Homemade processed cheese "Yantar"

The difference in texture and taste was very noticeable. Second time there was straight processed cheese and very tasty. This time is not the same though. I will mix with the purchased one. Then I'll buy some country cow's milk, I'll see how it will be with it.

I would think that the fat content,

Made from 1.8 liters 3.2% milk and 1 liter 2.5% kefir. It turned out 400g not so much wet cottage cheese. The price is comparable to the store 9%. But! If the logic does not let me down (if all or almost all of the milk fat goes into cottage cheese), then this cottage cheese is about 20% fat!

So it's not a lack of fat content!
And if you mix such cottage cheese with 9% in a 50/50 ratio, then the fat content will be 14.5%.

And from homemade milk, also fermented with kefir?
I reread it and saw that it was made from kefir. Girls, if you have a strong "spirit of adventurism", try fermenting purchased milk with sour cream so that the microflora is like ordinary cottage cheese, and not kefir. Since it's not a lack of fat content, maybe that's it?
I'm not at home now, on vacation, otherwise I would have done it myself! This cheese, and it is from home-made cottage cheese, is in my immediate plans. And I planned to make cottage cheese from store milk.

I had a calculation formula somewhere. Curd from kefir 2.5 and milk 3.2, if you take an equal amount, 7% comes out. I'm also wondering now what the homemade is missing, but it is better to carry out experiments at least once, so that at least once there is normal processed cheese

Hmmm .. but I get 200 g of cottage cheese (from a liter of milk 3.2%, a liter of kefir 2.5%) - fat content ~ 27%, 300 g - ~ 18%.
I'll write it down later, I think we'll find an error.

Yes, this is my husband's accountant, apparently still the same. I asked him to calculate the fat content of homemade cottage cheese. He gave me a verdict that 7%, now I started looking at the formulas, it turns out that my 400 gr. fat content 12%. This means we exclude fat content. It remains to conduct an experiment with the addition of sour cream. I sometimes add it when making cottage cheese, I wanted to add it this time, but as luck would have it, there was no sour cream in the refrigerator. If someone conducts an experiment with sour cream earlier, please unsubscribe.

12% is more like the truth!
From 2 liters - 400 g of cottage cheese? How are you doing?
I will definitely make it with sour cream or from naturally sour milk, but not earlier than November 9-10.

Yes from 2 liters. At the beginning of September, it turned out to be almost 480 grams. from the same quantity, in the last 2 months more than 400 gr. does not work. I do it in a slow cooker, pour 50/50 kefir and milk. For a multi-cook 80 gr. 30 minutes. Then I fold it through a sieve. Part of the curd sometimes penetrates into the whey, but not much.

Thank you! Apparently, a fairly moist cottage cheese. I got 400 g from 4 liters (3 milk, 1 kefir), but 3 hours at 70 °.

Girls, I'm reporting. Made cheese from cottage cheese - homemade cottage cheese from curdled milk, curdled milk from store milk (local manufacturer, in film, 3.2%). I added sun-dried tomatoes to one part, cocoa and powdered sugar in the other, and left the third.

(In the chocolate in the photo, the "inclusions" are air bubbles and undersixed powdered sugar).

The taste is similar to the taste of store-bought processed cheese, but the consistency is loose. He reached for a spoon, but not as dense as an industrial one. Most of all I looked with tomatoes! I want with fried mushrooms now.
Since I did it for the first time in my life, I googled about the production of processed cheeses, read this and neighboring Topics.
I came to the conclusion that oil was added for fat content - I did not use it, because.cottage cheese was already about 25% fat. Girls write about the yolk, what is for color, and what is possible without it. I think it also increases the viscosity. I didn't add the yolk either, since I was interested in the process itself, without additives.
After observing the course of a clean, unclouded process, I make the assumption that cheese may not work due to high humidity and low acidity of the curd (the more acidic the curd tastes, the more acid it contains, the lower its pH or acidity).
Now I don't have time to write in more detail, but I weigh out yogurt curd, in the near future I will try to melt it into cheese and unsubscribe.

