Cheese, Grommit!

[Tom]

Having a go at making a cheese this morning. I'm following the House Cheese recipe from Rita Ash's book Cheesemaking.

Yesterday I put my frozen ice-cube starter culture in some milk, and warned everyone not to try and drink it or put it in their tea.
Today, the starter smells sour, and it went into:
6 litres of half fat and 2 litres of full fat at 32oC for 40 mins. Step 3 to follow - there's plenty of time between steps so I'm going to try and finish some DIY.

This is all new to me, really. I've only made mozzarella before (terrible ) and some Paneer a couple of times, but this is the first one that will have to be pressed and set aside.

[rje66]

Was going to try the paneer. Is there much to it?
What is the taste like?.have afew Indian cook books so could follow a recipe from there.
Ta.

[Eoin]

Paneer is easy.

Milk
Citric acid
Cheesecloth

You need milk and acid, citric acid is available in Indian shops, or you can use lemon juice.

Put the milk on in a pot, raw milk is best, but use the best you can get. Let it come to a boil, very very slowly so the milk does not burn onto the pot, stir occasionally to again ensure that it doesn't burn and stick, you are not racing, if the heat is too high you will burn the milk.
Now the Indian lady that taught me told us to wait until the milk rises, basically when it comes to the boil you will get a cap rising and it will overflow if left, once this rise happens take off heat then throw in a pinch or two of acid, or a tsp or two of lemon juice. Mix the lot and you will see the milk split into curds and whey.
You should get a green coloured whey and when it's clear then it's properly split, if not then add another small pinch of acid.
Once properly split then line a collander with a cheesecloth, put it in the sink and then drain the contents of the pot through it. If you know how to use the whey then collect it, otherwise I just let it run down the plughole.
Once drained then run the tap over the collected curd to rinse it a bit. You can add salt at this stage and mix it through also.
Once rinsed fill up the pot again with cold water. Gather the cheese cloth up and make the curds into a ball twist pretty tightly, then place this in the sink and put the pot full of cold water on top of it and press it down. This will cool into a patty. Leave it to cool for an hour or so. Then unwrap and into the fridge.

[Tom]

Not much flavour in Paneer (as you use it straight away), but it absorbs the flavours of the curry alright.

I think it's 1 lemon to 1 litre of milk, and some cheesecloth/muslin. Warm the milk up, add the juice, and wait. It curdles, then strain it and press it. It's well easy. Naan bread is too, and proper amazing.

I don't know how the shops get their paneer to stay in a lump, mine always comes out crumbly, but apparently that's quite authentic.

[Eoin]

Not much flavour in Paneer (as you use it straight away), but it absorbs the flavours of the curry alright.

I think it's 1 lemon to 1 litre of milk, and some cheesecloth/muslin. Warm the milk up, add the juice, and wait. It curdles, then strain it and press it. It's well easy. Naan bread is too, and proper amazing.

I don't know how the shops get their paneer to stay in a lump, mine always comes out crumbly, but apparently that's quite authentic.

read my post above for how to make the paneer into a solid lump.

[Tom]

I can get it into a lump until it goes into the pan. Then it crumbles. Nice an all, but not as good as lamb.

[Eoin]

It will stay that way too. I can cube it, if your cubes are breaking up then you need to fry them a bit at the start.

Sent from my HTC One

[LordEoin]

weird that this thread pops up now. I tried my hand at cheesemaking for the first time over the weekend.
used 2 liters of milk and a little rennet.
what came from it sounds like what you're calling paneer.
i formed it into balls and put the balls back in simmering wort for a minute to keep them in balls.
they're in a jar of brine now and not bad.
Need some flavour.
Going to make a cheese press soon and try something proper like cheddar.

[Eoin]

weird that this thread pops up now. I tried my hand at cheesemaking for the first time over the weekend.
used 2 liters of milk and a little rennet.
what came from it sounds like what you're calling paneer.
i formed it into balls and put the balls back in simmering wort for a minute to keep them in balls.
they're in a jar of brine now and not bad.
Need some flavour.
Going to make a cheese press soon and try something proper like cheddar.

With rennet you won't have paneer, but similar alright, cheese curd simply, in fact Mozzarella is what you have...almost.

[Tom]

Aye, paneer uses lemon juice to separate the curds as Indian cuisine is by and large vegetarian. Rennet is by and large not.

[LordEoin]

well, it's not mozarella for sure!
although that's what i was aiming for.
It was more of a 'lets play with milk' day

[Tom]

I ended up with halloumi after my mozzarella attempt. I couldn't keep my hand in the water as it was too hot, though it kept saying squeeze the mozarella IN the hot water.

I think there are microwave mozzarella recipes out there I'll try next.

[Eoin]

well, it's not mozarella for sure!
although that's what i was aiming for.
It was more of a 'lets play with milk' day

For Mozzarella you can reheat the curds and then stretch them into cheese strings, keep doing it then take a lump in your hands and make a ring between thumb and forefinger and squeeze a ball out as you'd do to make a breadroll, tada, you have mozzarella. I think it needs to be warmed in brine, not too sure. The key is developing the long strings of cheese.

[Eoin]

I ended up with halloumi after my mozzarella attempt. I couldn't keep my hand in the water as it was too hot, though it kept saying squeeze the mozarella IN the hot water.

I think there are microwave mozzarella recipes out there I'll try next.

Chefs hands are developed in volcanoes in Iceland

[Eoin]

I'll give that a go. The missus is off cheese for lent, so it'll be her 'welcome back' dish. After Cauliflower cheese and Macaroni cheese.

Naan bread:

1 oz fresh yeast (where WOULD we get that?)
1lb strong white flour
warm water
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp black onion seeds

Make a dough by adding the & yeast to the flour in small doses until a dough forms.
Knead it for 5 mins.
Let it prove for an hour or so (somewhere warm - I use my demijohn warmer)
knock out the CO2 by kneading it, divide into 4.
Roll out to 1/4" thick, brush with melted ghee (or butter) and grill both sides.
KEEP AN EYE on it, or it'll scorch. The recipe doesn't say this, but the packet naan does: sprinkle a little water on the naan to keep it moist.

Netpol, Polish shop has Lallemand fresh yeast at 50c/100g