Quick and Easy Home Made Bread and Home Made Cheese

Having friends over for Middle Eastern cuisine this past weekend, I had to come up with quick and easy appetizers to match the dinner's theme. These were a great hit!

Home Made Labneh (strained yogurt)

32 oz plain organic yogurt (always choose organic dairy)

Cheesecloth

Optional: 2 Tbs. fresh mint (or parsley), chopped

Optional: 1 Tbs. olive oil

Place the yogurt in cheesecloth and tie the ends of the cloth together with a rubber band, making it into a little sack. Place the cheesecloth in a strainer over a large bowl. Let the liquid drain out of the yogurt (you can help it by gently squeezing the cheese cloth every few hours.) You can keep the yogurt on the countertop for a few hours before placing it in the fridge or put it directly in the fridge on a hot day.  Within 24 hours the cheese will have drained it’s liquid (about 2.5 cups of liquid!) and is ready to be served. It will taste even better if you give it 2-3 days before serving.

Presentation: You can either spread the cheese out on a plate or roll the cheese into little balls, topping with olive oil and fresh chopped mint. (These also taste great when served with freshly cut tomatoes.) 

Optional: you can also mix your favorite spices into the yogurt at the start of the process to flavor the cheese. 

If you'd like to store labneh for yourself in the fridge for a long period of time, place in a jar and cover with olive oil.

I needed some bread to go with it....

Quick Bread (makes 12)

3.5 cups white whole-wheat flour

2 cups water

1.5 Tbs. olive oil  (poured into a small bowl)

Optional: Za'atar (middle eastern spice)

Salt to taste

To make the dough, mix flour with water. The consistency of the dough should be elastic and shouldn’t stick to the rolling pin or countertop. 

Tear off small fist sized pieces of the dough and roll out with a rolling pin. (There should be no need to dust the counter or pin with extra flour). Each bread should be 4”-5” round and about ¼” thick. 

Dip you finger in the olive oil to coat both sides of each bread-round before placing the bread on a baking sheet. Once all breads have been made and placed on a baking sheet sprinkle za'atar and salt over the breads and gently rub the spices in.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Feel free to use any other spices to top the bread.  

These breads freeze well, they are whole grain, and yeast free!

After our appetizers, this recipe is what we had for dinner. Yum!