Brynza is a brine cheese used in the preparation of various salads, pasta, toppings for pies and so on. Today it can easily be bought at any supermarket. However, you can learn how to cook cheese at home according to the recipes of our ancestors. And it will not differ in taste from the storefront either in taste or appearance.
The usefulness of feta cheese
Brynza differs from other types of cheese in the first place in that it does not have a crust. This is a soft, sour-and-salty product, which is prepared from the milk of a cow, buffalo, sheep, goat, or from a mix of these types of milk. Despite the fact that brine cheese is a high-calorie product, it has many useful properties. Brynza is rich in protein, which contributes to the development and growth of muscle mass. Therefore, this product is so loved by athletes who want to build muscle.
Since feta cheese is a dairy product, it is rich in calcium. It promotes the healthy growth of strong bones, as well as teeth and nails. Other microelements are also present in large quantities, for example, sodium, phosphorus, beta-carotene, potassium and vitamins A, B 1 , B 2 , C, K, PP and others.
For the fair sex, Brynza is a source of beautiful silky hair and velvety young-looking skin.
However, if there are problems with the urinary system or kidneys, the consumption of this product should be slightly limited. First of all, due to the presence of a large amount of salt in it.
Selection of milk and tools
Cooking feta cheese at home is pretty easy. She needs ordinary products. To start, we will prepare the components. The main ingredient is milk. You can use goat or cow. It is better if the milk is homemade. If this is not possible, then you can take a pasteurized store. But it is imperative that the milk is very oily. It is not recommended to take immediately bored. Put it in the refrigerator, let it stand for at least a few hours. But the stale, older than three days, the product should not be used to cook homemade cheese with a prescription.
We select high capacity for cooking. Such that milk does not reach the edges by about 4-5 centimeters. This will prevent the product from splashing when stirring during cooking. You can take an ordinary pan.
We also need gauze and a colander to further express the whey. A saucepan or bowl with a lid, as well as a press, with the help of which we will form our cheese. No other tricky kitchen appliances and devices are needed.
First cooking method
This is a recipe for how to make feta cheese from milk without sourdough.
Ingredients:
- cow's milk - 2 liters;
- eggs - 5-6 pieces;
- sour cream 15-20% fat - 400-420 grams;
- salt - 2-3 tablespoons.
We put milk on a small fire, add salt, bring to a boil. At this time, prepare the mixture, which will be a thickener. To do this, beat the sour cream with eggs. In boiling milk, slowly add the resulting mass. We make sure that milk does not boil away and does not burn. The fire on the stove can be reduced a little more. Stirring, boil for another five to seven minutes - until the whey is separated from the curd. Milk should curl.
Next, put several layers of gauze in a colander and pour the mass. Leave until the whey completely drains. After that, we connect the free ends of the gauze well. Put the cheese in this form into a clean container and cover with a lid. We put oppression on top. For example, it could be a can of water. Leave it for at least 5 hours to cool completely, then, without removing the press, put in the refrigerator for the night. And in the morning the cheese is ready to eat.
Second cooking method
There is another recipe on how to make feta cheese from cow's milk at home.
Ingredients:
- cow's milk - 3 liters;
- salt - 2-3 tablespoons;
- lemon juice (can be replaced with vinegar) - 3-4 tablespoons.
We put milk on a slow fire. We make sure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Stirring, gradually pour one tablespoon of vinegar into the liquid. We do this until the milk is completely clotted in large lumps. In a colander preliminarily laid in several layers with gauze, pour the entire contents of the pan. Tie the ends tightly and hang for a couple of hours. When all the liquid has merged, transfer the mass to a bowl and cover with a lid with oppression. To seal the cheese, keep it for about 4-5 hours. At this time, prepare the brine.
Pour the separated whey into a pan and add salt. You can pour a little water so that the brine is not too salty and thick. The resulting cheese is put in salted whey and left in the refrigerator. Periodically, it is necessary to turn the feta cheese for a more uniform impregnation.
Third cooking method
Another way to cook feta cheese from cow's milk at home.
Ingredients:
- cow's milk - 5 l;
- salt to taste;
- a special enzyme for sourdough - pepsin.
Pour milk into the pan, put on a small fire on the stove. We heat it, but do not bring it to a boil. The temperature of the milk should be approximately 38-40 degrees. You can determine the time the product is removed from the fire approximately by checking with your hand - we hold the product until we feel a slight warmth. If overexposed, the finished cheese may turn out to be slightly "rubber".
Next, add the sourdough, constantly stirring the milk. Leave the mass to ripen for 30-40 minutes. After this time, the cottage cheese will separate from the whey. Cut it into several small pieces, gradually draining the serum into another container. When all the liquid has been removed, transfer the cheese to cheesecloth, tie and leave in a bowl or saucepan under pressure for 4-5 hours. In order for the cheese to be salty, we prepare a brine from the remaining whey and salt. Cut the prepared cheese into slices and soak in it for about a day.
Goat cheese
Goat milk has a specific taste. Therefore, feta cheese based on such a product will be more aromatic and rich. Such cheeses are becoming increasingly popular. Also, goat's milk is very useful, in comparison with cow's milk, it has more calcium, and calorie content is less.
