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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => FRESH DIRECT ACID COAGULATED - Primarily Non-Lactic & Non-Rennet => Topic started by: IdK on August 12, 2012, 04:48:24 PM

Title: Paneer cheese is too wet
Post by: IdK on August 12, 2012, 04:48:24 PM
Hello there,
I'm cooking Palak Paneer (Paneer cheese with spinach) so I've made a paneer cheese.
I used a recipe with turned out as bad- Boiling the milk, cooking it half an hour on low heat and then adding lemon juice. While I've been cooking the milk it keeped creating skin that I had to remove, and I think this protein is a major part of the cheese.
I saw that it didn't work well so I've spilled a small amount of milk to another casserole and this time added the lemon and removed from the fire when the milk boiled. (with no cooking half an hour on low heat)
I've spilled each casserole to a different cheesecloth and each of them were about 6 hours on about 27 celsius degrees and about 20 hours on the refregirator (about 4 degrees).
The cheese is still liquid and I don't know if it would hold out if I put it outside again.
How should I dry it?
Thank you very much, and sorry for the grammar mistakes.
Title: Re: Paneer cheese is too wet
Post by: margaretsmall on August 17, 2012, 04:25:43 AM
Hi IdK
I've never made paneer, but as noone has answered your query, I'll give it a go. As I understand it, paneer is made in the same way as ricotta,  but using lemon juice as the coagulant. No need to boil the milk, in fact you should take it to just below boiling point, turn off the heat, add the lemon juice, stir a little, then let it sit until the curds rise to the surface, about 10 minutes or so. Skim them off into them off into a strainer lined with cheesecloth (I actually use a Chux), leave it to drain, then press it lightly. I suspect your problem was the long cooking of the milk.  Best with nonhomogenised milk, UHT milk will not work. If you have raw milk (ie not pasturised) you might want to pasturise first, unless you are very confident about its cleanliness. Try it again, it does work.
Margaret