Baked milk

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Baked milk (Russian: топлёное молоко, Ukrainian: пряжене молоко) is a variety of boiled milk that has been particularly popular in Russia and Ukraine. It is made by cooking boiled milk on low heat for eight hours or more.

In rural areas, baked milk has been produced by leaving a jug of boiled milk in an oven for a day or for a night until it is coated with a brown crust. The stove in a traditional Russian loghouse (izba) was designed so as to "sustain varying cooking temperatures based on the placement of the food inside the oven".^[1]

Nowadays baked milk is produced on an industrial scale, as is soured or fermented baked milk, traditionally known as ryazhenka (Russian: ряженка). Like scalded milk it is free of bacteria and enzymes, and so can be stored safely at room temperature for up to forty hours. Home-made baked milk was (and still is) used for preparing a range of cakes, pies, and cookies.

Caramelized condensed milk is a similar preparation used in homemade pastries. It is sometimes prepared by prolonged heating of the unopened cans with sweetened condensed milk, though this is no longer recommended as it poses significant safety risks.