So, how to cook goat cheese in the home? Everything is quite simple. Take 5 liters of goat's milk, pharmacy pepsin for the starter culture (see the consumption rate and the method of preparing the starter culture on the packaging). We heat the milk in a large saucepan to the temperature until it "endures the hand." Then turn off and add the leaven. Slowly stir the mixture with a wooden spoon or just by hand.
After a while, clots begin to appear, which should grow and form larger clumps. When the mass is separated from the whey, put it on a colander lined with gauze in several layers. After 2-3 hours, discard the cottage cheese in a container with a lid, put the load on top. And after a few hours the product is ready. We make a pickle and store the cheese in it.
Lamb Starter
You can use sourdough for making feta cheese bought at a store or pharmacy. But you can use a more natural product and make it yourself.
To do this, we need the stomach of a lamb, calf or kid. It is necessary to take the stomach of a young animal, which has not yet plucked grass, but only fed on mother’s milk. We wash the stomach well and dry it in a warm place, for example, over a gas stove for about a week or two. The organ should eventually look like parchment.
This will mean that our enzyme is ready. Remove it, cut into thin stripes. Pour the resulting abomasum with cold water for a day. Sourdough is ready! For the preparation of feta cheese, you need to add about 100 grams of such whey per 5 liters of milk. Dry rennet can be stored for several months. You just need to wrap it in paper and put it in a tightly closed glass or tin can.
Cheese storage
Freshly prepared feta cheese is stored in the refrigerator for about fifteen days. So that the cheese does not dry and does not lose its taste, it is placed in a brine called brine. To prepare the brine, you will need about 5-6 tablespoons of coarse salt per one and a half liters of pure cold water. Pour salt into water and mix well until completely dissolved. We will conduct a salinity test. Because fresh brine can make feta cheese soft and creeping.
Take a well-washed chicken egg and lower it into the solution. If it pops up and is visible on a surface with a diameter of 2.5-3 centimeters, then the brine is ready, if not, add more salt. It is convenient to store feta cheese in brine in a glass, enameled or plastic container under a tightly closed lid.
Without brine, brine cheese can be stored in the freezer. However, it must be borne in mind that when thawing, the taste of cheese is deteriorated. If the cheese itself turned out to be salty, then you can soak it for several hours in pure water or milk.
Recipes
Brynza is a very healthy and tasty product. And what can you cook with feta cheese? It is part of numerous salads, complements pasta, pizza, serves as a filling for pies. Here are some simple but very tasty recipes.
Beetroot salad with feta cheese
Ingredients:
- lettuce - 1 bunch;
- mix of herbs (parsley, dill, basil) - 1 bunch;
- fried pumpkin seeds - 20 grams;
- feta cheese - 70-80 grams;
- beets - 250-350 grams;
- unrefined olive oil - 50 ml;
- lemon juice - 30 ml;
- garlic - 1 small clove;
- a mixture of dry salad dressings.
First cook the beets. Wash it well, wrap it in foil and set it to bake in the oven at a temperature of 200 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Finished and chilled beets cut into cubes or straws. We tear the leaves of lettuce, finely chop the parsley and combine all this with beets. Then we prepare the dressing - mix olive oil with lemon juice, add seasonings, garlic and mix well until a homogeneous mixture. Dress and mix the salad. Brynza crumbled on top. At the end, sprinkle the whole dish with fried seeds.
Cheesecakes with cheese
Very healthy and delicious cakes are suitable as breakfast or just as an appetizer. The recipe is simple and straightforward - even a novice hostess will cope with it.
So, you will need the following ingredients:
- flour - 0.4 kg;
- water - 0.2 l;
- olive oil - 20 ml;
- apple vinegar or lemon juice - 15 ml;
- feta cheese - 0.2 kg;
- chicken egg - 1 pc.
First, in a bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients of the dough - water, egg, vinegar, olive oil. Then, stirring constantly, add flour. When the mass becomes homogeneous and without lumps, cover with a film and leave to stand for about one hour.
At this time, you can cook the filling. We thoroughly knead the cheese with a fork. If desired, you can add a little greens (dill, parsley, green onions). Roll out the dough in one layer as thin as possible. Put the filling and roll the roll. We cut the roll across into several equal parts and roll each cake a little more. 8-9 pies are obtained from this quantity of products. Fry each on both sides in a dry frying pan.
Milk soup with feta cheese
Cheese can be cooked and first courses.
Ingredients:
- milk - 250 ml;
- water - 1 liter;
- feta cheese - 150-200 g;
- eggs - 2 pcs.;
- butter - 10 g.
We boil milk and water in a saucepan. Then add the feta cheese cut into small parts and cook for another 12-15 minutes. Beat eggs and season them with soup. In conclusion, put a piece of butter. Serve on a table with croutons and chopped fresh herbs
Brynza is a very healthy and tasty cheese that has been known in cooking since ancient times. Having learned how to cook feta cheese at home, you can be sure that such a product will be more natural, and taste will not differ from what was bought in a store.