Homemade Ricotta

A few days ago, I asked a question on the Poires au Chocolat facebook page: if you could make one dairy product at home, which would it be? The choices were ricotta, butter and crème fraîche.

Ricotta won.



I asked because I recently bought a copy of The Homemade Pantry. Though lots of the recipes look lovely, the stories that accompany each one are my favourite part of the book - they bring the whole thing alive.

The recipes I immediately wanted to try were in the dairy section. I couldn't decide which one to try first, so I passed the choice on.

Apart from one attempt at marscarpone for the Daring Bakers, way back when, I've never made cheese. This is definitely not a Foundations post - I'm not an expert - it's more of a 'I made cheese! Woah! It worked!' post.



As I was looking over my notes to type the recipe up a minute ago, I realised that I made a mistake yesterday. Instead of converting 1/3 of a cup of lemon juice, I calculated 1/2 cup. Which makes sense - it did taste lemony, and I had to use a lot of lemons (though the ones that grow in the garden are quite small and don't have an enormous amount of juice, so I thought it was that).

I'd love to know how it affected the process and the texture of the cheese, so I'll have to try it again. I've put the correct amount below (90ml instead of 135ml). I also managed to forget to dampen the cheesecloth - it was one of those days.



One of the great tips in the dairy chapter is to ice the pot to stop the milk scorching on the bottom. You just swish an ice cube around the pot until it has melted, then add the rest of the ingredients. As long as you don't touch the bottom when you stir, it seems to stop the problem.

Mum and I had a big debate over how much whey you should take out at the end. I had this vision of cheesemaking that involved squeezing the cheesecloth, so that's what I did. Mum thought that it made the ricotta too dry - I didn't mind. Either way, I had a lot of fun squeezing it.



The first way we ate the ricotta was on fresh bread with a little orange zest, a generous drizzle of honey (from the bees in the garden!) and some of the amazing cherries we've been eating here. It was a gorgeous snack.

I then used most of the ricotta in this Chocolate Ricotta Pound Cake. I first made it in 2010 - it's an unusual cake, somehow damp and almost creamy but not too rich.

Because of the extra-lemony ricotta, the cake has a fruity taste. At first I didn't like it, but it's definitely growing on me. I want to try it in a non-chocolate pound cake another time.



Though I made a few mistakes, I loved making ricotta. Like most of the best cooking and baking techniques, it felt a lot like magic.

As a result, I may or may not have chanted this over the curdling pot:

"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."
Macbeth, IV.i

The old superstition is that witches curdle milk, so it seems appropriate.



Ricotta
(adapted from The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila)

1.9 litres whole milk
90ml lemon juice
1 ice cube

Measure out the milk and squeeze the lemons. Get a big, heavy-bottomed pot and place it near the stove. Add the ice cube and swirl it around until it has totally melted. Pour in the milk (on top of the water) and then the lemon juice. Give the pot a very quick stir, making sure you don't touch the bottom.

Transfer the pot to the stove, then attach a thermometer (cheese, sugar etc, not meat) to the side. Turn the heat onto the lowest setting. Heat for about 40-50 minutes, until the temperature reads 80C/175F. You don't need to sit watching it - just come back to check the temperature. Stir once or twice during this period, again not touching the bottom.

When it hits 80C/175F, turn the heat up to medium-high. Don't stir. Watch it until the temperature reaches 95C/205F, then take the pan off the heat. It shouldn't boil. Leave to sit for 10 minutes. It looks like this - the curds and whey have separated.

Line a sieve or fine colander with a double layer of damp cheesecloth. Use a slotted spoon to transfer scoops of the curds into the cheesecloth. Let them drain for ten minutes. Simply transfer to a bowl if you want a loose, wet ricotta, or squeeze a little for a thicker version. You can also keep and use the whey if you like - Alana recommends using it as the liquid for bread or instead of stock in soups.

(Makes approximately 300g ricotta)

Clementine Ricotta Doughnuts

Why do we only hang chocolate shapes and cookies from garlands and trees? Why not doughnuts?

They already look like little wreaths, after all. Wouldn't it be a lovely addition to your autumnal table for a party? I'm always up for making dessert or a tea snack into a fun event in itself.



I threaded and knotted them onto a piece of raffia in a string, but you could also tie each one individually to a branch (a bit like the sweet cakes in this lovely tiger in a jar video). Or even your Christmas tree. (Apologies for the early use of the C-word, but I had to mention it...)



The book I adapted this recipe from, Doughnuts, is fabulous. I had no idea there were so many versions and creative options. These are cake doughnuts, so they're easy to make and very quick - no yeast involved.

The method for getting cake doughnuts into the oil without a fancy machine is so clever. You pipe them onto greased paper and then drop them into the oil on the paper, which then loosens and you can remove it. Forgive me if it is common knowledge, but I was fascinated.



