How To Make Bovre Cheese

Are you ready to get your foot in the door of cheesemaking? Learn how to make versatile bovre cheese at home with this simple recipe that requires few ingredients and will replace your cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and will even become a staple to add to your charcuterie board. A crowd pleaser for sure!

Visit us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest! Also, if you make this recipe, tag me! I’d love to see what you use this versatile cheese for.

• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Facebook

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Bovre Cheese: A Cheese Known By Different Names

I’ve heard this cheese referred to as bovre, quark, and fromage blanc (meaning white cheese). Whatever you prefer to call it, be prepared to meet your new favorite cheese to make in your kitchen!

Whenever I have extra milk, I skim the cream to make butter and use the skim milk to make quick mozzarella, yogurt or bovre. Out of these three, my favorite one to make is this one hands down. Maybe its the feeling I get when I cut the curds. So satisfying!

What Is Bovre Cheese?

Bovre is an extremely versatile fresh cheese. It can be made into a soft cream-cheese-like consistency, spreadable or the whey can be strained and made into a crumbly feta-like consistency. Either way, it is delicious and a great way to use extra milk! Plus, you can use raw milk or pasteurized milk.

Why You Will Love This Bovre Cheese Recipe:

1. It’s mostly hands off and requires only a few ingredients: milk (whether whole or skimmed), culture, and rennet.
2. It is a fresh cheese that can be made in a day.
3. It lasts me 2-3 weeks in the fridge! Meaning, if I make a big batch, I don’t have to worry about it molding before I can get around to using it all.
4. As stated above, I can change the consistency and use this cheese for so many things: dipping, sprinkling, spreading. My favorite thing is to use in lasagne! Try my Dad’s favorite lasagna recipe (recipe soon to come!).

Tips For This Bovre Cheese Recipe:

1. I like to start this recipe either first thing in the morning or right before I go to bed, depending on what kind of consistency I’m looking for. If I start in the evening, I can let it set overnight, but if I start in the morning, I will need to let it drain overnight which will result in a more crumbly cheese.
2. Do yourself a favor and don’t buy the cheese cloth at the grocery store. Invest in something a little more durable like these flour sack tea towels.
3. After you make and strain your cheese, rinse off your tea towel right away before it dries. Trust me on this.

What To Do With The Whey Leftover From This Bovre Cheese Recipe:

1. Add to soups! The flavor from this whey is unmatched. I routinely add to any soups I make throughout the week and have had people compliment me time and again on the flavor of my broth!
2. Use in place of water when cooking rice. You guys (blows chef’s kiss).
3. Use in any recipe that calls for chicken broth. For instance, I use this in my instant pot when cooking a chicken or roast. I’ve also even been known to add to pastas or my kid’s mac and cheese instead of milk.
4. Use in baking! I substitute whey for water in my sourdough, in biscuits, pancakes, and everything else in between for extra flavor and a protein punch.
5. Add to smoothies! There’s a reason why many protein powders have whey as the first ingredient.
6. Make my favorite mezithra cheese recipe (stay tuned!).
7. Freeze it! Whey freezes well. You could even freeze in ice cube trays to have individual servings.

Now, on to cheese making!

Kitchen Tools You’ll Need For This Bovre Cheese Recipe:

1. Large bowl
2. Colander or strainer
3. Flour sack
4. Large pot
5. Whisk

Ingredients For Bovre Cheese:

• 1-2 gallons of raw or pasteurized milk
• 1/8 teaspoon of mesophilic culture
• 2-3 drops of calf rennet
• Sea salt or seasonings of choice (optional)

Recipe For Bovre Cheese:

You can make this cheese in small or large batches. I usually make 1.5-2 gallons at a time, but you could just as easily make a gallon batch.

Start out by diluting 2-3 drops of calf rennet (you can use vegetable rennet too, but I’ve only ever used calf rennet) in about 2 tablespoons of water.

Heat your milk on medium low to anywhere between 80-90 degrees F. I try to stick to the middle of that range. If you have fresh milk from the morning (or evening milking), it will most likely already be at temperature.

If you’re doing a 1-2 gallon batch add about 1/8 teaspoon of your dry mesophilic culture. Let it sit for a few minutes and then stir it in with a whisk. Or, if you have whey leftover from this recipe, you can use 1/4 to 1/2 cup of that and just stir it in!

Next, add your diluted rennet and whisk it in.

Cover with a shower cap or tea towel and let it sit for 12-15 hours.

Your cheese should be jiggly and ready to cut and strain!

Now Is The Fun Part!

Cutting The Curds

Take a non serated knife and enjoy cutting your curds into a grid, however small you’d like. It doesn’t matter too much the size. If you had to strain whey off the top of your cheese before you cut, don’t worry. Sometimes I let mine sit too long and it does that. It doesn’t affect the cheese!

