Making high-quality cottage cheese at home is not at all difficult. The main thing is to buy fresh homemade milk.
Instructions
Step 1
Milk needs to be boiled and then cooled to a temperature of 32-36 degrees. Having measured the temperature once with an alcohol thermometer (without a wooden frame), you can later determine it by pouring a little milk on your finger. To cool the milk, place the container with it in a large pot of cold water.
Now you need to choose a method of making cottage cheese - with or without sourdough.
Step 2
If you cook without sourdough, then cover the pan with a lid and put it in a warm place overnight. In the evening of the next day, it is placed in a larger pot filled with water. The resulting structure is installed on a stand on a plate.
Heat sour milk over low heat.
As the water boils in the larger pot, you will see a yellowish whey form between the sides of the smaller pot and the sour milk. This means that the semi-finished product can be removed from the fire.
The mass of sour milk should be quite dense, jelly-like, with air bubbles inside. You just have to wait until it cools naturally, cut it into pieces, put it on double cheesecloth and, tying it at the corners, hang it over an empty pan to form cottage cheese. It will be ready by morning.
Step 3
Another way is with leaven. At the stage of cooling boiled milk at a temperature of 32-36 degrees, yogurt is added to the milk at the rate of 2-3 tbsp. l. per 1 liter, stir gently with a metal spoon, cover the pan with a lid and put in a warm place. The fermentation of milk under these conditions is much faster. Next, heat in a water bath until the whey is released (as in the first method).
The finished curd should be smooth and shiny on top, the serum should be transparent yellow. As for the density of the curd, it depends on the taste. If you want to get a dense cottage cheese - on a semi-finished product in gauze, you need to put a plate treated with boiling water with a load.
