When we buy cottage cheese in a store, we don’t even think that it’s easy to prepare at home. All you need for homemade cottage cheese is milk and kefir - the recipe is simple. The process of curdling and separating whey occurs naturally without adding any chemical components. The cottage cheese turns out tender, with a pronounced creamy taste, tastier than store-bought; even my five-year-old daughter appreciated the difference, having eaten every last crumb, sprinkled with sugar. In my opinion, this is the best assessment that can be.

The best cottage cheese is made from natural homemade cow's milk and high-fat kefir. And as a bonus, there is a fragrant and vitamin-rich whey, which can be used to make pancakes, yeast dough, dumplings or dumplings, or you can just drink it.

Ingredients

• milk 1 l
• kefir 0.5 l

How to make cottage cheese at home from milk and kefir

You can eat this homemade cottage cheese immediately after cooking; it is especially tasty when it is still warm. The product is not stored for a long time, because it is absolutely natural and does not contain any preservatives or stabilizers.

On a note:

• It is best to take homemade milk and kefir; if this is not possible, choose the one with the highest fat content and shorter shelf life;
• the yield of the finished product directly depends on the fat content of the original components, so low-percentage milk and kefir may not produce cottage cheese at all.

Everyone has known about the benefits of cottage cheese since childhood. But if in childhood we ate it under compulsion, then in adulthood we eat it with pleasure. Most likely, now you are unlikely to be able to buy a natural product, but if you really want it, you can make cottage cheese at home. It's easier than it seems. And how many different dishes can be prepared from natural cottage cheese!

Homemade kefir cottage cheese

There is no difficulty in preparing cottage cheese. It doesn’t take much time, which any housewife will be happy about. Preparing this natural product will require no more than an hour, of which the work will take about 15 minutes, no more.

1. Pour kefir into a saucepan, put it on the fire and heat the contents to 60-70 ° C. After this, the whey will gradually begin to separate from the curd.
2. Gently mix the contents.
3. Then take a colander, cover it with 3-4 layers of gauze and pour out the contents of the pan.
4. Leave the curd in a colander for one hour to allow all the whey to drain.
5. Next, we put the resulting mass on a plate, mix it with finely chopped herbs, salt - and the homemade cottage cheese is ready.

If you want to serve cottage cheese as a delicacy, you should add sugar instead of salt and herbs.

Sweet kefir cottage cheese can be served at home with any sweet filling: fruit syrup, condensed milk, jam, nuts, wild berries, fruits and so on.

Homemade cottage cheese from frozen kefir

The essence of this technology is almost no different from the usual formula, but from frozen kefir the cottage cheese turns out to be unusually light and airy.

The cooking process is as follows:

1. Place the kefir package in the freezer and leave it there for 6-7 hours. This time is enough to freeze kefir.
2. After the specified time, remove the package from the freezer, remove the frozen mass from it and transfer it to a colander, which is already placed in a deep bowl.
3. It will be necessary for all the whey to go away, so we leave this mass for another 6 hours, but at room temperature. After 6 hours, the tasty and healthy kefir cottage cheese in the freezer can be safely eaten!

Homemade cottage cheese in a water bath

We offer another simple way to get tasty and healthy cottage cheese. Let's do it in a water bath.

We boil water in a saucepan, place a bowl of kefir on top, heat for half an hour, stir.

Cover a clean, dry bowl with gauze, as described above, or with a fine sieve and pour in the prepared kefir. Leave until all the whey has drained off.

After this, we transfer the resulting mass to a plate. Cottage cheese from frozen kefir is ready.

If your child refuses to eat cottage cheese, then try making cottage cheese cakes, pancakes, cheesecakes, muffins and so on from it.

