Making this vegan stracchino cheese from scratch completely at home has never been this easy! Here's a step-by-step guide for you!
Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano
Today I'm really excited to present you the recipe of this vegan stracchino cheese!
Along with eggs, one ingredient that vegans are very likely to miss (I reckon even more than eggs) is indeed cheese.
Lately we're experiencing a real boom here in the UK. Every supermarket nowadays has at least one plant based alternative, but the real issue is that they usually don't taste that great, at all, so I've started experimenting myself and I now have a nice collection of homemade vegan cheeses and recipes that feature those that you can easily find here.
When I was a vegetarian one of my favourite cheeses used to be Stracchino. This is a soft and very creamy cheese made from whole cow milk, that only needs a quick maturation, and it is typical from a bunch of regions in the North of Italy. It can be eaten by itself, in salad, as a spread or melted in piadina, a flat rounded bread similar to tortillas, from Emilia Romagna.
It's been years that, after a number of attempts, I'm making vegan stracchino at home, completely from scratch. You won't believe how easy and highly satisfying it is and I assure you that this little baby here is P E R F E C T: both texture and taste wise!
I recommend you to try it even if you have never tasted it before. You won't be disappointed!
How to make Vegan Stracchino Cheese
Ingredients (make a 400gr block):
250 g Soy Milk (Unsweetened)
120 g Soy Yogurt (Unsweetened)
20 gr Tapioca
20 gr Corn Flour
30 gr Soy Cream*
½ tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
½ teaspoon Sea Salt
...for the soy cream...
125 g Vegetable Oil
65 g Soy Milk
7 g Sugar
1 g Salt
¼ teaspoon Lactic Acid (optional, but makes it taste more authentic. Alternatively use 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice)
Please note the dose of the soy cream is larger than the amount required in the recipe. You can use it to coat pasta or in other vegan cheeses, or even as a mayo. Using a lower amount it won't emulsify ideally.
Method:
1. For the soy cream: add all the ingredients to a deep glass and blend to smooth with a stick blender.
2. In a pan add tapioca, corn flour and soy milk. Mix well until combined.
3. Then add in this order: soy cream (only 30g), garlic, salt, lactic acid and nutritional yeast.
4. Set the pan on a low heat and cook until it thickens (around 3 minutes), stirring constantly. You'll have a very stretchy consistency. You're doing it great, this is exactly what we want to achieve. Now turn off the heat.
5. At this point it's time to combine the yogurt. Do not rush this step: combine it perfectly with a spatula and transfer the cheese in one or more molds, coated with baking paper. This cheese is typically squared, but of course feel free to give it any shape you like.
6. Allow it to cool completely at room temperature, then keep in the refrigerator for up to one week (although it never lasts that long!).
7. Serve with crackers, or melt on pizzas, pasta bakes, sandwiches or anything you like, really!
Don't forget to let me know what you think if you try it 🙂
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you do, take a look to my other recipes for vegan cheese, like my Ultimate Vegan Mozzarella or this Vegan Baked Camembert.
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Kat
Hello! I wanted to try your recipe today but am wondering if you could clarify how much lactic acid I need to use? The recipe only lists lactic acid as an ingredient used for preparing the soy cream, but then step 3 says to mix "soy cream, garlic powder, salt and lactic acid"? So will I need to add more lactic acid in this step, and if yes, how much? Many thanks
Haven Monahan
Good news is that lactic acid does NOT come from milk, or other animal sources, so feel free to use it in vegan recipes like this. It is only called “lactic acid” because it was first isolated from sour milk by a Swedish chemist in the 1800s
Adriana Z.
That's very true!
Thank you for this very informative comment. I'm aware that some people get confused for the "lactic" in the name and assume it's not SFV. You made me think I should probably add a note to the ingredient to avoid any doubts.
Have a lovely week 🙂
Adriana.
avegtastefromatoz
Hi Rita, thanks for your comment.
I do feel you as I had the same problem when I was a veggie.
I'll be posting more plant based cheeses in the future; it's one of the things I'm loving the most at the moment and I hope you'll find it interesting to try 🙂
Have a lovely Sunday 🌼
Rita
It's true that to get cheese is difficult. I am vegetarian, but to get cheese without rennet in America,is difficult.