Homemade Ricotta

[cakewalk]

2 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm guilty of spamming the breakfast thread with my random ricotta-on-toast pictures .  I use the same method that @Tere mentioned above and make it in the Instant Pot.   I throw in some heavy cream or half & half if there's some in need of using up.  I've been using lime juice, just because I have a tree that usually has lots of them but I've used lemon juice or vinegar as well.  I've been meaning to try citric acid but haven't done it yet.  

 

 

Keep spamming! Does the instant pot do anything different, or does it just do it faster?

[blue_dolphin]

13 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

Does the instant pot do anything different, or does it just do it faster?

 

No, it's just a lazy person's tool!  One of the functions of the yogurt setting on the Instant Pot is to bring the milk up to temp, then it beeps so the lazy person can go waste time reading 10-year old threads on eG instead of standing over the stove with a thermometer. 

Once it beeps, the lazy person just removes the insert from the pot so it doesn't continue to cook, adds the acid, stirs gently and strains the finished product just as one would do if the milk was warmed in a regular pot.

[FrogPrincesse]

I use whole milk, citric acid, and salt (recipe upthread). Here are pictures of the process from my foodblog a few years ago.

Edited August 15, 2016 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

12 hours ago, IndyRob said:

I get about 22oz of ricotta (okay, paneer) for a gallon of milk.

I thought ricotta was made from whey, not whole milk and cream, as a way to scavenge the whey after making other cheeses? Thoughts? I also thought paneer was made from whole milk.

 

Maybe @IndyRob's comment has some merit?:

 

"I get about 22oz of ricotta (okay, paneer) for a gallon of milk."

 

I am not being judgmental or argumentative on a subject I know very little about, just seeking enlightenment. 

[cakewalk]

It seems to be one of those things that has evolved. Most people no longer make their own cheeses (as far as I know), so leftover whey is pretty hard to come by. I'm not even sure if store-bought ricotta is made from whey. So I guess making it with milk was the logical next step. I don't know anything about paneer. Is it made the same way?

 

Can the leftover whey (when making ricotta from milk) then be reused to make more ricotta?

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

It seems to be one of those things that has evolved. Most people no longer make their own cheeses (as far as I know), so leftover whey is pretty hard to come by. I'm not even sure if store-bought ricotta is made from whey. So I guess making it with milk was the logical next step. I don't know anything about paneer. Is it made the same way?

 

Can the leftover whey (when making ricotta from milk) then be reused to make more ricotta?

Paneer is simply ricotta that is pressed under a weight (in this scenario). 

[cakewalk]

Thought this was an interesting read: http://www.farmcurious.com/blogs/farmcurious/17599408-cheesemaking-what-to-do-with-all-that-whey

 

[blue_dolphin]

5 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I thought ricotta was made from whey, not whole milk and cream, as a way to scavenge the whey after making other cheeses? Thoughts?

Yes, that is the traditional way (ha!) of making ricotta.   Much of the supermarket ricotta in the US is labeled whole milk ricotta.

 

5 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I also thought paneer was made from whole milk

Also correct.  As @Anna N pointed out, the curd form of fresh Indian cheese, chenna (which is used directly in dishes like Ras Malai) is further pressed under a weight to make paneer.

 

I usually refer to the stuff I make as homemade whole milk ricotta to make it clear that I'm not using whey and because I generally use it in recipes that call for ricotta.   "Homemade fresh whole milk cheese" would be more technically correct nomenclature, I suppose.

[Hermann Morr]

These quotes might shed some light on the matter:

 

http://foodloversodyssey.com/2011/04/puglia-cheese-making-fresh-salento-cheese/

 

http://www.emiliaromagnaturismo.com/en/flavours/traditional-recipes/starters-en/raviggiolo-cheese-en.html

 

http://www.cooksinfo.com/prescinseua-cheese

Edited August 15, 2016 by Hermann Morr (log)

[Tere]

I have a fascination with cheese making, so I am just happy that it's set me off on the journey. It is addictive. I remember someone on here talking about you getting a free tub of ricotta with your mozzarella in traditional mozzarella making areas, which sounds awesome. Ricotta is manageable when hubby is away from home 5 days out of 7 as a product. I have a medical condition that means protein is good and carbs less so so I am keen to try to explore this more. And ricotta on toast with heritage tomatoes is the best  I could pretty much eat that all day every day

 

My whey bread from my first cheese making TM turned out dwarven but my hubby proved the other batch more and it's in the bread bin. Will see how it's turned out tomorrow  

[MelissaH]

On 8/14/2016 at 6:48 PM, kayb said:

And if you want a cheesecake, I can only say that fresh homemade ricotta surpasses cream cheese in SO many ways....

 

I might add, I make it pretty frequently and in small batches, because it doesn't have a long fridge life.

 

 

 

@kayb, would you be willing to share your cheesecake recipe?

[kayb]

My basic cheesecake recipe, which I've used for years, is this:

 

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 7 large eggs
• 3 (8-ounce) containers sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

The first three ingredients, of course, are the crust. The filling recipe (softened cream cheese, creamed with sugar until light, eggs addedonce at a time, sour cream and vanilla folded in) makes enough to make a thick cheesecake in my 9" springform pan and have enough left over for my 9-inch shallow pie plate, so I generally use half the recipe. When I'm using ricotta, I sub it for half to three-quarters of the cream cheese, depending on how much I have. I find it needs a little cream cheese in it for texture purposes.

The recipe says to bake it at 300 for an hour and a half, then turn the oven off and leave it, untouched and door unopened, for four hours. It adapts well to cooking in the Instant Pot, with half the recipe and the little springform pan.

 

 

[Tere]

More homemade ricotta a la Instant Pot yesterday. I threw away the whey this time as I have no freezer space / need for bread / it was a heavy cooking weekend but I guess I should probably post on the Bread thread for ideas as to completely foolproof recipes using whey. Hubby's bread was better but still semi-dwarven.