I adore clementines (and satsumas and tangerines - how are we meant to tell them apart?). I used to eat them by the bagful as a child. My beautiful old dog Silver loves them too. Probably partly because when she was a puppy I used to peel them and play 'one for you, one for me' with her (sharing my clementines was a gesture of great love).

Clementines are traditional stocking fillers here. One Christmas my belief in a certain someone was fatally wounded when I found a packet of clementines I had carefully marked with a pen so nobody else ate them at the end of my bed...

I bought my first bag of the winter a few days ago and so these doughnuts were born. I was going to show you a photo of the insides but I lost track of my thoughts while shooting and ate the halved one. Whoops. What can I say - they're rather moreish.



Clementine Ricotta Doughnuts
(adapted from Lara Ferroni's Doughnuts)

For the doughnuts:
120g plain flour
40g caster sugar
1 and 1/3 tsp baking powder
grating of fresh nutmeg
pinch of salt
zest of a clementine
2 eggs
150g ricotta
1/2 tsp vanilla
oil, to fry*

For the glaze:
50g icing sugar
1 tsp honey (to taste)
juice of 1 clementine (approx)

Sift the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and sugar into a bowl. In another bowl whisk the zest, eggs, ricotta and vanilla together. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combine - try to not overmix, but you don't want lumps of flour. Scoop into a piping bag and set to one side.

Decide how many doughnuts you'll be able to fry at once (I could do two) and cut that number of 4" squares of greaseproof/parchment paper. Grease the squares with a little extra oil. Place a wad of kitchen towels to the side of your stove. In a heavy bottomed pot with a thermometer (deep-frying or sugar) heat approximately 2 inches of oil to 360F. Pipe circles on the greased paper of about 3 inches.

When the oil hits the right temperature, lower one upside down into the oil (check with one, then do more). The paper will start to loosen - take it out with some heatproof tongs. Cook until golden brown then turn and cook the other side. This only took about 45 seconds on each side for me. Remove with a slotted spoon to the kitchen paper. Repeat until you've used all the mixture.

Sieve the icing sugar into a medium bowl. Add the juice bit by bit until you have a paste, then add the honey. Finally adjust the consistency with more juice until you have a thin glaze. Dip the doughnuts into the glaze (either one side or both). Set onto a wire rack.

*I used sunflower oil but safflower, peanut or canola also would be good.

(makes about 12-15 doughnuts)

Chocolate Ricotta Pound Cake

After all the juicy summer fruits and ice creams I've been eating recently, I really felt the need for some chocolate cake.  I came across this recipe on one of my favourite blogs, Desserts for Breakfast. I liked the idea that it only needed a sprinkle of icing sugar - it's a pure and simple cake. 

I had also never baked with ricotta before, so curiosity was another reason I chose this recipe. I didn't have quite enough ricotta, so I scaled it all down a bit - have a look at Desserts for Breakfast for the original recipe if you want a bigger cake. It was perfect amount for us anyway. 

I found this unusual cake mould in IKEA. I wasn't sure how it would come out, but it's very pretty. It cuts neatly into 8 or 16. 

As I'm quite protective over our 'nice' cocoa - I can't find any good quality stuff here and so bring it over - I dusted the mould with hot chocolate. I don't recommend it. It burnt. You can't taste it, but you can see it...

Moral of the story: use cocoa powder. Or flour. 

This cake is incredibly moist and tender. Cocoa gives it a slightly more subtle chocolate hit than melted chocolate would: it's surprisingly not that rich. Well. It's a very moist chocolate cake, it is rich, but in a light summery way. I can't really describe it (obviously). It must be the ricotta. It also has a slight tang to it - a hint of the ricotta peaking through the flavours. 

Chocolate Ricotta Pound Cake

(From Desserts for Breakfast, here)

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2.5 tbsp boiling water

2 eggs

1 tsp vanila extract

145g plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

130g butter (must be room temp)

200g ricotta

140g caster sugar

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.  Mix together the cocoa powder and boiling water and leave to cool. While you wait, grease and dust the mould. When the mixture is cool, whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract and put to one side. Sift the flour and baking powder into another bowl. In a mixer, cream the butter, ricotta and sugar together at medium speed. Keep going till it is light and fluffy - about 3-4 minutes. Add 1/2 of the chocolate mixture, beat to combine, then add a 1/4 of the flour. Add 1/2 of the eggs, then another 1/4 of the flour. Repeat until all is combined. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 30-40 minutes - you will probably need to cover the tin with foil to stop it burning after 15-20 minutes.  A skewer/toothpick should come out cleanly when it is ready. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out. Dust with icing sugar when fully cooled and serve. 

(Serves 8 generously)