Homemade cottage cheese from milk

To make kefir, you need to do the following:

1. We take milk and kefir in a 1:1 ratio. It is recommended to add milk at room temperature.
2. Pour it into a saucepan or slow cooker. Add salt to taste. Be sure to stir as it may burn.
3. When bubbles appear in the milk, pour in kefir. You need to turn it off when the whey begins to separate.
4. We wait 15-20 minutes for the ingredients to mix and create whey.
5. Then you need to heat the resulting consistency again, remembering to stir. After some time, we see how large grains of curd mixed in whey are obtained.
6. Next, transfer it to a very fine sieve or cheesecloth to drain the whey.
7. If you want to get dry and dense cottage cheese, then squeeze it by hand. Or leave it for a while and let it reach the desired consistency.
8. When you think this is enough, transfer the curd mass to a plate.
9. The cottage cheese is ready to eat

Pancakes with cottage cheese on kefir

This simple and incredibly flavorful dish will be the best solution for breakfast.

Distribute the cottage cheese on a plate, grind it with egg, sugar and salt. Cottage cheese should be dry and crumbly. If the curd is watery, it will produce excess water when adding sugar. You may need more flour.

You need to sift the flour and soda. Gradually add flour to the cottage cheese, thoroughly rubbing everything with a fork. After pouring out a glass of flour, add 200 g of kefir, then again a glass of flour and the same amount of kefir.

Beat the dough with a mixer and heat the pan. Pour in vegetable oil so that the pancakes almost float in it. Otherwise they will end up dry. Fry the pancakes over medium heat on both sides. It is advisable to place them on paper towels after frying so that they absorb excess oil.

Cooking secrets

The method of making cottage cheese from kefir, like any other product, has its own characteristics, which every housewife should know about. Let's talk about them in a little more detail, so that by the time you prepare, you will be fully armed.

You can get cottage cheese not only from fresh kefir. Cottage cheese made from sour kefir is no worse. The principle of preparation is exactly the same as from fresh.

To make cottage cheese for a small child, you need to remember several features:

• kefir should be taken homogeneous in composition;
• cottage cheese made from sour kefir is not suitable for infants, only fresh is needed;
• if you want to add fruit, then first you need to thoroughly grind it with a blender.

The fat content of cottage cheese depends on the fat content of kefir. The more fat contained in kefir, the higher the calorie content of the product. Usually kefir with a fat content of at least 3% is used.

Cottage cheese is one of the lightest foods recommended for dietary nutrition. However, when buying it in a store, we cannot always be completely sure that this product is actually useful. In some cases, these products can only be called cottage cheese conditionally. Meanwhile, when speaking about the benefits of cottage cheese, nutritionists mean real cottage cheese, and not a milk-containing soy product. If you are not sure of the quality of the cottage cheese that is on store shelves, you can prepare it yourself. Such cottage cheese will certainly be not only healthy, but also tender, tasty, and fresh. We will tell you in this material how to make cottage cheese from milk and kefir at home.

General rules

The first attempts at making homemade cottage cheese with your own hands may turn out to be unsuccessful if you do not know a few simple rules.

• Cottage cheese made from whole milk will be tastier and healthier than from reconstituted milk. Moreover, it is sometimes completely impossible to make a healthy fermented milk product at home from low-quality “powdered” milk.
• The more protein there is in milk, the more curd it will make. Milk with low fat content is more often protein-rich. For this reason, it is better to give preference to low-fat kefir and milk.
• Cottage cheese at home can be made from sour milk, kefir, or a mixture of them. It is impossible to make it from fresh milk, so the milk must be given time to sour. This process can be accelerated artificially. To do this, you need to add a spoonful of any fermented milk product to the milk: sour cream, yogurt, kefir, yogurt. You will have to wait 6-8 hours for souring, after which you can start preparing the cottage cheese. If during this time a thick top layer has formed on the milk, remove it and whisk it, this is cream that can replace sour cream.
• Milk will turn sour immediately if you squeeze lemon juice into it.
• When using a recipe for making cottage cheese from milk and kefir, it is better to use fresh milk.
• Try not to heat milk and kefir too much, as in this case you will end up with a product that is not the healthiest. Optimal heating is ensured by using a water bath, when a container of milk or kefir is placed in a larger container of boiling water.
• Remove the container with milk and kefir from the heat as soon as they curdle. If you keep them on the stove, the curd will turn out dry and hard.
• Some people advise adding fresh milk at the last stage of cooking to make the curd less sour. This is not the best idea, since as a result of such manipulations the product becomes “rubbery”, although it actually tastes blander.

