Paneer or Queso Fresco

I first stumbled on this recipe for paneer from showmethecurry.com when I was looking for recipes from India.  I wondered after first making it and observing its qualities if it could be used as we use queso fresco, down here in the desert southwest.  Although paneer is a cheese made in India, and queso fresco is a cheese from Mexico, it seemed they were practically the same thing.

Both cheeses are what is termed "fresh cheese", meaning they are made, then used immediately or soon afterward, instead of being set aside to cure.  Both are made using milk and an acid, but no "coagulator", such as rennet.  Both can crumble nicely.  Both can be cut, if you want.  And neither one melts when cooked.

A little more research confirmed it:  a recipe for a basic queso fresco turned out to be exactly the same!

As the next bread recipe I want to try requires cheese, and as one commenter said they had the best results using queso fresco, I decided it was time to take pictures and post this adventure, as well, on my way toward the next bread.

Ingredients:

2 quarts milk  (I've used whole milk before with good results.  This time, I used 1 percent.)
1/4 cup lemon juice or white vinegar (I used lemon juice.)
salt to taste

Seriously!!  That's all there is in it!  (I figured for this, I did not need an ingredient picture.)

Now, down to business.  First, put the milk in a heavy cooking pot and bring it gradually to a boil, stirring gradually at first and more consistently later on so the bottom doesn't burn.

 
This will be the one step in the entire process which has the risk of driving you insane.  At least, it drives me insane . . . every single time.  It could be that I'm heating it at too low a temperature, but I find it can take the better part of an hour for my milk to finally reach a boil.  By the end, I find I've been standing over the pot, staring maniacally at the surface, willing bubbles to rise.

After the milk finally reaches a boil, stir in the 1/4 cup lemon juice.  Keep stirring.  After about 10-15 seconds, the milk solids will start to separate from the whey.  Keep stirring until it appears to be completely separated.

Remove from heat and allow the "curds and whey" to sit for a few minutes.

 

Prepare a colander or strainer over a bowl.  Cover it with several layers of cheesecloth.  (I used four.)  A single layer of muslin can be used, instead.

Pour the curds and whey into the cheesecloth.  Pick up the four corners of the cheesecloth and tie the opposite ones together.  Remove this from the bowl.

Don't throw away the whey!  It's good for you and can be used in place of water in your bread recipes.  (You can see I used it in my "normal bread" recipe when I wrote that one up.)  Just store it in the refrigerator for a week or less until you are ready to use it.

Here's an overhead view of my cheesecloth hanging on the wooden spoon inside the 2-gallon beverage dispenser my husband picked up for me, which I never use because it's just too big to have taking up space on my counter . . . Makes a great place in which to drain paneer, though.

This is what you see after about 30 minutes.  Most of the whey has drained out.  (Isn't it amazing how little cheese actually comes out of a half gallon of milk?)

If you want a more firm cheese, you can take it off the cheesecloth at this point and knead in some flour.  I haven't done this, but I do knead in a bit of salt for flavor.  If you want to make your cheese herbed, you can add whatever you want here, as well.

Place the cheese back on the cheesecloth and shape into whatever general shape you want.

Fold the cheesecloth over the paneer neatly.

Place the paneer over something which will drain.  (This is a storage container into which my husband drilled holes to use as a makeshift steamer in our rice cooker.  The things we do, sometimes, to improvise . . . It photographs better than my other method of using my oversized steamer insert, placing an upside-down saucer beneath it to lift it from the plate.)

Add some weight on top of the paneer.  (You don't really need 3 whole pounds, but that was the weight of the can my daughter grabbed when I asked her for a weight.  I shrugged and figured it would do.  It's powdered honey, by the way, in case you were wondering.)

Let the weight sit on the paneer for about 30 minutes.  This time, I confess, it sat longer, because I had someplace I had to be . . .

And that's all there is to it!  You can see from the edges that the texture is crumbly, but the area more toward the center is stuck together well.  As it sat under the weight longer than I usually do, it is more dry than I usually make it, but that will be to my advantage, I think, for my planned bread recipe.

