Ingredients
1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
3 1/2 cups full cream milk
Method
1. If your milk is not pasteurised you should bring it to the boil, then allow it to cool to room temperature (covered with a lid). (
Jess:I used mine right out of the fridge)
2. Stir the buttermilk into the milk in a container you can cover, or make the mixture in the insert of your yoghurt incubator.
Jess:(Or just put the buttermilk in first, then add milk and do NOTHING! HAHAHA!)
3. Put the container in your incubator, or wrap it in a towel and keep it in a warm place. One option is to preheat the oven to 50 ∘C and turn it off before placing the container inside.
Jess:(Or in Davis just put it outside in 100 degree weather for 24 hours!- on the asphalt pavement for an hour to get it going seemed to do the trick)
4. Allow the culture to proceed for ~24 hours, or until the curds and whey separate.
At first the milk will look grainy, and eventually the curds will float on the whey. The grainy stage is probably sufficient, but might give a lower yield.
Jess: This looks SO awesome!!
5. Dampen a clean tea towel and use it to line a sieve. Place the sieve over a basin. Pour the curds and whey into the strainer. Bring the tea towel together so that it covers your quark and do it up with a rubber band. Place the entire draining apparatus in the fridge.
Jess: Basically, use a thin dishtowel, you know, the kind you would usually hate because they don't soak up well but make a great palat for artwork? Yeah, just lay it in a collander over a bowl and dump the weird mix in! Don't forget to bring up the ends to the dishtowel together like a little gold sack. I tied mine together with a hair tie. I'm sure Julia Childs never thought of that!
6. Allow to drain in the fridge overnight, or for 24 hours. The drained quark should have a consistency similar to sour cream, but it has a more sour taste.
And when you make the cake, do make sure to borrow an awesome red springform pan from a friend. I think it improves it's "wow-power" and the taste of course!
