Thanks to Chef John's YouTube channel Food Wishes, I made ricotta cheese for the first time. His recipe gets you 14 oz of ricotta and 24 oz of whey for about $1.60. No great savings, but OMG, so much creamier and delicious than store-bought. Start to finish it takes about 15 minutes of hands on time and 45 minutes of thumb twiddling.
BUT! What the heck do you do with all that whey. My first thought-BAKE BREAD!
I found a whey-based ciabatta recipe online and gave it a shot even though my bread-baking instincts were screaming "Dude, this ain't gonna work." Still, I made it anywhey (insert eyeroll here).
It looked decent, tasted great, but the crumb was tight like white sandwich bread. Here's a pic of the ciabattas.
And here's how we used those tasty but not-ciabatta-like ciabattas. Cut on a bias to increase the surface area, toasted, drizzled with EVOO and balsamic, smeared with ricotta, dressed with fresh basil and grape tomatoes, a little salt and pepper, then another drizzle of EVOO. Yum, yum, yum.
I've since made more ricotta and another ciabatta using a familiar recipe, but using whey and water instead of water alone. Still tweaking that recipe but it turned out a much better crumb.
A few pics of the ricotta making process and Chef John' recipe. He has posted his recipe online.
Drainage station.
Milk, cream, and salt heated to 195F, then 2 Tbs white vinegar added to create the curds.
After a 6 minute rest, spooned into the cheesecloth-lined sieve. I had to change containers because my bowl was too shallow.
Everything ready to refrigerate.
Plenty of whey for the next bread baking adventure.
Thanks for looking!
Ray
BUT! What the heck do you do with all that whey. My first thought-BAKE BREAD!
I found a whey-based ciabatta recipe online and gave it a shot even though my bread-baking instincts were screaming "Dude, this ain't gonna work." Still, I made it anywhey (insert eyeroll here).
It looked decent, tasted great, but the crumb was tight like white sandwich bread. Here's a pic of the ciabattas.
And here's how we used those tasty but not-ciabatta-like ciabattas. Cut on a bias to increase the surface area, toasted, drizzled with EVOO and balsamic, smeared with ricotta, dressed with fresh basil and grape tomatoes, a little salt and pepper, then another drizzle of EVOO. Yum, yum, yum.
I've since made more ricotta and another ciabatta using a familiar recipe, but using whey and water instead of water alone. Still tweaking that recipe but it turned out a much better crumb.
A few pics of the ricotta making process and Chef John' recipe. He has posted his recipe online.
Drainage station.
Milk, cream, and salt heated to 195F, then 2 Tbs white vinegar added to create the curds.
After a 6 minute rest, spooned into the cheesecloth-lined sieve. I had to change containers because my bowl was too shallow.
Everything ready to refrigerate.
Plenty of whey for the next bread baking adventure.
Thanks for looking!
Ray