At this point, if you're ready to use it, you can crumble or cut it.  If you want to store it, use a container with a lid, and add some water, according to the Show Me the Curry ladies.  (I've never seen queso fresco stored that way, but it seems to work.)  This is, incidentally, why I tend to form mine in a square, because it fits neatly into one of those cheap "entree-sized" food storage containers.

Now the challenge will be not eating it all before I try out the bread recipe I want to try . . . This is, after all, the cheese I spread on my Simple Wheat Crackers the night I was dying for crackers and cheese . . . So yummy . . .

Afterward:

Live and learn!  One thing I did not understand when I posted this is that the homogenized milk purchased at the store does not make this as well as milk which has not been put through this process.  As I did not have a source of raw cow's milk, I could only use the store-packaged, homogenized milk.  Just recently, I tried this recipe using our own home-produced goat milk, and it came out much differently.  The texture was smoother, the curds stuck together more completely (I could actually slice it better), and the flavor, of course, was richer.  <shrug>   Now I know.

Mexican Pan Dulce

Pan Dulce is a Mexican sweet bread.  (In fact, "Pan Dulce" literally translates as "sweet bread".)  Down here in the desert Southwest, it is very easy to find it in grocery store bakeries.  The topping on the bread comes in a variety of colors, usually pink, white, yellow, or chocolate brown.

I found a few recipes for Pan Dulce on the internet, but this one from Allrecipes was the one I finally settled on making this time.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup milk
6 Tablespoons butter
1 package active dry yeast (for me, a little less than a Tablespoon--I kind of eyeballed 2/3 of it.)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping:

1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 egg yolks

The recipe said to heat the milk, then add the butter, stir until melted, and leave to cool, then dissolve the yeast into this mixture.

Ugh.  It drives me crazy to wait for things to cool, so I look for workarounds.

I decided to make life more simple on myself by using powdered milk and lukewarm water, instead of milk from the refrigerator.  This water could then be used to dissolve the yeast, along with the sugar.  I also decided to melt the butter separately and add it to the dry ingredient mixture apart from the yeast mixture.  In this way, I wouldn't have to sit there, wondering when the milk and butter mixture would actually reach the correct temperature to not kill the yeast, which has sometimes been a tricky proposition.


Yeast, sugar, and water mixture on the left, melted butter on the right.

In a stand mixer, add the salt, melted butter, and, if you are using it, powdered milk.  Add a cup of the flour and mix with a bread hook.  Add the eggs and mix again.  Add the yeast mixture and mix again, adding more flour, until the dough pulls away from the bowl and is well-kneaded.  (For a review of mixing a bread dough in a stand mixer, see here.  If you want to mix it by hand, see these general directions or look at the original recipe link.)

A note here:  I was counting on the flour and powdered milk to help mitigate any extra heat from the butter, which I had heated just to the point of melting.  If I had added the melted butter into the mixture too hot and then added the eggs, I might have ended up with bits of cooked egg in my dough, which was not what I wanted.  Be aware of this possibility when working with warm melted butter and eggs.

Cover the dough and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about an hour.

An hour??  Remember, this dough has not only eggs, but also butter, which means it takes a little longer to rise than a dough with no eggs or butter.

By the time my dough had finished rising, I had gone on a walk with my husband, lifted a few weights at the community weight room, gone to the local convenience store, walked home carrying jugs of milk (we counted it as part of our workout), taken a shower, and totally pampered myself with lotions, etc.

I'm not exactly sure how much time had passed, but it was closer to two hours, despite my pellet stove adding heat to my house.  Good thing I had covered it with plastic wrap, then a kitchen towel, so the top of the dough didn't end up drying out.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll them into balls.

With a rolling pin, flatten the rolls into oval shapes and place them on a greased baking sheet.

Time to rise again!  Cover the dough and allow to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.  (This time, I covered them with wet paper towels to avoid drying out.  Rising time was a little over an hour.)

While the dough is rising, it is time to make the topping.  Here, the Kitchen Artiste in Training helps me separate the eggs.

