Twaróg, also known as ser biały, white cheese, is a pot cheese or farmer’s cheese. I made a batch this weekend because I wanted to make a Polish cheesecake.
I didn’t expect to fall in love, but I have. After one day in the fridge, the curds that I blitzed to make them creamy and smooth for my pastry had a wonderful, tart, salty taste with just a hint of sweet.
I can imagine using this cheese in so many ways, in recipes that I might have previously made with cream cheese, Brie, or ricotta.
I could serve it with a tart jam or pepper jelly on crackers. I can also imagine popping twaróg into the oven with brown sugar and pecans, serving the melted, caramely goo over little triangles of pumpernickel.
It would also be delicious mixed with finely diced or grated veggies. If you run it through a food processor, it would also be fantastic on a toasted bagel.
In case you’re wondering, this is also the cheese that you would use for my favorite, pierogi ruskie, filled with cheese and potato.
The twaróg was surprisingly easy to make, but I found that I like the taste better after it had aged in the fridge overnight, so I’ll recommend not making it at the last minute even though you could.
You can toss the liquid left behind, but many people like to save the whey for smoothies, soups, or bread making; just use the whey for part of the liquid in your recipe.
The cheese I whipped up made a wonderful cheesecake, the best sernik I’ve ever tasted. There are two key differences between American and Polish cheesecake. Polish desserts are less sweet; other than that, it’s all in the cheese.
Smcznego!
Lois
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Twaróg (Polish Farmer’s Cheese)
- Prep Time: 35 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 ounces
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
a wonderful homemade cheese that can be crumbly or creamy
Ingredients
- 2 quarts whole milk
- 2 cups butter milk
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (to taste, less for sweet, more for savory uses)
Instructions
- Heat milk to 181 F, turn off heat
- Add buttermilk and vinegar
- Stir until curds form
- Let sit for 10 minutes
- Line a colander with cheese cloth
- Using a slotted spoon, ladle the curds into the cheesecloth
- Wrap the cheesecloth around the curds, squeezing gently
- Let sit for 30 minutes and squeeze again
- Break the cheese into curds and season with salt
- Use as curds or you can make the cheese creamy in a food processor or by pushing the curds through a sieve and mashing with the back of a wooden spoon
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Michelle
OH MY GOODNESS! Thank you, Oh Queen of Polish Cuisine!
polishhousewife
LOL! My pleasure, Michelle. Enjoy!
Elizabeth Beaudoin
I have difficulty finding dry cottage cheese for my sernik so THANK YOU Lois. Looks fairly easy to make. Almost looks like ricotta but richer with the addition of buttermilk. Autumn has arrived here in Ottawa as we went from the 30’s Celsius as the high just two weeks ago to 16 Celsius as the high yesterday so it’s time to bake.
polishhousewife
It was really easy, Elizabeth, surprisingly so. Enjoy your fall baking!
David
Lois – I have failed at every homemade cheese making attempt, but I am going to try this! Why not? I also have to say that the non-sweet Polish cheesecake sounds SO much better to me! (And to Markipedia!)
polishhousewife
If you don’t get curds, David, just add a little more vinegar. Cheesecake recipe coming next weekend!
David
Thanks for the vinegar tip, Lois! Looking forward to the cheesecake recipe!
Kare Dahne
Please post your cheesecake recipe using this marvelous cheese.
polishhousewife
Will do, Kare; it’s the next post I’m writing. Should be up by next weekend.
Jean
This is so much better than cream cheese. Thank you for sharing your Polish cheesecake with us. It was a definite hit at our ;house. It has so much more flavor than “american style” cheesecake, not as sweet, and you can actually taste cheese in it. I’ve had only limited cheese-making experience, but I’m going to be making this one.
polishhousewife
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Francine
Thank you for this Farmer Cheese recipe! I was looking for a good one to fill my cheese pierogi, my favorite! I will try this!
polishhousewife
I think it will be just right for cheese pierogi! Enjoy!
Nancy Ei
Thank you so much for your cheese recipe. I never dreamed it could be so easy to make. I love your recipes. Keep up the most excellent work 🙂
polishhousewife
Thanks, Nancy!
Pat Palmer
Unfortunately for me, I have been put a on a very restricted low carb food plan for diabetes. I miss my Polish food and have been trying to adapt recipes. Do you by any chance know the nutrition information for Twarog? I love your recipes! Thank you.
polishhousewife
I use the free version of this app. They have an amazing amount of foods in the database.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/twarog-poltlusty-252182974
Cynthia
I have been doing low carb and have been substituting heavy whipping cream for milk.It has almost no carbs. I would think this could be made with heavey cream and buttermilk to reduce the carb count. Then input the ingredients and amounts into a recipe nutritional calculator online with the size serving and number of “servings” your recipe made. You will get the chart seen on the back of pre packaged foods.
Annie Donovaro
I made this cheese today… it was wonderful. I will never buy store-bought farmer’s cheese again. So fresh and flavorful! I used it to make pierogi… I split it between some sweetened cheese and some of Polish Housewife’s Pierogi Ruskie (potato/ cheese). Delish!
polishhousewife
That sounds so good, Annie!
Jakub
I use this recipe all the time. I just double the ingredientes and it makes about 3 lbs. It’s easy.
John J. Murawski-Mórawski
Hi Lois, Going to make this Twaróg from our cousins dairy down the road. We are going to use their raw milk.
(Non pasteurized and non homogenized) The butter fat content will be much greater.
My question is will the Twaróg be sweeter with the higher butter fat content?
polishhousewife
Hey, John, I’m no expert in this area. Your cousin might have better input!
Dlpens
What is the best way to store this cheese?
polishhousewife
I store it in the fridge in a covered container for 2 or 3 days.
Betsy
Thank you for posting this recipe. I have Polish loved ones who insist that you cannot make this kind of cheese with pasteurized milk, so I would like to clarify two things from your recipe, please:
1) Did you use raw (unpasteurized) whole milk or pasteurized whole milk?
2) Did the cheese in the cheesecloth sit in the fridge for 30 minutes after the first squeezing, or was it sitting in a kitchen at room temperature? If it is supposed to sit at room temperature, are there any temperatures that are too hot or too cold for making the cheese safely?
Thanks in advance!
polishhousewife
Hi Betsy,
I used pasturized milk, but not ultra-pasturized. It was at room temp. My house is typically 70-75 degrees. I found the following on myrecipes.com related to milk and time and temp.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, refrigerated foods, including milk, should never be out of the fridge at room temperature for longer than two hours. That window closes quickly if the ambient temperature rises. “If the temperature is above 90°F, food should not be left out more than 1 hour,” the US Food and Drug Administration says. That’s part of the reason the Dairy Council of California recommends going straight home after grocery shopping and immediately putting your milk in the fridge.
I do know Polish people who only make this by letting milk sit out overnight. They say the way I make it the cheese it gritty, but the cheese I bought in Poland was also gritty. I blitz it in the food processor to make it smooth if my recipe would be better that way.
Sheila
In the States, our buttermilk is not rue buttermilk. Is that okay!
polishhousewife
It worked for me.
Jean Turanski
If you make your own buttermilk (vinegar in one cup of milk) as opposed to store bought, will that make a difference?
polishhousewife
I think it would be fine.
Tara
Made this for the first time for Pierogi Ruskie and it turned out perfectly! So so good!
Joann Wisniewski
I’m planning on making this recipe and use it for my Bushia’s Cheese Pierogi, since I’m finding it hard to get the Andrulus Baltic Farmer’s Cheese that I normally use. Do you know how many pounds of finished Farmer’s Cheese this makes? I normally need 3 lbs of Farmer’s Cheese for her recipe.
polishhousewife
I believe this makes 10 ounces, Joann, so a recipe calling for 3 pounds, you’d probably need to make the recipe x 4.
Tracy Reed
Would this be the same for raw milk?
polishhousewife
Raw milk should be fine.
Julie
I made this for sernik for my family. I tasted it prior to making my the cheesecake and now I might have to make another batch. So good! Thank you!!
sherri
hi . i tripled this but got hardly any curd…definitely not enough for sernik. what am I doing wrong. I used whole mik, homemade buttermilk and vinegar. am I supposed to stir it for the entire ten minutes?
polishhousewife
Was your whole milk ultra-pasteurized? I haven’t been able to get curd from the ultra-pasturized.
Gary
Made this for the first time, never having made any cheese before. The curds that formed were extremely small, so I could not scoop them with a slotted spoon. I had to ladle the mixture into the cheesecloth and let it drain, so it was a slow process. Any indication of what might have been wrong?
Denise Melanson
So yummy! Better than anything in the supermarket. And so simple. Now I need to find the right balance of price quality in full fat milk. In the Netherlands
Marlane
OK- there is the Farmer’s Cheese I have been chasing all my life…NOW- this in a cheesecake that has a butter laden crips crust and a streusel topping???
-mike
Can you use lowfat (2%) milk?
In USA – Upper Michigan
Lois Britton
I have not tried it with 2%, but I’ve read that it’s possible. I know with certainity that ULTRA pasturized will not work.
Gary
I’m loving making Twarog cheese as an alternative to “kosher for Passover” cheese (which is unreasonably priced and tastes awful, in general. This year I added butternut squash, chives and fresh tomato and blended it in the cuisinart to use with quiches. I am wondering what ideas for flavoring with vegetables and what spices to add besides salt and pepper, are out there. Any thoughts?
Wanita
I made this cheese for Pierogi’s, absolutely wonderful. I am making it again to use in lasagna. I can hardly wait to taste it. Love this recipe.
Donna monaghan
I am looking for a recipe where you put two gallons of raw milk in a pot in a warm kitchen and let it sit there a good day before putting it on the stove. No adding lemon juice or vinegar. To make farmers cheese the whole process takes more than a day. I stayed with a Polish woman for about 6 months and watched her make it but for some reason I can’t remember the process of skimming offwhey and then sour cream before straining through cheesecloth begins it would yield over a one and a half to two pound of cheese. If anyone out there can help me out that would be great thank you
ona
Once the milk has curdled properly (such a consistency that when you take it on a spoon, it stands) then it is heated on the stove on a slow flame. When the whole circle of cheese has come up and the whey has appeared at the bottom, then the cheese must be drained. I line a colander and with a slotted spoon, pick out the cheese, then squeeze a little with my hands. Depending on the consistency of cheese you want, you squeeze more or less, if you want creamy, you squeeze just a little , if you like more dry you let it drip longer. Sorry for my English (I hope you understood), I am Polish from Poland and I studied English myself, never attended any lessons. Regards .