Finally, I would like to advise you not to pour out the whey that separates during the preparation of cottage cheese - it is also very useful. It can also be used not only for culinary purposes, but also for cosmetic purposes. So, serum for hair care is very useful.

Ways to make cottage cheese from milk, kefir

There are many ways to make homemade cottage cheese from milk, kefir, or a mixture of them. Here are the simplest and most popular ones.

• In a water bath. Pour kefir or sour milk into a small saucepan, lower it into a larger saucepan filled with water. Place over low heat until the water boils. Stir the fermented milk product until it returns and the whey begins to separate. Remove from heat. Line a colander with several layers of gauze and pour the contents of a smaller pan into it. press it down with something or tie it in gauze. Place or hang over the pan and leave for several hours. Take the finished cottage cheese and whey.
• On the stove. Pour a liter of milk into an enamel pan. Bring to a boil over low heat. As soon as the milk boils, pour in the kefir and stir. Heat, stirring, until the mixture curdles. Next, you need to proceed exactly as described in the previous recipe. There are other ways to make homemade cottage cheese from milk and kefir, but the one we have given is the simplest and most reliable.
• In the microwave. Pour the sour milk into a microwave-safe container, put it in the microwave and turn it on for another 15 minutes, selecting a power of 750 W. The times are for two liters of milk. Then everything is done in the same way as indicated in the previous recipes.
• In a slow cooker. Pour 2 liters of sour milk or 2 liters of fresh milk into the multicooker container, adding 100 ml of kefir to it. Set the timer for 2 hours, turning on the heating mode. Place on cheesecloth and let the water drain.
• In the freezer. According to this recipe, cottage cheese can be made at home only from kefir. It is placed in the freezer directly in the bag for at least 8 hours (but no more than a day). Having taken it out, cut the pack, take out the frozen kefir, divide it into pieces and place them in a colander on cheesecloth. When it defrosts and the whey drains from it, a tender curd will remain in the colander.

When preparing cottage cheese from milk and kefir at home, two liters of starting products yield 0.3-0.4 kg of curd. Bon appetit!

With the birth of a child or having decided to eat more healthily and healthily, housewives are thinking about how to make their own cottage cheese from kefir at home. Coping with this seemingly impossible task is quite easy. During the cooking process, you can use only the usual kitchen utensils (saucepan and colander) or resort to the help of modern gadgets (multi-cooker, microwave oven, yogurt maker).

Homemade kefir cottage cheese according to the classic recipe involves fermenting the fermented milk product in a water bath, which allows for uniform heating of the mixture. Additional tools you will need during the cooking process include a culinary thermometer, a piece of gauze, a colander and two saucepans of the appropriate capacity. The amount of the main ingredient - kefir - sufficient for one serving of cottage cheese is 1200 ml.

Step-by-step preparation:

1. We are preparing a water bath, for which a large pan needs to be filled with water so that the smaller one subsequently touches the bottom of the surface of the boiling water. Heat water to active boiling.
2. Pour kefir into another pan and place it in a water bath.
3. Heat the product with periodic stirring until curds form. It is important not to overheat the kefir so that the finished cottage cheese does not become hard. When the contents of the upper pan reach a temperature of 55 - 65°C, it is removed from the heat.
4. In the pan, the curds should stand for another 30 - 45 minutes in a cool place. Then line the colander with gauze folded in two or three times, pour kefir into it and leave (perhaps under pressure) so that all the whey drains out.

The finished cottage cheese is stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days.

With added milk

Cottage cheese made from kefir and milk is very tasty and easy to prepare. The ratio of these two products differs in different recipes, but the method below allows you to do without a thermometer.

For a serving of 300 - 350 g of finished product you will need:

• 1000 ml kefir of any fat content;
• 1000 ml milk.

