We had some – a lot , actually – leftover quark after last week’s chair class. We bought enough so that everyone could make their own milk paint to paint their chairs…and only one person chose to make milk paint and paint their chair. Ah well – their loss is our gain (weight gain, that is).
In the back of Nick Kroll’s “Make Fresh Milk Paint” is his wife Babsi Kroll’s recipe for topfengolatschen that takes only five ingredients (including the leftover quark): a little granulated sugar, two eggs (one is for egg washing the dough), instant vanilla pudding mix, puff pastry sheets (thank you, Pillsbury) and quark. And if you’re fancy, a little dusting of powdered sugar on top for good looks.
Chris’ pantry was missing the powdered sugar, so I sprinkled a few grains of granulated on top for crunch…and let’s be honest: powdered sugar was not going to make mine any prettier…gotta get that dough twist down! But they taste darn good. Thanks, Babsi!
Oh – and milk paint? Looks as good as these pastries taste, and takes about the same amount of time to make (15 minutes, tops – including cleanup).
Any chance of a PDF of the Nick Kroll book?
We have no plans for a pdf.
Is this now available for international resellers? If yes I’ll start bothering the good people at Lee Valley 🙂
Yes
I made a batch of topfengolatschen then used the leftover quark to make milk paint. Same outcome, different priorities
What happens if you don’t add pigment to milk paint? Do you get a clear coat?
Hi Eric, just saw this. The result is translucent, like PVA glue. However, the lime in the milk paint base will react with many woods, creating an effect that is similar to oxidation.
This is especially prominent in woods with tannins; oak will instantly turn a rich brown, similar to ammonia fuming. So always make a test board, even with a “clear coat”.
Is there a place out there that sells quark? I haven’t tried looking for it in the grocery store, but I doubt it’s available around here.
Hi Steve,
Like Esther says below, it’s quite easy to whip up at home. But otherwise look for “farmer’s cheese” or “tvarog”. And if there are any local cheesemakers, ask them. Quark is the first step in many cheeses so they should for sure be able to whip some up.
I made one batch after watching your video. My yield was about half of yours. I have your book but haven’t read it yet. I’ll give it another try after I do.
We have a “farmer’s cheese” here (Northern California) but the consistency is nothing like quark. It’s more like mozzarella. It makes a great grilled cheese sandwich, though! 😀
Takes very little time starting with a half gallon of skim milk and some white vinegar, voluminous details in the book… Sez the lady who made a batch a week ago, divided it into sixths, and made a stack of color samples (red ochre, yellow ochre, chrome green and synthetic ultramarine in plain, mixed with titanium white and Mars black). If you do likewise I suggest whipping up half a dozen small boxes or somesuch to paint first instead of having to dump so much. I was surprised at how little difference a 3:1 mix of white and a 6:1 mix of black made except for yellow ochre, the yellow mixed with black came out the color of Dijon mustard. Directions were in a couple blog posts earlier if you can’t wait for the book.
Nick uses leftovers to paint blocks for the kids and woodworking jigs.
Sounds like you are off to a great start! Especially the testing of tinting and shading each color. Have you tried “toning” by combining both white and black with a pigment? Gives one more direction of color shift that can be really satisfying. Also, I love making greens by combining yellows and blues (and even chrome green again if needed); multi-pigment colors have a really strong dynamic range.
Good luck out there, hope to see some pictures of these projects soon!