Cream Cheese
also called farmer style cream cheese · soft cheese · schmear base · fresh cream cheese · cheese spread
- Deli
- serves 12
- about 1 day 1 hr 30 min
- Dressings & Dips
Three ways to read this recipe
The table
| 4 cups(950 mL)whole milk | warm the milk and cream to 72°F (22°C) | stir in the culture, ferment 12 hr | set with rennet 1 hr | drain in cloth 12 hr | beat with salt |
| 2 cups(475 mL)heavy cream | |||||
| 1/4 cup(60 mL; live, check the label)cultured buttermilk | |||||
| 1 drop(diluted in 2 Tbs of cool water)liquid rennet | |||||
| 1 tspkosher salt | |||||
What to lay out
Everything the recipe asks for, sitting under the step that eats it. Tick each one as you measure it.5 things to get out.
1warm the milk and cream to 72°F (22°C)
2stir in the culture, ferment 12 hr
goes in with what step 1 made
3set with rennet 1 hr
goes in with what step 2 made
5beat with salt
goes in with what step 4 made
Cooking it
Tap a step when it is done; the next one lights up.
The clock
- Start to finish
- at least 1 day 1 hrtwo waits that overlap count once
- Needs you
- none givenof the steps that give a time
2 of the 5 steps never say how long they take, so both numbers are floors. The recipe itself says 1 day 1 hr.
warm the milk and cream to 72°F (22°C)
not timedfrom the start
stir in the culture, ferment 12 hr
12 hrwalk awayfrom the start
set with rennet 1 hr
1 hrwalk away12 hr in
drain in cloth 12 hr
12 hrwalk away13 hr in
beat with salt
not timed1 day 1 hr in
- you can walk away
- never timed
Drawn to scale, so a long wait really does take up the room it takes. The shortest stretches keep a sliver so they stay visible; their times are printed beside them.
Goes with
See how it is written
>> title: Cream Cheese
>> category: Dressings & Dips
>> tags: cultured, fresh cheese, no-cook, spread, make-ahead
>> counters: Deli
>> aka: farmer style cream cheese, soft cheese, schmear base, fresh cream cheese, cheese spread
>> pairs-with: bagels, scallion-schmear, new-york-cheesecake
>> servings: 12
>> time: 1 day 1 hr 30 min
>> step.1: warm the milk and cream to 72°F (22°C)
>> step.2: stir in the culture, ferment 12 hr
>> step.3: set with rennet 1 hr
>> step.4: drain in cloth 12 hr
>> step.5: beat with salt
Warm @whole milk{4%cups}(950 mL) and @heavy cream{2%cups}(475 mL) together to 72°F (22°C), which is blood-warm to the back of a finger and no warmer. Above about 85°F the culture races and the curd goes sour and grainy instead of clean and sweet.
Stir @cultured buttermilk{1/4%cup}(60 mL; live, check the label) into @&(~1)warm milk{}, cover it, and ~ferment{12%hr} on the counter until it has thickened to the texture of pourable yogurt and smells faintly of sour cream. That is the whole flavour of the finished cheese, arriving before any cheese exists.
Set @&(~1)cultured milk{} with @liquid rennet{1%drop}(diluted in 2 Tbs of cool water) stirred in for exactly twenty seconds, then leave it undisturbed to ~set{1%hr}. One drop, not two: cream cheese wants the barest set, and more rennet gives you something closer to a rubbery paneer.
Ladle @&(~1)curd{} into a doubled cloth over a bowl, tie it, and ~drain{12%hr} in the fridge until the dripping has all but stopped. Squeezing hurries it and costs you the texture; hanging it in the cold does the same job while you sleep.
Beat @&(~1)drained curd{} with @kosher salt{1%tsp} until it turns glossy and takes a swirl. It is looser than the foil-wrapped brick — that one is stabilised with gums — and it keeps ten days. This is the base under the schmear, and it is what the cheesecake wants too.