If you know me, you know I don't let milk go to waste so I proceeded to make both. I had previously made paneer that resulted in a delicious ricotta, but left something to be desired as paneer (recipe for the delicious ricotta to be posted when I am sure I can recreate it). So I made attempt #2 at paneer and it came out as, well, paneer. I am not thrilled with the concept of paneer itself. Tasteless cheese. Smothered in Indian Sauces it is heavenly, but it's not because I find the cheese itself lick-the-plate-clean-delicious. The yogurt making however is an endeavor I think I will recreate, perhaps on a more regular basis if this milk-going-sour phenomenon continues (now the third time I have found separated/soured milk).
First the success.
Yogurt from soured (not spoiled) milk
Recipe and accompanying video from About.com
~6 cups milk (I think I used 2% milk, but it doesn't seem to matter)
6 oz yogurt with active cultures
Heat milk slowly in a saucepan. You do not want it to boil. Heat the milk to 180 degrees. You are supposed to keep it at this temperature for 30 minutes but I just turned the heat off at this point then after ten minutes turned the burner back on for just a minute so it maintained 170 degrees for a while. Then you have to let it cool to 115 degrees. I just left it on the counter.
I was worried at this point because it looked a bit curdled. But I proceeded anyway. Once it had cooled to 115 degrees I added the yogurt with the active cultures. It was a vanilla flavored and sweetened yogurt. Then set it in a 110 degree oven overnight. Eight hours seems to be the ideal time. I had the oven on earlier so it was just slightly warm and I set the tupperware inside on a towel and walked away. In fact Dave had to remind me about it in the morning so it was probably 12 hours.
Many sights said it is important not to wiggle or disturb the yogurt during this time. My guess is heed their advice. I took it out and it still looked a little separated, like there was too much whey in with the yogurt. Many homemade yogurts sound like they are much thinner than what you get at the store. Well, I had cheesecloth already from the paneer so I poured off what whey I could and strained more out with the cheesecloth. Since I forgot the yogurt draining on the counter, it strained longer than I would have wanted, but this yielded a deliciously creamy, thick greek style yogurt. It has a mild tart flavor, but nowhere near as acidic as when you buy just plain, unsweetened yogurt in the store.
This is so yummy, I am really considering making it again despite the added work compared the yummy yogurts I buy in the store. (PS Try Almond milk yogurt. I loved it and have found a recipe on how to make that into yogurt too! I would just use bought chocolate almond milk, it's like a desert in a glass!) All I have to do now is add a little fruit or sweetener to it and I will devour it. Many sites suggested using it for smoothies. Maybe if I hadn't strained the yogurt, that would be a good use, but strained this is going to be kept simple to enjoy the lightly tart creaminess. I never thought homemade yogurt would have come out so successfully. Especially when I saw mine curdle, I was figuring I was going to get ricotta again (see below).
Yields about 2 cups of delicious yogurt
Paneer - meh.
The first time I attempted to make paneer I used this recipe and I successfully made a really delicious ricotta. Almost marscapone like in texture and flavor. It was delicious but with the price of milk I know I would not make it soon because I am not that big a fan of ricotta. In my opinion mass-store bought ricotta needs to be cooked to bring out the cheesy flavor. My homemade version of ricotta though had a million uses, just like marscapone.
1 quart buttermilk
2 quarts 2% milk
Boil the milk. Once boiling pour in the buttermilk and stir till solids form. Pour into a cheesecloth strainer and drain the liquid. Let the cheesecloth hang until desired firmness is achieved. My original "problem" here was the cheesecloth bag I used the holes were too big so curds and whey were draining out. But what I did end up with, as I keep raving was delicious ricotta.
Anyway, back to the "successful" paneer. It really was a success. I did make paneer, albeit a little crumbly. Unfortunately I also did not salt or flavor it in any way. If you like paneer, by all means, give this a try. I just like tastier cheeses.
1/2 gallon soured skim milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
Boil on the stovetop. Once boiling, add the lemon juice. (Maybe you should salt the water if you want the cheese to be salted?) The curdles are what you want to keep. The cheesecloth I bought again had too big of holes so I triple folded it. Then I poured in the curdles and whey into the folded cheesecloth over a big bowl. Once mostly drained I tied the cheesecloth and hung it over a bowl to drain for an hour. It took less than that to reach the consistency of paneer. Mine was a bit crumbly, but I think I could have pressed it into a block if I cared to. I just crumbled it over a butternut squash salad (recipe to come).
Now this only yielded about a cup of cheese, but my guess this is partly due to the use of skim milk. The yogurt was at least 2%.
And unfortunately, I forgot ricotta is usually made from the whey after making cheese and I poured all but a cup for baking with down the drain - doh! I doubt I will try making paneer again. I have successfully done it, but the ricotta and yogurt results were so much better I think I will stick with them.
No pictures at the moment. I will try and add some tomorrow. I have to get out of bed in order to take pictures and I have been sick most of the week - almost didn't even use the soured milk - I have sequestered myself to bed in order to try and get to work tomorrow. Although I do still have that sultry smokers voice going for me. Ok, it's not that sultry on me, I am just looking for any bright side. Yogurt! That is my bright side out of all this. Exceeding expectations is always good when cooking and this yogurt did just that. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment