Making Ricotta Cheese at Home

There is really no big secret to making home made ricotta cheese.  It is just milk, cream, vinegar or even buttermilk and that's it.  I have made this several times using different recipes and they are all equally as simple to make and just as good.  This latest batch was David Lebovitz' recipe which calls for milk, cream, yogurt, vinegar and salt.

First combine two quarts of whole milk (I used fresh raw whole milk from a local dairy), one cup of whole-milk plain yogurt, 1/2 cup of heavy cream (optional), 2 teaspoons of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt in a heavy pot and bring to a boil.  Gently boil for 1-2 minutes until a "raft" forms on the surface and the milk starts to curdle.

After the two minutes are up, I turn the burner off and let the pot sit for 15 minutes or so to cool and then spoon the curds into a cheesecloth lined sieve to drain.

Pour off the rest of the liquid through the cheese cloth, squeeze out any excess liquid and refridgerate.  I leave the cheese in the cheesecloth in the fridge until firm and then either use it right away or tranfer to a sealed tub.  This should keep up to 3-4 days but it never lasts that long around here!