How to make cottage cheese from kefir with milk:

1. Pour milk into a saucepan of suitable volume and place it on the fire. It is imperative to choose a container in which the milk will not burn. Bring this homemade cottage cheese ingredient to a boil.
2. Remove the freshly boiled milk from the heat and immediately pour kefir into it. Stir the composition to evenly distribute the components in it and leave to cool, covering with a lid.
3. After cooling, the mixture will separate into whey and cottage cheese, which can only be drained into a colander or fine sieve lined with gauze. When all the whey has drained, homemade cottage cheese will be ready to eat.

How to make it in a slow cooker

The rich functionality of modern multicookers allows you to use them to prepare delicious homemade cottage cheese from kefir without fear of disturbing the temperature regime. The “smart assistant” will prevent the mixture from overheating.

The simplest option, which allows you to get approximately 250 g of finished cottage cheese, requires a multicooker and 1000 ml of kefir of the selected fat content.

Prepare cottage cheese from kefir in a slow cooker as follows:

1. Rinse the multi-pan with cold water and pour kefir into it.
2. Next, close the lid of the gadget and run the “Multi-cook” option for 60 minutes, setting the temperature at 80°C.
3. For devices that do not have such a program, the cooking method will be slightly different. The multicooker lid should be left open, while turning on “Heating” for one hour.
4. In an hour, the cottage cheese will be almost ready; you just need to pour it into a prepared colander or sieve and wait until all the liquid has separated.

Homemade cottage cheese from frozen kefir

The curdling of kefir is promoted not only by heating it, but also by strong cooling, so it can be prepared not only in a slow cooker, but also in the freezer.

It is worth noting that the cottage cheese obtained in this way is much healthier than that prepared in another way, since lactic acid bacteria, which die when heated, remain alive after freezing.

During the preparation process, you will only need 1 - 2 packages of kefir in a cardboard or plastic bag or tetra pack.

Method for preparing frozen kefir:

1. Place the kefir directly in the bag in the freezer until completely frozen. It is very convenient to do this in the morning, so that in the evening you can move on to the next stage, and in the morning you can enjoy fresh cottage cheese.
2. Next, the product that has turned into ice should be removed from the packaging using scissors or a knife, transferred to a colander lined with gauze and left over the pan, where the whey will drain, covered with a lid.

Cooking in the microwave

Another device with which you can prepare homemade cottage cheese from kefir is a microwave oven.

But it will not be possible to curdle more than 1.5 liters of kefir, and for this volume the preparation technology will be as follows:

1. Pour the kefir into a container suitable for use in a microwave oven, place it in the microwave oven and turn on the device in the “Defrost” or “Accelerated Defrost” mode for 30 minutes. Instead of these options, you can use any other option that does not heat the food above 80 degrees.
2. Every 10 minutes the device should be stopped and the kefir stirred. When the gadget is finished working, all you have to do is squeeze out the cottage cheese using gauze.

Cooking in a jar

Homemade kefir cottage cheese made in a jar is also close to the classic method of preparation. In this case, the same water bath is used, only the container (jar) with kefir is immersed 2/3 in water, and not just touching it with the bottom.

From the products and kitchen equipment during the cooking process you will need:

• kefir;
• glass jar;
• a small linen or cotton towel;
• pot;
• water;
• colander;
• gauze.

Sequence of actions:

1. Pour the kefir into a clean and dry glass jar.
2. Cover the bottom of the pan with a towel to prevent the glass from breaking.
3. Place a container with kefir in the center of the pan, then add enough water so that the jar is 2/3 immersed in it.
4. Send the resulting structure to heat over the lowest heat. So kefir should be simmered until it visually separates into cottage cheese and whey.
5. After this, the cottage cheese should be placed in a colander with gauze for a couple of hours.

In a yogurt maker with the function of making cottage cheese

In household appliance stores you can also find special gadgets that allow you to prepare cottage cheese from kefir at home. Most often these are yogurt makers with this function.