Thanks for the report. With tomatoes it looks like it’s even hunting through the screen))) I don’t really like making cottage cheese without kefir, then it comes out less in weight, and my Jewish toad really doesn’t like it. I would like to believe that it is possible to make this cheese from kefir cottage cheese.

[Margot]

my Jewish toad doesn't like it very much.

Margot, of course, kefir is thicker than milk, but also more expensive, so everything is about the same here. All other things being equal, the greater the yield of cottage cheese, the higher its moisture content - no options! And the wetter cheese is less like shop cheese (probably! I suppose so far that some looseness of my cheese is just due to the high humidity). Well, I'll experiment more ... maybe I can find arguments for the toad!
By the way, the smaller the yield (the drier the cottage cheese), the fatter it is! You can save on butter !!!!

And our ambush is that kefir and milk cost the same, that's why the toad loves a mixture of milk with kefir for cottage cheese. It seems to me that by joint efforts we can find the perfect way out for everyone.

We will try!

[already]

Hello everyone!
I just finished melting homemade cottage cheese from store-bought kefir into cheese.

Everything melts perfectly.
I mixed the cottage cheese well with soda, left it in the refrigerator for 7 hours (it happened). During this time in cottage cheese already the transformation processes began - it completely clearly changed its structure. Before heating, a little (really - purely symbolic) salted for taste. Warmed up. All.
Now I'm going to start adding everything.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Lena! It looks just super! Just in case, tell me. the brand and percentage of kefir and the recipe by which it was made. Probably according to some of the forum recipes? I really want to get such a cheese without running around the markets in search of farm milk or cottage cheese, moreover, from trusted owners.

Kefir in a package, 3.2%. White city (production of the Ural branch). In my opinion, it doesn't matter!
The important thing is. Melting of curd is in the presence of sodium ions (Na⁺). This sodium (from the soda) must react with the casein in the curd. Therefore, in difficult cases (if the recipe "does not work"), I would definitely let the soda stand with the cottage cheese. Which is what I actually did. Because it was from the store kefir that the cottage cheese did not melt according to reviews. If nothing happens when heated, then there are few sodium ions. Then add baking soda. If the curd melts but does not thicken, add more baking soda. Only a little, so as not to overdo it! And then add all the other ingredients to the recipe. Anyone.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Elena! I will definitely try to do it again, taking into account all your advice.

Lena, more! It seemed to me that the drier the cottage cheese, the better. The less soda you need.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Helen! So please tell me, after all, what recipe do you make cottage cheese?
If you don’t want to name the recipe in any way, then tell me at least one of only one kefir, or kefir with milk, or with yogurt, sour cream, etc.?

Flax, which option are you interested in? I understood the principle, so I don't care what kind of curd to melt the cheese from. Next time, according to the option you are interested in, I can outline everything and post it. I think there will be nuances of taste on different sour milk, but since I’m only doing it for the second time, I still don’t understand which cottage cheese will taste better for me!
IN first time there was milk, partly sour itself, partly fermented with sour cream (in terms of microflora - the same thing). This time - only kefir.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Lena! Recently, it has been done most often according to Rita's prescription. Curd in Toshiba cartoon. Here at this link https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/index.php@option=com_smf&topic=491322.0
Sometimes I make it wetter, sometimes drier. This is for food in the form of cottage cheese. And if I did it for cheese, then I made the cottage cheese drier. She took milk and kefir in half.

Ok, I tried this recipe too. Next time I'll make cottage cheese using it, then I'll bring cheese! What volume do you take?
Do you weigh longer for "drier" or do you make the temperature higher? And, yes, then what time-temperature, to really match. Are your kefir / milk local or some national producers?

