Tvorog Russian Style Farmers Cheese Recipes

THE REALISTIC WAY OF MAKING TVOROG

Steps:

• Leave milk and buttermilk on the counter until they reach room temperature (I leave mine overnight).
• Combine milk and buttermilk in a deep pan and place over low heat. Heat the mixture up until it's warm when you touch it with your finger. Stir only slightly.
• Remove from heat, cover with a lid and leave in warm place for 24 hours (I leave it on the counter next to the stove)
• In 24 hours place the pan over low heat again. Heat up until it's warm to touch. Stir a little to make sure the mixture is warm throughout. Remove from stove and leave for another 24 hours in warm place.
• In 24 hours heat up the mixture for the last time. At this point cheese should completely separate from whey (greenish liquid). (*In rare case when the whey doesn't separate after 48 hours, heat up the mixture over low heat until it does. At higher temperatures separation happens much faster.)
• Use a fine strainer lined with cheese cloth to strain cottage cheese. Leave it in strainer for 5-6 hours or overnight to make sure that all whey has drained.

HOMEMADE FRESH FARMER'S CHEESE

Steps:

• Pour 1 gallon of milk into a large heavy bottom pot and heat it to 100F. It should feel slightly hotter than warm. (Do not make it hot, or it will kill the buttermilk culture.) Remove from heat.
• Shake the bottle with buttermilk, then pour 1-2 cups into the warm milk. Stir for about 1-2 minutes.
• Cover with lid and allow to sit at room temperature, undisturbed for 12-24 hours depending on how warm it is. If the room temperature is below 70, place pot of warm milk in the oven with just the light on (NO heat).
• Buttermilk is ready when it's thick and you're able to 'cut' it with a spoon, that means when taking a spoonful of buttermilk, it doesn't run like milk but holds its shape. (When in doubt, leave it for full 24 hours.)
• Cut the buttermilk into 1-inch squares with a long knife.
• Insert a thermometer into one of the curds and start heating over very low heat. It will take about 15 minutes to reach to 120°F. This is what it will look like when it's heated to 130°F.
• Make sure the thermometer is inserted into the curd, not the whey. Whey around the curds might even start boiling because it's of less density than the curds. When temperature inside the curd reaches 100°F, give a gentle stir with a large spoon and bring the hot curd from the bottom to the top. It only needs to be heated another 30°F-40°F degrees before you will need to drain it. You will see both cheese-like chunks and big curd chunks, that's ok, that's how it's supposed to be.
• Once the temperature inside the curd reaches 130-140, give it another gentle stir, to break up large curd chunks and to distribute the heat evenly.
• Carefully pour the heated curds to a different pot lined with a cheese-cloth, then gather the ends of the cheesecloth, tie them and hang over the kitchen cabinet door handle or some other device. Allow the whey to drip off, until droplets fall about 30 seconds apart. At this point, transfer the cheese with the cheesecloth to the refrigerator. It will harden up and it will be easier to remove the cheesecloth without ruining the cheese 'ballthe

TVOROG - RUSSIAN STYLE FARMER'S CHEESE

Steps:

• Pour the milk into a large casserole.
• Add the yogurt. The closer is the yogurt to the expiration date, the better. The milk should be relatively fresh though.
• Mix and leave under a cheesecloth (so that it breathes) for about 48 hours. If the temperature in your house drops to 60F overnight, warm the casserole in the evening on slowest possible heat for about 10-15 minutes.
• After 48 hours (possibly up to 72) the milk will have kefir's consistency and smell.
• Put the casserole on the slowest possible heat for about 60-75 minutes. The contents of the casserole should warm up to 140F but not higher. At this stage a white lump should separate itself completely from a clean liquid.
• Drain the liquid. You may preserve it (this is milk whey) to use in breads and pancakes.
• Tie the lump in a cheesecloth, put it on a strainer, put the strainer to hang over the empty casserole and put a small lid with a weight over the cheesecloth for the complete draining.
• Put the casserole with all the stuff into the refrigerator for 8-12 hours. The longer you keep it there the drier it gets (personal preference matters).