiled in advance. It is advisable to cook the resulting mixture for 10 minutes, regularly mixing the ingredients with a large spoon.
If you want to get harder cheese from cottage cheese, then the heat treatment should be increased (by about 5-10 minutes).
Spin process
After the milk with cottage cheese is boiled on a stove, you should take a deep colander or sieve and set over a bowl. We line the colander with thick gauze or a clean cotton cloth and pour the entire contents of the pan into it. Next, you need to wait a while until the main fluid drains from the tissue. To help this procedure, the edges of the gauze should be tightly tied, and then squeeze the resulting bundle with your hands.
Mixing ingredients
Before making cheese from cottage cheese, the resulting milk mass must be removed from the colander and again placed in a clean and dry pan. Next, you need to add fine salt, table soda and thawed butter. After mixing the products, they should be kept on very low heat for several minutes. In this case, the mass should be well behind the surface of the pan.
We form cheese
Now you know how to make cheese from cottage cheese. After a short heat treatment, it must be removed from the stove and allowed to cool to room temperature. Next, the resulting mass should be laid out in some form, previously lubricated with cooking oil. In such a kind of homemade cheese, it is recommended to place it in a refrigerator, where it is desirable to withstand at least half an hour.
A self-made product from cottage cheese can be used just like that, chopped into pieces, and also added to various main dishes, pizza and salads. It should also be noted that it melts quite well in the oven or microwave.
Cream cheese from cottage cheese: step by step recipe
Above, we told you about how to make hard cheese with high fat content using natural cottage cheese and village milk. However, there are other ways to prepare such a product at home. For example, processed cheese from cottage cheese is very good. It is made quite easily, but it turns out incredibly tasty. If you cook it, observing all the requirements of the recipe, then such cheese can be easily used to create delicious Italian pizza.
So, to make homemade processed cheese from cottage cheese, we need:
- village cottage cheese of maximum fat content - about 500 g;
- thawed butter - about 100 g;
- fresh large egg - 1 pc.;
- small table salt - a dessert spoon;
- table soda - ½ small spoon.
Preparing the basis for cheese
Homemade processed cheese from cottage cheese is made much faster than hard. First you need to prepare a framework. To do this, you need to stretch the fatty cottage cheese with a fork, and then add the thawed oil, table soda and fine table salt to it. Also add the egg here.
All of these components should be thoroughly mixed using a blender or mixer. As a result, you should get a uniform dense mass, which must be immediately subjected to heat treatment.
Cook the cheese mass
How to cook cheese from cottage cheese? To do this, it is recommended to use a water bath. To create it, you need to take a large basin or pan and smaller dishes, which will easily enter the first. Thus, pre-cooked cheese mass should be put in a bowl, and then put it in a wide container, where you need to pour ordinary water in advance. As a result, you will get a kind of water bath in which homemade cheese will be prepared.
Without ceasing to stir the contents of a small bowl, it should be kept in boiling liquid for 5-7 minutes. In this case, the formed processed cheese should become viscous and well move away from the walls of the dishes.
How to form?
After the processed cheese mass is cooked, you should proceed to the direct formation of the product. To do this, take any plastic mold and generously grease its bottom and walls with any oil. Next, put all the thermally treated mass into the dishes and, if possible, ram them with a spoon.
In conclusion, the container must be placed in the cold (not in the freezer) and soak the dairy product for 12-14 hours. During this time, the cheese will completely harden, and it can be safely consumed.
If you want to make a home-made processed product with any taste, then during its heat treatment in a water bath you should add fresh chopped herbs, pickled or fried mushrooms, finely chopped ham, paprika and other ingredients.
Making skim cheese at home
About how to prepare hard cheese from cottage cheese, we described above. However, it should be noted that from the presented raw materials it is possible to make such a product, which in all its qualities will resemble the “Adygea”. To do this, we need the following components:
- fresh cow's milk (preferably low-fat) - about 2 liters;
- lemon juice - from a small fruit;
- fine sugar - a small pinch;
- small salt - ½ small spoon.
Preparing the basis for cheese
You can make skim cheese on the stove and with the help of a slow cooker. In any situation, you will have to prepare the basis according to the same principle. This requires pouring low-fat cow milk into the pan, and then very slowly heat it to 80 degrees. At the same time, it should be ensured that it does not boil in any case.
After the milk is a little warm, it needs to add granulated sugar and salt. In this composition, all the ingredients should be thoroughly mixed with a large spoon. Also, freshly squeezed lemon juice without pulp is required to be poured into the milk.
When the drink reaches the desired temperature of 80 degrees, it must be removed from the heat. In this case, large white flakes should form in the milk. If this did not happen, then you made some mistake.
In this form, curdled milk mass should be left under the lid for 30 minutes. During this time, it should cool down a bit.
Product spin
After all the described actions are carried out, the slightly cooled milk product must be folded onto a multilayer gauze, which must first be lined in a sieve or colander. In this form, the mass should be disposed of for half an hour.
When the contents of the gauze bag will be deprived of the main moisture, it should be tightly knotted, placed on a plate, and then pressed with oppression. Some housewives use a three-liter glass jar filled with water, or some kind of metal load. Under the weight of the cheese should be for 10-12 hours. In this case, you will form a fairly elastic head. After the specified period, it should be freed from gauze and put in a container. It is not recommended to store such cheese in a refrigerator for longer than seven days. Otherwise, it will turn sour and become unusable.
To summarize
Now you know how to cook home-made cheese yourself, which in all its qualities will be very much like Adygea. It should be noted that some housewives prefer to make such a product not only with the use of a milk drink, sugar and salt, but also with the use of additional ingredients. So, grated garlic or chopped fresh herbs are often added to skim cheese. But one cannot fail to say that such products are introduced into the cheese mass only after it is in a colander and all the main moisture leaves it (that is, before the product is laid out under the press).
How to make cottage cheese?
We talked about how cheese is made from cottage cheese. But not every housewife will agree to use a store product for this. That is why we propose to make cottage cheese on our own. To do this, we need only three liters of fat village milk. To use this product for its intended purpose, it is required to make sour milk from it. This is done quite easily. Milk is poured into a three-liter jar, and then left warm for a couple of days. During this time, it should completely sour and thicken. In this case, you should get a real yogurt with a slight sour-milk smell and taste of kefir.
After the yogurt is ready, it must be transferred to an enameled pan and put on the stove. After heating the product to 40-50 degrees, serum should separate in it. Next, dishes with a milk mass must be removed from the heat and cool at room temperature.
In conclusion, the resulting mass should be discarded in a sieve, on which it is necessary to put a dense gauze in advance. In this case, the serum should drain, and fatty cottage cheese should remain in the tissue. To make it more granular and dry, gauze should be tied in a bag and hung over some dishes. After a few hours, home-made cottage cheese will be completely ready for use. It can be safely used for the independent preparation of various cheeses. As for the remaining serum, pouring this nutritious drink is not worth it. After all, it can make excellent pancakes, as well as a delicious okroshka.