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Lena! Let's take 2 liters for measurement accuracy. 1 liter of milk and 1 liter of kefir. Or 900 ml of milk and 900 ml of kefir, that is, kefir and milk in equal quantities. I have always taken equal parts of both.
We sell milk in plastic bags, basically, in 900 ml, and kefir is also in such bags and in tetra packs, that is, in cardboard. Take as much as you like, and after your experiment I will take exactly the same amount.

Lena, specify more, pzhlst, what temperature / duration mode do you usually use?

Pasteurized milk 3.2% fat 1 l
Kefir 2.5% fat content 1 l (or take another fat content, which you will write later.)
I pour milk into the bowl of Shteba directly from the refrigerator, add kefir. Gently mix with a whisk or silicone spatula. I close the lid.
I turn on the Heating mode, the temperature is 70 degrees, the time is 2 hours.
After 1 hour, I look inside and, if the serum has already started separating from the sides, I carefully "cut" the mass into squares with a silicone spatula or knife, the size of a matchbox 1/2 or a little less. You need to cut to the bottom, dividing the whole mass into pieces. Do not stir the mass under any circumstances!
I leave the mass, cut into cubes, for another 1 hour. Then I turn off the Heating.
(If after an hour the separation of the whey has not yet begun, it also happens, I wait another half hour or hour. That is, the total cooking time is longer.)
As the author of the recipe writes: "If you want the cottage cheese drier and harder ~ leave the bowl to cool in a slow cooker. I, for example, take out the bowl, because in Toshiba (the author cooked cottage cheese in Toshiba) it is very thick ~ it stays warm for a long time I put the bowl on the table, covering it with a plastic cap with holes ~ cool it down! I don't pour it hot! "
I do the same.
If you need to clarify any more details, then write. I can also make cottage cheese in another way convenient for you. The main thing is to find the right initial products and work out the algorithm I need.

All clear! Now we'll eat this cheese, and I'll do it.
By the way, yesterday's cheese turned out, not like in jars, but like in foil. Cut into slices. I think this is the effect of prolonged preliminary interaction with soda.

Or maybe the tomatoes did their best - they pulled the water away. For I boomed them beyond measure to joy!
I like it thinner, which I like to spread rather than apply. But this is a matter of personal preference.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Lena! I also like thinner cheese, as you pointed out in your answer 113. To spread it on bread.

I like it thinner, which I like to spread rather than apply.

A softer, softer spreadable cheese is obtained with the addition of butter and with as little "cooking" as possible.
I added fried champignons to the melted cheese and boiled a little to make the taste of the mushrooms more noticeable, after which the cheese became cooler in structure than just brought to full melting and removed from the heat.

Another know-how - I do not pour the finished cheese from the "melting" saucepan (I really do not like the fact that a good half remains on its walls), but immediately melt the curd-soda mixture in a porcelain butter dish or in a heat-resistant glass in a water bath , I also cool it in them, covering the mold with a towel or napkin + a tight lid (then a crust does not form on the cheese and "dew" does not fall out on the surface). That is, I store and use the product in the same container in which I cook it.
If the cottage cheese is preliminarily well brought to a pasty state (with a crushing machine, meat grinder, sieve or blender), thoroughly mixed and reacted with soda (the mixture becomes glossy), then when heated it does not even need to be stirred, as it warms up it melts perfectly. You will have to stir, and even then slightly, only if additives are introduced into the cheese in the form of pieces (tomatoes, mushrooms, paprika, fish, ham).
Dry spices (black or red pepper, turmeric, garlic), cocoa, etc., it is better to stir before heating, then, too, you can no longer interfere with the curd mixture in the bath.

This is me to the fact that mixing in a steam / water bath is a completely optional step in the production of homemade melted cheese, the main thing in this process is crushing the curd grains into a paste and a full reaction of the mass with soda, then the temperature does its job.




