Fresh Ricotta

According to J.Kenji Lopez-Alt, this recipe would perform better with a distilled white vinegar, as it's pH is consistent; the pH of the lemons differ from lemon to lemon, yielding potentially uneven results. Also, he uses much more acid: 1/4 cup vinegar to one cup milk.

This is called Paneer in Hindi. I just don't add the heavy cream when making Paneer. Also the leftover liquid, whey, is delicious and can be added to rice as a broth.

Yes, you can use a large coffee filter instead. I used cheesecloth the first time I made this, but have used coffee filters the every time after that --- worked great!

quality of milk is very important. I have made this at least ten times and I find an organic product works better. I also add a little more acid for a larger curd product.

ricotta is made with whey (fall-out of process to make cheese) and salt. Its name, in Italian Language, indeed, means baked twice.
It surprises me that you can make ricotta using different ingredients. It sounds great !
Plus, in Italy we have three different ricotta depending on the animal who gave us the milk and, from milk, the whey: bufala ricotta, cow ricotta, sheep ricotta.

Vincenzo

I have been making my own ricotta for years and the recipe has never needed yogurt. 3 cups whole milk, 1 cup cream, 3TBS either lemon juice or white vinegar (depending on what you're using it for and how you want the end product to taste) and a tiny pinch of salt. Also, I use a jelly bag to strain it--finer textured results, cleaner whey.

Delicious, and very easy ... once I applied enough heat. "Simmer", for me, should read "slow boil", otherwise you can stir and stir and stir for a very long time.

But, really, once the curds started forming, very easy. And utterly delicious.

I've made this twice, the ricotta is delicious.

The unexpected treat was the whey. Honestly, I was doubtful, but it is wonderful. Rich with a slight tanginess.

I used it to make a simple corn soup. I cut the kernels off a couple ears of corn and heated the cobs in the whey. Sautéed some padron peppers, scooped them out of the pan, sautéed the corn kernels and added the whey and simmered. Topped with peppers and salt. Yum!

My challenge for this recipe is draining. Working on that.

I think maybe the recipe has a mistake. Maybe it meant 1 1/2 Tablespoons of lemon juice not teaspoons. After waiting quite a while I searched for other recipes and 1 1/2 Tablespoons seemed like the right amount. I added the extra and curds in an instant.
Now let's see how it tastes.

Try 1/2 gal. of whole milk,2 C buttermilk and 1C of heavy cream. Outstanding!!

Don't forget to save the whey and use it to make a hearty stock. Just freeze it until you are ready to use it.

Taking a cue from Serious Eats, this can also be made with straight milk instead of cream and yogurt. I was curious about whether lactose played a part in the reaction, so I tried lactose-free 2% milk in a test batch. It came out great. I didn't miss the additional fat content and now I can make lactose-free ricotta!

Now what to do with the whey? I subbed it for the milk into Mark Bittman's recipe for Migliaccio, an Italian lemon ricotta pie and it was a hit with the home crowd.

I've read that this works poorly with store bought organic milk because it's been heated to a higher temp than regular pasteurized.

I had to heat this to 200 degrees and add another tsp of lemon juice to get curds. Also, not having plain yogurt, I used sour cream. But the final result was delicious--very creamy. I've read that plain white vinegar is a more reliable acid than lemon juice.

I have made this using only goat's milk, no cream, no yogurt, heated just to a simmer and then acidified with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice. Ricotta comes out right away just short of boiling ten (at more or less sea level). Insanely easy and delicious.

I use white vinegar for consistency. I heat the milk in the microwave so I don't have to stir or worry about scorching. So simple!! Two cups milk, two tablespoons vinegar. Two minutes in the micro. Add vinegar to hot milk. Voila. Ricotta!