Making Paneer - Trial #4 (Homo milk & White vinegar)
Today I went grocery shopping and picked up a 4 liter 3-bag pack of homogenized milk (3.25% butterfat) so I could do a final trial on the production of paneer. I used white vinegar because it's cheap, I have a ton of it in the house and the percentage of acid is consistent for the volume used. My kitchen scale is not digital so the accuracy is low but after pressing the paneer under the same weight as before (a 796 ml can of ground tomatoes) for at least an hour, I got a bit over 11 oz of paneer per 8 cups of homo milk which equals 1.375 oz paneer per cup of milk.
Definitely a higher yield than with 2% milk. I'll have to repeat the experiment of course. Maybe tomorrow while I'm baking off the last of the sugar cookie dough from my freezer. After all, St. Patrick's day is coming soon. :)
I did notice that it took longer for the homo milk to come to a boil and that it's necessary to be diligent about scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent the milk from sticking and possibly scorching.
ETA: I repeated the homogenized milk (and white vinegar) trial this afternoon and got 10 oz of paneer.
ETA2: I had to correct the totals below to total oz per total cup measure because of a major typo. Sorry about the confusion.
So, the 2 batches average to 10.5 oz of paneer per 8 cups of homo milk compared to 8 oz of paneer per 8 cups of 2% milk. Even with the fact that homo milk is $1 more per 4 liters, the cost works out to $3.85 per pound of paneer made with homo milk compared to $4.06 per pound of paneer made with 2% milk.
Definitely a higher yield than with 2% milk. I'll have to repeat the experiment of course. Maybe tomorrow while I'm baking off the last of the sugar cookie dough from my freezer. After all, St. Patrick's day is coming soon. :)
I did notice that it took longer for the homo milk to come to a boil and that it's necessary to be diligent about scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent the milk from sticking and possibly scorching.
ETA: I repeated the homogenized milk (and white vinegar) trial this afternoon and got 10 oz of paneer.
ETA2: I had to correct the totals below to total oz per total cup measure because of a major typo. Sorry about the confusion.
So, the 2 batches average to 10.5 oz of paneer per 8 cups of homo milk compared to 8 oz of paneer per 8 cups of 2% milk. Even with the fact that homo milk is $1 more per 4 liters, the cost works out to $3.85 per pound of paneer made with homo milk compared to $4.06 per pound of paneer made with 2% milk.