I make cottage cheese without kefir, only from pasteurized milk, I keep 1.5-2 liters of milk for 4-6 hours on the "yogurt" mode in HP, then I heat it up to 60 degrees (I don't cut it into any squares, I don't stir it), for a long time I warm, cool and throw back.
My cottage cheese is obtained with an average fat content of 9-12%, respectively, the cheese is the same. This suits me, but if someone likes a fatty cheese, I think it is necessary not to add butter to the finished cottage cheese, but immediately make the cottage cheese for the cheese more fatty, ferment milk / kefir with sour cream or cream.

Ladies, well, well! I experimented up to my ears with yogurt curd. I bring you the result. I say at the entrance - if you want spreadable processed cheese, forget about kefir cottage cheese
Experiment Log 1:
1. Products used

2. Cottage cheese wanted drier and sour. Therefore, I mixed milk with kefir and placed it in a multicooker (multi-cooker 35 °) for 3 hours. Then it was heated for 1.5 hours at 80 °. Weighed out 7.5 hours. Output - ~ 250 g of cottage cheese.
3. Cheese. In the everyday sense, cottage cheese did not melt, that is, it never became fluid. But chemical changes have taken place. He clearly ceased to be cottage cheese. After cooling, it got a solid, smooth substance. Reheated, mixed in tomatoes. I got this:

After eating tomatoes, it was quite edible. But not at all what I wanted. I cannot draw analogies with the cheeses I know.

Experiment Log 2.
The second time I decided to cook cottage cheese closer to the agreed recipe. The milk is the same (House in the village, see experiment 1), kefir "Cheerful milkman" ("House in the village was absent" when I bought it) and in parallel from the same milk, but local kefir in a film:

2. Curd. Milk with kefir was mixed and placed in a multicooker (multi-cooker 35 °) for 1.5 hours. Then it was heated for 2 hours at 70 °. Weighed 8.5 hours. Yield of cottage cheese: 330 g with "Merry Milkman", 400 g with kefir from the film (it was also sour).
3. Cheese - for melting I took 330 g of cottage cheese and 0.3 tsp. soda.
This cottage cheese behaved exactly the same as in experiment 1. It passed from one solid state to another solid one. At the same time, he reached for a spoon, but behaved like a cool bun in HP (look, all gathered in a ball!):

To bring it to this state, I needed to add an incredible amount of soda - a total of 1.25 tsp. Naturally, this soda just tasted screaming about itself. I put it off with apple cider vinegar right in the cheese! How much vinegar poured in - did not measure, but clearly not less than 2 tbsp. l.
I achieved this:

I added vinegar until the soda was no longer felt. There is no soda or vinegar aftertaste in the finished product. After cooling, I got again the same dense, smooth mass cut with a knife:


Film kefir cottage cheese behaved in about the same way. Only I added soda and vinegar in turn (by the way, here it just made sense to extinguish the soda with vinegar, and then pour it into the cottage cheese!). The result is the same:


In short, kefir cottage cheese melts, but at the same time it turns out to be dense, non-flowing.
You can, of course, weigh kefir cottage cheese without heating or with minimal heating (for example, 1 hour at 40 °) and see what happens. You can extinguish the soda with citric acid, and try to melt like this.But girls, I don’t want any more yet. I want liquid processed cheese. Therefore, I will do it from store milk fermented with sour cream or naturally sour.
If you still need a nosebleed cheese from kefir cottage cheese, the simplest technologically seems to be preliminary mixing cottage cheese with soda and aging for 5-7 hours, as I showed here and the result
here.
I can only wonder why this curd doesn't flow. There are many versions, but they are all based only on general microbiological and biochemical considerations and are highly speculative. Eh, a competent technologist would appear and explain everything. I will not look for the information myself, I'd rather go throw sour cream into the milk.
P.s. To melt the first curd in the second experiment, it took me about 30 'and kuuuuch calories - it was a very energy-consuming process. I strongly recommend that you forget about kefir and make cottage cheese for cheese in the usual way - from yogurt! Melting time is a few minutes.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Lena! Thank you so much for the difficult experiments! The lack of the desired result is also a result. In any case, now I, for example, will not try in vain.
Now the last thing remains. Please show me your recipe again, according to which you make good, liquid-viscous cheese best of all. We will follow your recipe. Only please with all the details, inside and out. If you already have it somewhere, please tell me where.

