Paneer Cheese Making - saycheese's 1st Batch

[saycheese]

Made some paneer cheese yesterday -- about 1 lb. from a gallon of milk.  It was interesting that the curd needed extra weight  to press into a compact cheese -- used about 20 lbs of pressure for 3 hours.  I started using only 5 lbs of pressure but when I took it out to turn it over it looked like the curds weren't knitting together.  The extra weight did the trick.  We used half the cheese to make a recipe of sag paneer (Indian spinach with paneer cheese cubes). Very tasty.

[DeejayDebi]

This sounds like an interesting recipe. I love any green veggie.

[John (CH)]

Saycheese, thanks for the info, I built a recipe and posted here, I have yet to try it.

My neighbor across the street here in Houston is of Indian descent and makes it regular, I need to take pictures and ask her for tricks and traps!

[GREYtownDWELLER]

@saycheese.  did you try 5 lbs and then 30 lbs, or did you work your way up to 30?  i am trying to press my paneer into a solid mass and am wondering if you would know the minimum weight for pressing 1/2 or 1 lbs of paneer.

[dthelmers]

I used to press for at least 10 hours with the milk jug full of water on top of a board for one gallon. Now I use my dutch press with a gallon on it, press 2 gallons of paneer for 4 hours, good texture. That's with a 7-1/2" cheese hoop and a 5 to 1 mechanical advantage.