I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been wanting to bake a good old Polish cheesecake, only to find that getting my hands on the main ingredient: curd or farmer’s cheese in Sydney was as easy as finding a needle in a haystack. There have been times when I’d seen it, only to forget where it was or the Polish delis had run out, and so the cheesecake making remained on an infinite hold.
I thought my best bet to figure out a way of perhaps making it myself or at least finding a substitute would be to ask Mum, because I recall Grandma used to make her own buttermilk and a bunch of different cheeses at home, and Mum makes a killer cheesecake! And sure enough, she knew. All it takes is 1 ingredient, 10 minutes cooking time and a little patience… and that ingredient? Buttermilk! As you can imagine, the cheese is different from the widely available ricotta in that it is low in fat (2%) and has a slight sour tang to it. Lovely.
Although the yield is not high, 1 litre of buttermilk makes about 200g curd cheese, it’s just perfect for us and a small cheesecake to share. Having said that, I have eaten the last batch spread on slices of rye sourdough, drizzled with honey. Like in the old days, when I was a little girl back in the 19 hundreds, as I was reminded cheekily by a little boy recently…
Makes 200g
Farmer’s (curd) cheese
Any good quality buttermilk will be fine for this recipe. While it is advisable to use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the milk has reached 70C (160F), you should be able to see clearly when to turn the heat off – most of the cheese will have separated and the yellowish whey will be covering more than three quarters of the pan. The longer you leave the cheese to drain, the drier it will become, I recommend about 2 hours. Add a tablespoon of fresh cream to the cheese if you want it less crumbly. I use a large hospital grade gauze as my cheesecloth.
For the curd cheese:
- 1lt buttermilk
- 1/2 m² cheesecloth
To make curd cheese: pour milk into a 2lt capacity saucepan. Place over small heat and warm up, stirring occasionally until the milk has reached 70C (160F) and the whey has clearly separated from the curd – see note above. Cover with a lid allow to cool to near room temperature.
Line a sieve with a cheesecloth. Place over a large bowl. Strain the cooled curd and whey mixture over the cloth, discard the whey. Gather the curd up in the cheesecloth and twist the overhanging cloth, squeezing out extra whey. Leave in a sieve or hang over the bowl using a chopstick threaded through the gathered cloth and allow to drain for up to 2 hours.
To store: remove cheese from the cloth (it should be a nice rustic ball), and transfer to a food safe container.
To serve: use for cheesecakes, dumpling and crepe fillings, crumbled over salads and spread on sourdough bread and drizzled with honey or your favourite fruit compote.
Wow. Only one ingredient and without any preservatives and so fresh. I will have to give this a try. I hope I can master the temperature requirements. BAM
Martyna, thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I love farmers’ curd cheese, it is used quite a lot in Latvian cooking. It is a hard to find item around my area, and I get sick of having to travel a great distance to acquire it.
I love the fact it is a one ingredient recipe! Are you starting to add one ingredient recipes to your usual 5 posts?
This is incredible. I can’t wait to try it – thanks for sharing!
I love this! I need to do this soon. What a great fresh idea.
Yeah! We’ve been making mozzarella at home. I’m super excited to try this next. Thanks!
This is brilliant Martyna… and I have some buttermilk in the fridge. Thanks!
I have decided this is the best thing since sliced bread!
Looks like a cottage cheese, I would love to try this and use it in a cottage cheesecake recipe
I’ve never heard of this cheese, or maybe it goes by a different name here. There are so many types of cheeses in this category. I wonder if its close to kwark, also sometimes called curd cheese. This cheese and the cheesecake must be the secret to long life “back in the 19 hundreds”:)
How fascinating….one ingredient to get such a lovely cheese. I hope you post about the Polish cheesecake you make with it too.
So true! I often want to use farmer’s cheese in several Russian recipes and finding a good one is quite hard! This looks great and delicious.
I have never heard of curd cheese made from buttermilk. Incredible! I always make it with milk.
Do you add lemon juice or yoghurt?
Hi, Martyna. If I have raw milk, I don’t add anything. I do just like my mum: I put it in a warm place (near the stove) and wait. It curdles at the end of the day if left at 25°C. It takes more if the temperature is lower.
If I have something they call in France “micro-filtered milk” which has less bacteria than raw, but more than pasteurised (especially more taste!), I add a bit of rennet and really if I don’t have it (it’s not sold in every shop) I put 1 teaspoon lemon juice. However this version is the one I like the least. My favourite is just raw milk curdling on its own.
I must try making cheese with buttermilk one day! I think it’s a wonderful idea!
That’s what my grandma used to do as well, use raw milk and set it aside to curdle, but as far as I know we can’t get raw milk here in Australia
Very cool. I always have buttermilk on hand.
I think this may be the easiest recipe for farmer’s cheese I’ve ever seen. Even a lazy cook has no excuse to not have it on hand now.
Very interesting. I have cheese cloth but I’ve never thought of making curd cheese myself before. I also assumed it’s difficult to make. What a great lesson I learned today.
I am amazed that you really only needed 1 ingredient for this. It looks absolutely delicious. I think I need to go out and get me some cheese cloth.. fast
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Is the buttermilk obtained in cartons from a supermarket suitable for this recipe?
Yes, that’s the milk I used. Dairy Farmers brand in a navy carton.
Hi, where can I but the temperature gauge in Sydney? Thanks
Hi Nat, most kitchenware stores would have them. And I’m pretty sure you could pick one up from Myer, David Jones or even Target and KMart.