There are lots of types of cheese, but here are two simple cheeses which I like to make from time to time : bocconcini and ricotta
The ricotta is a “by-product” of the bocconcini and uses up an otherwise wasted material, but it is optional and you don’t need to make any if you don’t want to. Similarly you could just make ricotta and skip the bocconcini.
What you’ll need for Bocconcini
- 4 l milk (I use supermarket low fat $1 per litre, but you can use whatever sort of milk you like)
- Juice from 2 lemons (or 7g citric acid dissolved in a small amount of water)
- Rennet (Check the instructions on the rennet and use the dose and method they suggest. I’ve had both a paste type and liquid type and sometimes the amounts vary. Vegetarian rennet is available if you like. FYI - I’m using a liquid vegetarian rennet below) You will need to go to a specialty shop to get rennet
- 5g salt (occasionally I’ve forgotten to add the salt and it seemed ok to me)
What you’ll need for Ricotta
- Whey from bocconcini making
- 0.25 cup of vinegar (cheap white vinegar – unflavoured)
Other things which you will need include:
- A thermometer – I have one which is for coffee (I think) and clips to the side of the pan. It measures from 0 to 100, which is the range we need
- Stirring spoon
- Colander
- A saucepan, large enough for 4l of milk
- Rubber gloves
- A jug (to catch the whey)
- A microwave safe bowl
- Cheese cloth, or a fine sieve (for the ricotta)
Bocconcini
There are three steps involved in making bocconcini : producing the curds and whey, separating the curds and whey, and forming the cheese
1 Producing the curds and whey
Put the milk in the saucepan and heat,
When it reaches 13 C (ish), add the (strained) lemon juice (or citric acid)
Keep stirring slowly.
Keep heating until the milk reaches 32 C, then add the rennet and stir it through. (I needed 2ml for 4 L)
Remove the pan from the heat and leave it to sit. The rennet will start to work and set the curds.
For me this took about 15 mins, (but sometimes it can take up to an hour)
You can see the curds and whey separating. The whey is the watery liquid separated from the curds.
The Whey looks green-yellow-ish and the curds are lovely and soft and smooth, like a soft custard (taste them – yum).
2 Separating the curds and whey
Cut the curds into (approx) 25 cm squares
Gently spoon the curds into the colander, put a bowl underneath because we want to collect all the whey for later use.
Its amazing how much whey there is.
Gently press the curds to release more whey
When you have drained the free running whey away, transfer the curds to the microwave bowl
Pour some of the whey into a tub and put it into the fridge (about 600ml in a 1 L container). We will use this later to cool and store the bocconcini.
Microwave the "wet" curds for about 1 minute
More whey will be released. Take the bowl out and gently press. Pour out the whey (and save it)
I repeated this process about 3 times. Each time the bocconcini becomes drier and more whey is released. After the first microwave I was able to start to need the bocconcini, just like bread dough.
After each cycle the bocconcini becomes drier and more firm and it will become HOT. You will probably need some rubber gloves. Don’t get it so hot that it melts !
Add the salt and kneed in:
You know the heating and kneading is done when you can start to stretch the bocconcini like this : (Note the rubber glovews in use)
3 Forming the cheese
So now your bocconcini is not and stretchy, form it into a ball.
Take that container of whey from earlier out of the fridge (if you’ve forgotten, just use the whey you have).
Now its time to squeeze the little balls of bocconcini off the main lump and put them into the cool whey.
When you’re done, you can store the bocconcini in the whey in the fridge for about a week.
Ready to eat !
Ricotta
Ricotta is completely optional, but it does make use of the whey. For a small quantity like 4 L of milk, it is perhaps hardly worth the effort, but with a larger volume it certainly would be worth while. None the less I like to make it.
Take all the whey and add it back to a saucepan
Keep stirring all the time so it doesn’t “catch”.
Slowly bring it to just below the boiling point (about 95 C)
Turn off the heat
Add the 0.25 cup of white vinegar and stir well.
Allow it to sit and cool down to 60 C
Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour the whey in
Pick up the cheese cloth and allow the whey to drain naturally.
I left it to drain for about 1 hour.
After an hour, the ricotta is ready. I scraped it into a tub, ready for use.
That’s it !
Summary
At the end of this process I have converted 4 L of milk into about 380g of bocconcini and 80g of ricotta, and I still have some “exhausted” whey.
The whey can still be useful. You can drink it, or use it like a stock and there are a variety of other uses too. It is highly recommended as a substitute for water, milk or stock and any recipe. For dinner I added some as a “stock” to go with spag bol, and this morning some was added to breakfast smoothies.
There are some cheeses which can be made without rennet, so called cottage cheese (aka farmhouse cheese). I say “so called” because technically it isn’t a cheese because cheese is made with rennet .....
Cottage cheeses are very nice too, and easy to make. They taste much, much better than anything you can buy, so give them a go.
The ricotta was quickly used up. Its so smooth and creamy I dolloped some on top of the spag bol ; but I think my favourite is to mix in a bit of honey and eat it as a dessert !
