Cream cheese is a mild, moderately flavored product made from cream or a mixture of cream and milk. It has a delicate texture and does not need a ripening period, which makes it different from other soft cheeses. The most famous cream cheeses are American Philadelphia, Italian Mascarpone, French Bursens and Chavroux. Meanwhile, there is an easy way to make cream cheese at home.
Ingredients
To make homemade cream cheese you will need:
- cream 10% - 1 liter;
- mesophilic starter culture - 1/8 tsp;
- sea salt to taste.
As an option, you can consider making cream cheese without mesophilic sourdough, replacing it with sour cream (200 g), kefir (1 glass), white wine vinegar (1 tsp) or lemon juice (2 tbsp). If you have only high fat cream at your disposal (for example, 30%), you can combine them in equal parts with milk (0.5 l + 0.5 l).
Cheese making
Pour cream at room temperature into a glass or enamel dish. Add mesophilic starter and stir thoroughly, slowly, for 3-5 minutes to distribute the starter evenly in the cream. Cover the container with a cloth or a loose lid and leave to ferment for 12 hours at room temperature (18 to 22 ° C).
After 12 hours, the sour cream should have a consistency similar to thick yoghurt with separated whey. Next, you have to strain this mixture. To do this, wrap an empty bowl with gauze, folded in 2-3 layers, put the sour cream in it, tie the corners of the gauze so that you get a bag. Hang it up with a hook or string to any rail (for example, a kitchen cabinet handle). Do not forget to place a bowl under the bag, into which the whey will drain. Another option for expressing serum is as follows: put a spoon (fork, knife, strong stick) under the knots of the gauze bag and set it on the upper rim of a jug or a narrow deep saucepan.
The optimal time for the draining of the whey is considered to be 12 hours. However, you can set the time yourself, depending on what kind of cream cheese consistency you want to achieve. You will get a soft creamy product if you set a short time, relatively hard cheese will be obtained with a longer time allotted for straining. Decide what you are making cream cheese for (for sandwiches, pasta, cheesecake, sauce, pizza, etc.) and determine the appropriate consistency accordingly. There is no "right" or "wrong" homemade cream cheese, just personal preference.
Additives for cream cheese
When you free the cheese from the gauze bag, you can add sea salt to it, it will significantly improve the taste of the product. The same moment is considered the most suitable for adding other seasonings to cream cheese. The most suitable ingredients are:
- chopped dill and green onions;
- bacon or ham;
- garlic and rosemary;
- cinnamon and brown sugar;
- berry or fruit syrup;
- finely chopped apricots and strawberries, etc.
Transfer the finished cream cheese to a plastic container or plastic bag and store unopened in the refrigerator for no more than 2 weeks.
General recommendations
When determining the specific consistency of cheese, keep in mind that after the end of the straining process, the product placed in the refrigerator becomes harder.
Do not throw away the whey left after straining, it can be used for baking. It is especially useful when cooking pancakes.