Flax, no recipe! But today I again bought "House in the Country" especially for you (milk, usually I buy local in film). I'll ferment it with sour cream, make cottage cheese and cheese. Unsubscribe!

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, and you mixed kefir cottage cheese with soda, immediately put it on heating?
I pour in quite a lot of soda (0.5 tsp per 200 g of cottage cheese), but I give time for the reaction (from half an hour to three hours), keeping the mixed mixture in a warm place and then no taste remains from the soda.
And I would replace the vinegar with lemon juice.
Regular store-bought vinegar is harmful chemical garbage, it is better not to use it in food.

By the way, excellent milk "Oka-river", it turns out a very thick yogurt and comes out a lot of cottage cheese.
Even 2.5% is very decent, I make ghee and fermented baked milk / varenets out of it.

kefir cottage cheese, mixed with soda, immediately put on the heating?

Holding time from 30 'to 7 hours. Aged with baking soda melts easily. But it still turns out after cooling solid, and not fluid.
I would not use vinegar at all, I need cottage cheese suitable for this process, then no acid is needed. (I had apple cider vinegar of natural fermentation, this does not change the chemical essence of the process).
Galina, if you want to experiment with kefir cottage cheese - good luck!

Galina, if you want to experiment with kefir cottage cheese - good luck!

I deer?!?!
Well, on the contrary, I constantly ask the question - if you can make excellent cottage cheese (respectively, melted cheese) from milk alone, then nazafig pay more (for kefir).

I had apple cider vinegar of natural fermentation, this does not change the chemical essence of the process).

This changes things!
Own vinegar is a good natural and healthy chemistry, and store vinegar is artificial and harmful.

if you can make excellent cottage cheese (and, accordingly, melted cheese) from milk alone, then why should you pay more (for kefir)

I can not know! Although here they wrote above that it is not more expensive. The idea of ​​kefir cottage cheese is also not very clear to me, but there is such a fad on HP. It tastes differently. Maybe more suitable for a pastry chef? Again, you don't have to wait for these bacteria to multiply there and casein curdle. Mixed, heated - voila!
But personally, I prefer the old-fashioned way - from yogurt.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, Lena, thank you! I'll wait for the recipe.

Thank you !!! The first time I made cheese, it turned out great))) I did it without additives, next times I will add something.

[Accomplishment]

Accomplishment, accidentally looked into the recipe and saw your experiments. Do you want to make a separate recipe? Here the original is completely different. I love your clear reasoning and recommendations. Although I just make this type of cottage cheese from ready-made Belarusian cottage cheese. And without oil, of course. And even without an egg so far. I also want to get a more smeared consistency, but without oil, apparently, this is impossible.

Thank you so much for the recipe! I just made homemade cottage cheese from 500 grams, added 100 grams of butter to this amount of cottage cheese. Grated the cottage cheese through a colander, added all the ingredients at once. I did it in Kesh, temperature 110 degrees, speed -4, as previously written (many thanks!) In total, it took 11 minutes with the temperature and 3-4 minutes with the temperature turned off. I put it in containers, we will try it for dinner. From additives - only ground black pepper.

In a glass bowl, I mixed everything with a pusher and in the microwave 4 times for 30 seconds, with stirring between cycles. Cottage cheese from the milk tent, very dry and kind of natural. I put less eggs and butter, leftovers from pies, cakes. It cools down under the film in contact. It looks and tastes like a bomb! Thanks for the recipe))

Thanks for the recipe! She made three options: mushroom, creamy and chocolate. I liked all three, very, very I did it in a micro, very convenient!

Thanks for the recipe! Everything turned out as written by the author of the recipe. While hot it smells strongly of cottage cheese. But the consistency of processed cheese. Cool down - we will try. But since we love both cheese and cottage cheese, I think we will like it.