Such a device may have one large bowl for cottage cheese or several cups with filter inserts. The process of preparing a dairy product, depending on the model, can last up to half an hour when heated to 80 degrees or 12 - 24 hours when heated to 36 degrees.

The subtleties of preparing homemade cottage cheese for each specific gadget may differ and will be described in detail in the instruction manual, but the main steps will be as follows:

1. Pour kefir into a bowl or glasses.
2. Place them on the holder and run the corresponding “Cottage Cheese” option.
3. After the sound signal, turn the cups or bowl 90 degrees to allow the whey to drain. After these manipulations, the cottage cheese is ready.

Homemade cottage cheese certainly outperforms the store-bought product in its taste and beneficial properties. But it is worth remembering that it cannot be stored for more than 3–4 days. But you can safely use it as an independent dish or as a filling for baked goods and other desserts.

Cottage cheese is one of the healthiest products recommended for children's and dietary nutrition. However, on store shelves you can often find not real cottage cheese, but a so-called “dairy product”, in which vegetable fats and proteins and other additives occupy a significant place. However, additives can also be found in high-quality, expensive products from well-known manufacturers, which increase the shelf life of fermented milk products. Some even add antibiotics for this purpose, which are downright harmful. If you know how to make cottage cheese from milk and kefir, you don’t have to spend a long time studying the labels on the packages and risking your health - the homemade product is always of high quality and very healthy.

Culinary secrets

Perhaps some of our readers have already tried to make cottage cheese, but not everyone was successful in this culinary experiment. In fact, the process of producing homemade cottage cheese is simple, but requires knowledge of some secrets.

• It is better to make cottage cheese at home from whole milk. By purchasing milk for this purpose in stores, you run the risk of bringing home a product made from powdered reconstituted milk. It is not always possible to make cottage cheese from such a house. And there is less benefit in it.
• Cottage cheese made from low-fat protein milk and the same kefir is healthier.
• Milk for cottage cheese often requires sour milk. For this you can use yogurt or sour cream. Add a spoonful of fermented milk product to a jar of milk, stir, and after 5-6 hours you can start making homemade cottage cheese. A quicker way is to squeeze a little lemon juice into the milk.
• If you don’t want your homemade cottage cheese to be dry, hard, “rubbery,” you shouldn’t dilute it with milk until the taste improves, and you should remove it from the stove as soon as it starts to curdle.
• Do not heat dairy products too much, as this will reduce their benefits. Homemade cottage cheese is cooked in a water bath, then it turns out to be truly healthy.

Knowing these secrets, you can safely choose the method of making homemade cottage cheese from milk and kefir and start cooking.

How to cook at home

There are several ways to make homemade cottage cheese from milk and kefir. They are all equally good, so choose any one.

• How to make cottage cheese in a water bath. Mix milk and kefir in half. Place the container with the mixture in a water bath. While heating, stir constantly. Once the mixture begins to curdle, remove from heat. Place several layers of gauze in a colander, place the cottage cheese on it and let the whey drain.
• How to make it on the stove. Heat the milk over low heat. When its temperature reaches 60-80 degrees, pour in kefir and stir. Next, proceed as when preparing cottage cheese in a water bath.
• How to make it in the microwave. Place the sour milk in a container designed for use in a microwave oven. Run the unit at maximum power for 15 minutes. Now follow the same procedure as when preparing cottage cheese according to previous recipes.
• How to make it in a slow cooker. Mix a liter of sour milk with the same amount of fresh milk, add 50 ml of kefir and place this mixture in the multicooker bowl. Select the heating mode and leave the device to work in this mode for 2 hours.
• How to make in the refrigerator. Place the package with kefir in the freezer overnight. In the morning, cut the bag and break the frozen kefir into pieces. Place them in a colander covered with gauze, let them thaw and drain the whey.

Whatever recipe you use to prepare homemade curd, in addition to it you will get another valuable product - curd whey. It is useful both for internal consumption and for cosmetic procedures, for example, for hair care.