Cottage cheese without culture (on sour cream)

To make cottage cheese with sour cream, we need to pasteurize the milk (5 liters).

Milk Pasteurization

Heat the milk to 68 degrees and hold it at this temperature for 10 minutes. After that, place the pot in a bath of cold water for quick cooling.

Curd Formation

Wait until the milk cools down to 40 degrees.

After that, add 1 tablespoon of sour cream for every 1 liter of milk.

Mix the mass well and check the temperature. If the milk temperature is below 40 degrees, gently heat it back to 40 degrees.

Then wrap the pot in a blanket and leave it overnight for fermentation.

Heating and Forming Curd

The next day, place the pot on low heat.

While the milk heats up, cut the mass with a knife first horizontally into cubes. Then cut vertically either with a knife or a bent skewer.

Next, wait for the whey and fine foam to start appearing between the cubes. This may take some time.

When the whey begins to appear, gently press down on the cubes to submerge them under the whey.

If the cubes float back up, repeat the procedure.

If the cubes are large, continue heating the curd until the temperature reaches 55 degrees. If the cubes are very small, it is enough to heat them to 40 degrees.

After reaching the desired temperature, turn off the heat and leave the pot on the stove for another 5 minutes.

Then set the pot aside for 2-3 hours to allow the curd to cool to room temperature.

When the curd has cooled, strain it through cheesecloth (if you plan to make fermented dairy products regularly, it’s better to get a separate piece of tulle or curtain fabric) to separate the whey from it.

Hang the curd for 2-3 hours (or until the whey stops dripping) to allow the whey to drain.