Making and Using Quark Cheese

The delicious soft cheese that I made in my previous soft cheese post is called "Quark". I made quark and didn't even know it!

Here are the directions. I am going to start another batch today!

Ingredients
•1 Gallon 2% milk
•8 oz cultured buttermilk

Directions
1.For making homemade quark you'll need about 2 days. With this recipe you can make about 1 kg ( little over 2 pounds quark). The quarks texture is depending on how long you drain the quark. The longer you drain, the drier the quark. If it got to dry just add some milk or whey for making it smooth again. Important: Only use very clean utensils.

2.Pour milk ( in my experience 2 % or higher works best) in a large bowl. Use a plastic bowl with lid. No stainless steel bowls! Add buttermilk and stir, using a wooden spoon.

3.Cover bowl with lid and let stand at room temperature (72 F) for 2 days. Do not move the bowl to achieve best results.

4.After 2 days you've got soured milk. Place bowl (still covered with lid) on a dishtowel lined baking sheet. Put it in the middle rung of the oven. Set temperature to just under 150 F and heat for 2-4 hours or lower temp and leave overnight. Now the whey splits from the quark. The whey is yellowish-green in color.

5.Line a strainer with a cheesecloth and put in a bowl. Using a slotted spoon, fill quark in strainer.

6.Tie cheesecloth and strain quark by hanging it in a cool place. (the cooler the better) Keep the whey for a healthy drink if desired. Whey can also replace water in any baking recipe. It contains a lot of vitamins and goodness from the milk.

7.After the quark is drained, store it in the refrigerator for up to 6 days, depending on the room temperature where the quark was drained.

I'm off to sour some milk!

Here are a few recipes, all untried by me (but not for long!)

Quark cheesecake:
Ingredients:
•1 store bought frozen pie shell
•2 eggs
•1 1/2 cups Quark
•1/2 cup confectioners sugar
•2 Tbsp whole milk
•2 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375

Whisk eggs. Using a spoon, mix in Quark, sugar and vanilla.

Pour mixture into a pie shell. Bake until the mixture is set in the middle, about 1 hour.

Let tart cool. Serve chilled. Top with berries.

Quark Crumb Bars
Uses one 9 x 13 pan

Combine in a mixing bowl:

16 ounces quark
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup dried blueberries, cherries or raisin
Mix well and set aside.

In a second bowl combine: (mixture will be crumbly)

1 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
1/4 t. salt
3 1/2 cups white flour
Blend with a pastry blender. Measure out 2 1/2 cups of crumbs. Pat into a greased 9x13 glass baking dish. Push up about 1/2 inch of dough around the edges of the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes

Pour quark mixture over baked crust. Spread evenly. Incorporate 1/4 t. baking powder into remaining crumbs. Spoon evenly over quark. Pat down very slightly. Bake 30 -35 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool before cutting.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients2 red bell peppers, halved and de-seeded
4 ounces Quark
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
fresh ground black pepper

Directions
Place the peppers skin side up under a hot grill until the skin is black (approx. 20 mins). Place them in a sandwich bag, seal it and leave for 10 minutes. Now you should be able to remove the charred skin really easily. Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours before serving, that allows the flavours to develop and blend. Serve as a dip with vegetables or bread.

Quark Tirmisu
Ingredients
24 dried sponge cake fingers
500 g Quark
4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
150 ml strong coffee
60 ml Kahlua
3 cups mixed berries
100 g chocolate, finely grated

Directions
Combine quark and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
Combine coffee and kahlua in a separate bowl.
Prepare 6 large,clean wine glasses. In the bottom, place one large tablespoon of the quark mix. On top of this place a medium sized amount of berries, just enough to cover.
Break the sponge finger in half. Dip 4 halves into the bowl of coffee mix until soaked through. Remove and place on top of berries. Add a pinch off chocolate. Repeat until the glass is filled, at least twice.
Top off with an extra layer of quark, a few berries and a generous grating of chocolate. Repeat with the rest of the glasses and chill until serving.


Quark pasty sweet rolls

NOTE: The vanilla cream flour can be replaced by mixing together 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar and 1/4 cup potato or wheat flour

Dough
1 cup whole milk
3/8 cup softened butter
1/4 ounce dry yeast (1 packet)
1 egg
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups wheat flour

Filling
1/4 cup butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup Quark
1/4 cup vanilla cream flour

Icing
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3 teaspoons fresh orange juice or lemon juice
1 dash water, to desired consistency

Directions
Prepare filling by mixing ingredients into a smooth paste. Refrigerate until needed.

In a saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and butter to about 40C/104°F.

In a bowl, crumble the yeast into the warm milk and butter mixture. Add sugar, salt and egg. Mix together well until the yeast is dissolved.

Add flour gradually until the dough forms a ball. Add more flour only if it's still sticky and add only a little at a time.

Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Place a towel over the bowl and let the dough double in a warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes to 1 hour [warming the oven to ~40C/100F works very well as a proofing box].

Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you. Lightly flour dough and roll into a 16-inch x 12-inch (40cm x 30cm) rectangle.

Spread filling on the dough leaving a 1cm/.5in border on the far edge.

Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder.

Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam-side down.

Very gently stretch and roll to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch/45cm length; push ends in to create even thickness.

Using a sharp serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters. Slice 3,8cm/1.5in pieces from the rolls and place into a rectangular pan using a spatula.

Cover with a towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven warms to baking temperature.

Make icing.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200-225C/390-435F for about 13-15 minutes.

Cut apart and drizzle icing over the tops.