Straining Your Curds

Take a large bowl with a strainer inside and lay your flour sack over the strainer.

Pour your curds into the flour sack laden strainer and pull all four sides of the flour sack up and together and wrap a rubber band around to close.

Use your method of choice to hang your bovre cheese while the whey drains into your bowl. I use my microwave handle over my stove sometimes or I just leave it in the strainer. Use whatever works! As long as your strainer stays above the level of where they whey reaches, this is totally fine.

Let strain for 6-12 hours. If you want a more spreadable cheese, strain for less time. If you want a dry cheese for sprinkling over salads and on top of pastas, strain for a longer time.

Checking Consistency

You can easily check to see what consistency your cheese is at by opening it up! Use a spoon to mix it around if you’d like, as the edges tend to dry out faster than the center.

Transfer To A Container

When your cheese is at the desired consistency, transfer to a container and add your seasonings of choice! Bovre lends itself well to whatever seasonings you want to add. I usually just salt it for preservation, but have added lemon and garlic seasonings as well as italian if I know I’m going to use it for lasagne.

Enjoy! Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe and what you decide to do with it. There are so many options! If you enjoyed this bovre recipe, I would also appreciate if you would rate it.

In the meanwhile, check out my other posts!

• My Favorite Tools For Baking Sourdough
• Sourdough Events with Chiliwist & Raw Terms And Conditions
• How To Make Artisan Sourdough With Fresh Milled Flour Recipe
• How To Make Mozzarella Cheese
• In-Person Sourdough Class Survey

Bovre Cheese

Chiliwist & Raw

Learn how to make bovre cheese at home with this simple recipe that requires few ingredients and will replace your cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and will even become a staple to add to your charcuterie board!

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 hours hrs

Draining Time 6 hours hrs

Total Time 18 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• 1-2 gallons of raw or pasteurized milk
• 1/8 teaspoon of mesophilic culture
• 2-3 drops of calf rennet

Instructions

 

• Start out by diluting 2-3 drops of calf rennet (you can use vegetable rennet too, but I've only ever used calf rennet) in about 2 tablespoons of water.
• Heat your milk on medium low to anywhere between 80-90 °F . I try to stick to the middle of that range. If you have fresh milk from the morning (or evening milking), it will most likely already be at temperature.
• If you're doing a 1-2 gallon batch add about ⅛ teaspoon of your dry mesophilic culture. Let it sit for a few minutes and then stir it in with a whisk. Or, if you have whey leftover from this recipe, you can use ¼ to ½ cup of that and just stir it in!
• Next, add your diluted rennet and whisk it in.
• Cover with a shower cap or tea towel and let it sit for 12-15 hours.
• Your cheese should be jiggly and ready to strain!
• Take a non serated knife and enjoy cutting your curds into a grid, however small you’d like. It doesn’t matter too much the size.
• Take a large bowl with a strainer inside and lay your flour sack over the strainer.
• Pour your curds into the flour sack laden strainer and pull all four sides of the flour sack up and together and wrap a rubber band around to close. Alternatively, you can tie up your cheese and leave it sitting in the strainer, as long as it stays above the level of the whey.
• Use your method of choice to hang while the whey drains into your bowl. I use my microwave handle over my stove. Use whatever works!
• Let strain for 6-12 hours. If you want a more spreadable cheese, strain for less time. If you want a dry cheese for sprinkling over salads and on top of pastas, strain for a longer time. You can easily check to see what consistency your cheese is at by opening it up! Use a spoon to mix it around if you’d like, as the edges tend to dry out faster than the center.
• When your cheese is at the desired consistency, transfer to a container and add your seasonings of choice! Bovre lends itself well to whatever seasonings you want to add. I usually just salt it for preservation, but have added lemon and garlic seasonings as well as italian if I know I’m going to use it for lasagne.

Notes

Do yourself a favor and skip the cheese cloth from the grocery store. See above for the flour sacks I use instead! They are way more effective.

I’ve only ever used raw milk and milk that I’ve pasteurized myself, but if you do try ultra pasteurized milk from the store, let me know in the comments!

I use calf rennet, but I’ve heard vegetable rennet works just as well.

You can use whole milk, but I like to skim my cream for making butter. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Pasteurized Milk With This Recipe?

I have tried milk that I’ve pasteurized myself and it turned out great, however I would skip using ultra-pasteurized.

Can I Use Goats Milk With This Recipe?

Yes! If you use goats milk for this recipe, it’s actually called chevre instead of bovre. Let me know in the comments if you use goats milk instead!

Can I Double or Half This Recipe?

Absolutely!

Can I Use This Versatile Cheese For Cream Cheese?

YES. I love using this to spread on bagels and even use in cheese cakes! This is probably the most versatile cheese I make at home.

How Long Does This Cheese Last In The Fridge?

This cheese should stay fresh for 2-3 weeks in your fridge! You can try freezing it and use later if you’d like.