Home-Made Ricotta with Honey, Pepper and Farm-Style Bread

Making your own ricotta makes this dish all the more delicious.

INGREDIENTS

Ricotta

• 3 litres full-cream milk
• 2 ½ tsp salt
• 3/4cup white vinegar

To serve

• 1 loaf farm-style bread, sliced
• 3 tbsp honey
• Fresh honeycomb
• Black pepper

METHOD

Ricotta  Place milk and salt in a large pot. Heat on medium-high until the milk is steaming and barely simmering, ideally 80–85°C. Do not boil.

REMOVE the pot from the heat. Add vinegar and stir briefly to incorporate. Let the milk sit undisturbed for 10 minutes to curdle.

LINE a fine-mesh sieve with 2–3 layers of cheesecloth or a clean tea towel. Using a slotted spoon, transfer curds to the strainer. Drain ricotta for 30 minutes, or until desired consistency is reached. To serve  Preheat oven to grill.  Lay bread slices on an oven tray and grill until lightly toasted, for about 8 minutes.

PLACE ricotta in a serving bowl, top with the honey and thyme and season with freshly cracked black pepper. Serve while still warm with the toasted bread.

TIp: Ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk  will not work  in this recipe. Full-cream milk will give you  a creamier ricotta, but  low-fat milk  will also work. Drain curds for 10 minutes for a soft ricotta and up to an hour for a  firmer texture.

HANDS-ON TIME 10 min | TOTAL TIME 45 min | SERVES 4–6 | Vegetarian  | easy

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