Sunday, February 13, 2011

A delicious half-day's work

Last week I picked up a quart of milk from Silver Springs Creamery - really creamy, rich, good stuff.  I had tried to make a simple farmer's cheese a couple weeks ago with milk from Trader Joe's and failed miserably.  My curds never set up properly.  So this time, with proper milk and some calcium chloride and an extra squeeze of rennet for good luck, I ended up with a very lovely fresh cheese!  I also mixed in some minced garlic.  I used this recipe.  When forming the cheese at the end, I didn't pack the mold very tightly- that's why mine look a bit like rice krispie treats.


And then I decided to make some bread, since one can't have cheese without something to eat it on.  Here's my simple little recipe, which was cobbled together from six different recipes online:

Mix about 2 tsp of yeast with 4 cups of very warm water and a big spoonful of honey.  Slowly add 5 cups of flour into the yeast.  Let sit for 45 minutes to let it rise.  I put my dough in the oven (NOT turned on) so it wouldn't be disturbed.  Toss in about 2 tsp. of salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil and started kneading more flour in.  Keep going until the dough doesn't stick to your hands and the bowl anymore.  I ended up kneading in about 2 1/2 more cups of flour.  Coat a bowl and the dough in oil and let it sit for another 45 minutes.  Then, punch it a few times to push out some of the gas (very satisfying...)  Shape the dough into loaves or boules and let it sit a little longer, about a half hour.  Bake for about 45 minutes on 350 degrees F.  Cool, slice and enjoy!    

Right before baking!

Voila.
With a smear of homemade cheese.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful! But how was the cheese, I want to know!

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  2. Well, if you come to the gathering tonight, you'll find out! I ended up oversalting it a bit, though.

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  3. I thought the cheese were rice cakes. So impressive. It looks delicious with the homemade bread.

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