5-Minute Gzik Recipe! Traditional Polish Farmer's Cheese Dip (2024)

FAQs

Where is Gzik from? ›

The classic version, called gzik, comes from the Wielkopolska province in Poland. It's built from a farmer's cheese called twarog, which is essentially a dry version of what Americans know as cottage cheese.

We like to use farmer's cheese as filling for blintzes and pierogis, or as the foundation for a cheese spread. We'll also lightly fry it and use it in a sandwich, and it's great for cheese and crackers. You can also slice it really thin and roll it with your favorite salumi.

Cheese: You'll need a loaf of processed cheese food, such as Velveeta. Tomatoes: A can of diced tomatoes and green chile peppers lends flavor and color. Soup: A can of condensed cream of mushroom soup ensures a thick, creamy dip.

The most popular Polish breakfast food are open-face sandwiches featuring slices of hard cheese, cold cuts, tomatoes and cucumbers. Also eaten are different style eggs (soft and hard boiled, fried, scrambled, etc.), pot cheese with radish and chives or honey or jam served with fresh bread and rolls.

Fresh goat cheese, quick farmers cheese, paneer, queso fresco, and ricotta just can't melt. When heated, the acid in these cheeses lose water, but not proteins. Water will continue to be cooked off, but the proteins in the curd are only going to tighten, holding the cheese together.

Not all cheeses melt equally, so steer clear of acid-set cheeses. Chevre goat cheese, farmers cheese, feta, halloumi, ricotta or paneer do become softer with heat, but they won't spread out and melt. Aged cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano aren't a great choice, either.

What's a good substitute for farmer's cheese? We've already mentioned that cottage cheese is a good alternative, but Indian paneer and ricotta work too. That said, certain Slavic recipes (like pierogis, blintzes, and vareniki) are simply not as authentic without it.

Signs Cheese Has Gone Bad

"However, I'd throw out high moisture [cheese] with visible unintended mold because it can spread quickly in a high moisture environment," he says. Other signs you should toss cheese include an unintentional bitter flavor, fermented fruit taste, and a fizzy sensation on the tongue.

To freeze farmer's cheese: cool, wrap in plastic food wrap and place into freezer bag. Keep up to 3 months. The frozen cheese texture differs a bit from freshly made cheese and becomes a bit fall-apart, but works great for Cheese Pancakes and other breakfast recipes.

Based on lots of experience making farmer's cheese (and backed up by the book One Hour Cheese), there are three factors which control the scale of creamy to dry & crumbly: the degree of acidity at which you set the curd; the length of time you cook it (keep it at 180F+) the length of time you drain it.

How do you keep cheese dip creamy? ›

If you don't want to use American cheese, you can achieve the same creamy, stabilized texture with the addition of cream cheese — which also has stabilizers added. Use whatever cheese you like (cheddar, Monterey Jack or other cheeses) and then add 2 ounces of cream cheese to the mix.

Though Velveeta is no longer an FDA-defined genuine cheese, it does have some similarities, namely pasteurized milk and cheese culture.

For a cheese dip or sauce, the addition of cornstarch serves a similar function: Starch molecules absorb water and expand, not only thickening the liquid phase of the sauce, but also physically preventing the proteins from binding into long, tangled strands and the fats from separating out and pooling.

It doesn't age well, so store it in the refrigerator and be sure you eat it within a week after it's made if it lasts that long! If you bake with it, it melts beautifully. It's a great soft cheese for snacking.

Farmer's Cheese

Easily made at home using milk or even kefir, farmer's cheese is a crumbly, creamy, fresh cheese that can stand in for cream cheese with a small adjustment. Blend the cheese up with just enough heavy cream to make a thick mixture. If your farmer's cheese isn't particularly tangy, add some lemon.

With American-style farmer's cheese, it's cut into curds, drained, and pressed, creating a firmer, drier texture. But they're both refreshingly bright and tart.

The health benefits of farmer's cheese. Beyond the probiotics some farmer's cheese varieties can contain, there are many nutrients found in this cheese that qualify it as a healthy choice. These include calcium, phosphorus, protein, and B vitamins.