So why not start making your own Homestead cheese ?
The ricotta is a “by-product” of the bocconcini and uses up an otherwise wasted material, but it is optional and you don’t need to make any if you don’t want to. Similarly you could just make ricotta and skip the bocconcini.
What you’ll need for Bocconcini
- 4 l milk (I use supermarket low fat $1 per litre, but you can use whatever sort of milk you like)
- Juice from 2 lemons (or 7g citric acid dissolved in a small amount of water)
- Rennet (Check the instructions on the rennet and use the dose and method they suggest. I’ve had both a paste type and liquid type and sometimes the amounts vary. Vegetarian rennet is available if you like. FYI - I’m using a liquid vegetarian rennet below) You will need to go to a specialty shop to get rennet
- 5g salt (occasionally I’ve forgotten to add the salt and it seemed ok to me)
What you’ll need for Ricotta
- Whey from bocconcini making
- 0.25 cup of vinegar (cheap white vinegar – unflavoured)
Other things which you will need include:
- A thermometer – I have one which is for coffee (I think) and clips to the side of the pan. It measures from 0 to 100, which is the range we need
- Stirring spoon
- Colander
- A saucepan, large enough for 4l of milk
- Rubber gloves
- A jug (to catch the whey)
- A microwave safe bowl
- Cheese cloth, or a fine sieve (for the ricotta)
Bocconcini
There are three steps involved in making bocconcini : producing the curds and whey, separating the curds and whey, and forming the cheese
1 Producing the curds and whey
Put the milk in the saucepan and heat,
When it reaches 13 C (ish), add the (strained) lemon juice (or citric acid)
Keep stirring slowly.
Keep heating until the milk reaches 32 C, then add the rennet and stir it through. (I needed 2ml for 4 L)
Remove the pan from the heat and leave it to sit. The rennet will start to work and set the curds.
For me this took about 15 mins, (but sometimes it can take up to an hour)
You can see the curds and whey separating. The whey is the watery liquid separated from the curds.
The Whey looks green-yellow-ish and the curds are lovely and soft and smooth, like a soft custard (taste them – yum).
2 Separating the curds and whey
Cut the curds into (approx) 25 cm squares
Gently spoon the curds into the colander, put a bowl underneath because we want to collect all the whey for later use.
Its amazing how much whey there is.
Gently press the curds to release more whey
When you have drained the free running whey away, transfer the curds to the microwave bowl
Pour some of the whey into a tub and put it into the fridge (about 600ml in a 1 L container). We will use this later to cool and store the bocconcini.
Microwave the "wet" curds for about 1 minute
More whey will be released. Take the bowl out and gently press. Pour out the whey (and save it)
I repeated this process about 3 times. Each time the bocconcini becomes drier and more whey is released. After the first microwave I was able to start to need the bocconcini, just like bread dough.
After each cycle the bocconcini becomes drier and more firm and it will become HOT. You will probably need some rubber gloves. Don’t get it so hot that it melts !
Add the salt and kneed in:
You know the heating and kneading is done when you can start to stretch the bocconcini like this : (Note the rubber glovews in use)
3 Forming the cheese
So now your bocconcini is not and stretchy, form it into a ball.
Take that container of whey from earlier out of the fridge (if you’ve forgotten, just use the whey you have).
Now its time to squeeze the little balls of bocconcini off the main lump and put them into the cool whey.
When you’re done, you can store the bocconcini in the whey in the fridge for about a week.
Ready to eat !
Ricotta
Ricotta is completely optional, but it does make use of the whey. For a small quantity like 4 L of milk, it is perhaps hardly worth the effort, but with a larger volume it certainly would be worth while. None the less I like to make it.
Take all the whey and add it back to a saucepan
Keep stirring all the time so it doesn’t “catch”.
Slowly bring it to just below the boiling point (about 95 C)
Turn off the heat
Add the 0.25 cup of white vinegar and stir well.
Allow it to sit and cool down to 60 C
Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour the whey in
Pick up the cheese cloth and allow the whey to drain naturally.
I left it to drain for about 1 hour.
After an hour, the ricotta is ready. I scraped it into a tub, ready for use.
That’s it !
Summary
At the end of this process I have converted 4 L of milk into about 380g of bocconcini and 80g of ricotta, and I still have some “exhausted” whey.
The whey can still be useful. You can drink it, or use it like a stock and there are a variety of other uses too. It is highly recommended as a substitute for water, milk or stock and any recipe. For dinner I added some as a “stock” to go with spag bol, and this morning some was added to breakfast smoothies.
There are some cheeses which can be made without rennet, so called cottage cheese (aka farmhouse cheese). I say “so called” because technically it isn’t a cheese because cheese is made with rennet .....
Cottage cheeses are very nice too, and easy to make. They taste much, much better than anything you can buy, so give them a go.
The ricotta was quickly used up. Its so smooth and creamy I dolloped some on top of the spag bol ; but I think my favourite is to mix in a bit of honey and eat it as a dessert !
So why not start making your own Homestead cheese ?
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