Mix the sugar, flour, and softened butter in a bowl until well-blended.  I mixed the sugar and flour, then added the butter cut in small pieces.  Reaching deep into my memory from making Scottish scones (which I haven't posted yet), I put my fingers into the bowl and rubbed the butter into the dry ingredients until it was evenly distributed, nice and crumbly.

Beat the egg yolks with a fork to break them up, then add them to the flour mixture and mix.

This was the result.  I decided to leave it plain, instead of using food coloring to make it pretty or cocoa powder to make it chocolate.  (I can hear my family now . . . "What?  She passed up an opportunity for chocolate?")

When the bread dough has finished rising, it is time to sprinkle on the topping.  But when I got ready to sprinkle the topping on the rolls, I realized I had a problem.

How can someone sprinkle a crumbly topping on a roll with a somewhat rounded top and expect it to stay on the roll, instead of falling all around the roll?

Obviously, you can't.  Even the rolls which still maintained a certain amount of flatness on the top had a tough time keeping this topping on top, and a lot was being wasted on the pan.

I had read in the comments beneath the recipe a suggestion to add a little milk and make the topping into a sort of paste, then spread it on the rolls, so I decided to try it.



It sounded simple, but it proved to be much more difficult than it sounded.  How do you spread a somewhat sticky substance on a risen roll without smashing the roll?  Very, very carefully . . . and it might have a difficult time coming off the spatula and sticking to the roll . . .

I topped some of the first tray of Pan Dulce with the crumbly version and some with the paste version.  But after baking, I realized there was another problem relating to mixing two varieties of toppings on the same tray:  the toppings don't brown at the same rate.

To be honest, I didn't like either of those results, because neither was like the topping we were used to seeing in the store.  The crumbled topping tasted fine, but it didn't have the delightful texture I wanted.  And the texture of the paste was not satisfactory at all.  Partly because I had had to remove the tray before it had properly browned, it did not have the crunch we associate with Pan Dulce.

Back to the drawing board.

I remembered reading somewhere that another way of topping Pan Dulce is to roll the topping out with a rolling pin and lay it on the roll.  I had actually tried that way with a different recipe some time earlier and had not been too pleased with the results, so I had been reluctant to do it again.  But at this point, I decided it was time to cave and pull out my rolling pin.  Perhaps this topping recipe would work out better than the other one had.

I took some of the crumbled topping and squished it together in my hands, then rolled it out thinly with my rolling pin.

I placed the topping on the rolls and baked them.

At last!  Something which looks closer to the Pan Dulce in the store!  If you want the straight lines you frequently see on bakery Pan Dulce, cut the lines into the topping after rolling it and before placing it on the rolls.

So we ended up with quite a variety of topping styles, but at least I figured out which one I like the best.  Next time, I think I will divide the topping and try a little variety.  Maybe I'll put cocoa in some, to make the chocolate topping.  Or maybe I'll add cinnamon to some, which sounds like it would be very, very good.

When the girls tasted it, the first thing one said was, "That doesn't taste like Pan Dulce!"

"That," replied my husband, "is because you've only eaten them stale."

The ones in the store are usually very dry, while these were much softer.  The topping was delightfully sweet and buttery, with enough crispness in the ones where the topping was rolled out to crack and crunch just a little.  They were definitely delicious, and almost all were gone by the end of the day.

It's just as well they were, because they are definitely better the day they are made.

Tasty Flour Tortillas

Living in the desert southwest, everyone assumes you know how to make tortillas.  I was taught by one of my husband's cousins several years ago (a Texas girl, herself), but I didn't actually work out a recipe I liked until recently.

My biggest issue was the consistency.  No matter what I did, if the inside of the tortilla was cooked, the outside of the tortilla always seemed to come out crunchy, which is not what you want if you intend to use the tortillas in soft tacos or any other situation where they need to be folded.  I even tried increasing the amount of shortening in the recipe in the hopes it would soften the dough, but to no avail.  For a while, I completely gave up and refused to make them at all.

