Whole milk ricotta
Store-bought ricotta cheese is... fine. In North America, it's not really true ricotta cheese. Whole milk ricotta cheese may not be a traditional ricotta, but it's incredibly delicious, easy, and you can make it at home in under 30 minutes. You can also use this recipe to make cottage cheese, and that's ready in 10 minutes!
Ingredients
1L whole milk (2% is also fine)
20ml acid, I prefer white wine vinegar but you can use white vinegar or lemon juice
Notes:
Scale this up with a ratio of 1L milk to 20ml of acid. This nets 200-250g of cheese. It’s the same amount of work to make more cheese!
You cannot use ultra-high temperature pasteurized milk (UHT milk). It will not work, the milk has been heated to 300°F and has be irreversibly changed. Regular pasteurization takes place around 150°F, so it’s fine to use.
Every lemon has a different level of acidity, so the amount of cheese curds formed will be a bit unpredictable from batch to batch.
If you’re making cottage cheese, you need 1-2tbsp of cream (or milk) for each 1L of milk you started with.
Method
Slowly heat your milk to 185°F. It’s important to use a thermometer and stir frequently here to prevent the milk from scorching. Take it slow, if you boil the milk (212°F) then your cheese might not form.
Once you’ve reached 185°F, swirl your stirring spoon to create a vortex and add your acid. Then reverse direction and do 2 figure-8s. Stop stirring. At this point you have cottage cheese!
How to make cottage cheese
If you are making cottage cheese, you can immediately take this off the stove, strain, and then add 1tbsp of cream per 1L of milk you started with.
How to make ricotta cheese
If you are making ricotta cheese, you want to cook the cheese curds for 20 minutes. This helps create the cooked milk flavor similar to a traditional ricotta (ricotta translates to “re-cooked”). Keep the curds and whey between 175°F and 195°F for 20 minutes.
Straining
To strain the cheese, you will need a colander inside of a larger bowl, a ladle, and cheese cloth or a nut milk bag.
For cheese cloth, arrange 3 layers in a staggered pattern inside of your colander.
For a nut milk bag, fold down the sides to form a collar and give you an easier opening to ladle into.
Ladle the curds into the cheese cloth or nut milk bag until only whey remains in your pot.
Allow the cheese to drain until it reaches your desired texture. You may need to tug on the cheese cloth or nut milk bag to help this along, but do not squeeze it (it will change the texture).
If you’re using this in a cooking application with high heat, like lasagna or pizza, you can leave a bit more whey. If you’re using this in a dessert or on toast, you can make it a bit drier.
Storing
Store in a sealed container and use within 2-3 days. Home made ricotta is best the day it’s made. Home made cottage cheese will last a bit longer as the milk fills in all the air gaps in the cheese, which helps limit spoilage – but I still wouldn’t keep it more than a few days.
Using whey from cheese making
This is an acid-based whey (because you use acid to curdle the milk). Traditional ricotta is actually made from sweet whey leftover from mozzarella making (made with using rennet to curdle the milk).
These are very different whey products. The whey from this recipe is a bit sour, so your best use case would be to replace buttermilk anywhere you would use it, such as in:
Bread
Pancakes
Biscuits