Fast forward several years later, when my husband and I discovered a tortilleria in Silver City, New Mexico, with the most heavenly flour tortillas.  We made special efforts to stop by every time we were in the area, and at least two tortillas never made it back home.  (Home?  I'm not sure those two tortillas made it to the next stoplight . . .)

One day, I was speaking with a co-worker about these wonderful tortillas.  "You know why their tortillas are so good?" he asked me.  "It's because they use lard."

Lard?  Well, I knew the Mexican ladies I worked with used a lot of lard, but I personally couldn't stand the idea of stocking the stuff, myself.  Then one day, when I had a daughter shopping for me, a glorious mistake happened.

Instead of buying all-vegetable shortening, which is what I normally pick up, she grabbed regular shortening off the shelf and brought it home.  An idea pinged in my mind.  If the lard was what made those tortillas so wonderful, then maybe using the shortening with both animal and vegetable fats, rather than all-vegetable shortening, would make the difference.

The secret ingredient!!

It did.  It really did!  I couldn't believe how easy it was to have soft, pliable, fluffy tortillas with just this one simple ingredient change.  I think the people in the tortilleria still make them better than I do, but you wouldn't guess it by how quickly they disappear off the table.

Ingredients for about a dozen tortillas:

2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt (Reduce this if you think they come out too salty.)
4 Tablespoons shortening
Hot tap water to make the dough--a little over 2/3 a cup is about right.

Mix the dry ingredients together, then cut in the shortening.

Add hot water and mix the dough with a fork until it gathers and forms a ball around the fork.  If you add a touch too much water, I as I did in the following picture, it isn't the end of the world.  It will just be a little sticky until the flour from your hands or from the rolling process incorporates into it a little.

With lightly floured hands, divide the dough and roll into balls about 2 inches in diameter.  (Smaller if you want smaller tortillas.)  I was told when I first learned that it is better to work quickly, while the dough is still a bit warm from the hot water.  I think she was right; if you wait too long, bits of the dough will dry out and it will be difficult to get a smooth tortilla.

Heat a skillet or griddle on the stove on medium heat.

I tend to use a normal rolling pin to roll out the tortillas, but many people use one looking more like the one on the left, which is made from a piece of sanded dowel.  I haven't practiced with it enough to be able to roll things out at a consistent level.  (By the time I'm done with rolling a tortilla using the dowel, it has wave patterns or something . . .)

It is very easy to get too much flour on tortillas in the rolling process, making them taste more like . . . well, flour.  But if there is not enough flour on the tortillas as they are rolled, they will stick to the board and end up forming very interesting shapes.  I remembered a trick the ladies from showmethecurry.com had used when making parathas--dipping the dough into a bowl (or pie plate) of flour as they went--and so decided to try it out this time.  I found it really did help to keep just the right amount of flour involved in the rolling process.

I probably shouild have slightly flattened the ball before dipping it.

Roll the tortilla, dipping into the flour lightly if necessary, until it is round and very thin.  (I confess not all mine are quite this round . . .)

If you have rolled out a tortilla and your pan is not ready to bake it yet, you can hang it on the side of your bowl or something while you roll out another tortilla--but not too long, or it will dry out.

Place the tortilla on the skillet or griddle (no oil necessary), spinning it around as it cooks if you are worried about it sticking.  (I've never had them stick.)  The surface will get bubbles on it as it cooks.  If a bubble gets too big, lightly press it down with your turner.

You can see toward the top left where I pressed down a large bubble.

After the surface has bubbles and the underside has lightly browned spots, flip the tortilla.

Cook until the next side has lightly browned spots, then remove and keep warm.

Continue with other tortillas until they are all cooked.  If flour starts to accumulate on the skillet or griddle, use a paper towel or kitchen towel to wipe it away.  (Otherwise, it will burn and you'll end up with burned flour on the next tortilla you cook.)


Yummy!  These are good for soft tacos, quesadillas, or just eating with butter.  (Or, as the Kitchen Artiste In Training likes to do, eating with butter and cinnamon-sugar.)