Sunday, November 11, 2012

Home-made yogurt

I like yogurt a lot, but I discovered you can make it at home for significantly cheaper than it costs usually.  I use 2% because I like it to have some flavor.  I have used anything from the cheapest half gallon I could find to the stuff I get delivered, which is higher quality. 

The yogurt after sitting in the fridge overnight.

 The best time to make this is 1.5 days before you want to start eating it.  I usually make it in the afternoon and then let the jar sit overnight to let the bacteria do their work.  Then I put it in the fridge the next morning and it's ready the day after that.


A note on the starter culture, if store bought.  Different stores carry different yogurts.  Ideally, you need plain, no flavor, no pectin, no sugar added yogurt.  The label should only say there is milk and cultures in it.  I was lucky enough to find a yogurt that was only milk and cultures, no added sugar.  This took me a bit a hunting to find it (reading all the ingredients labels), but I managed.  I used Brown Cow greek-style yogurt.  I have a friend who has used this recipe who could not find any sugar-free yogurt, so he just went with the least sugar added he could find and said it worked well.  I have heard that the bacteria will begin to weaken, so you'll have to replenish them with a store-bought culture every once in a while.  I'm not sure how often, yet, I've only done this twice.
 
Ingredients:
It's really good with some fruit mixed in.  These are peaches I canned.


  • 1/2 gallon of milk (skim is okay, but more fat makes it tastier)
  • 2 tablespoons of yogurt, either store-bought, or from a previous batch (see note above)
  • 2 glass quart jars (I used mason/kerr jars)
  • 1 small igloo cooler (big enough to fit the jars and a quart sized bag filled with water)



Instructions:


  1. Heat the milk in a deep saucepan over medium to medium high heat to 170 deg, using a candy thermometer. Stir regularly to keep it from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot.
  2. Cool the milk to 110 deg in an ice bath (i just put the saucepan in a large bowl in the sink and kept the water running into the bowl, being careful to keep it out of the milk.) Stir occasionally.
  3. While cooling, fill two glass quart jars with hot water to warm them up.  Also fill a quart plastic freezer bag with hot water (not hot enough to melt it).
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together a cup of the 110 deg milk and the two tablespoons of yogurt until it's smooth. Add that back to the saucepan and stir.
  5. Pour out the water and fill the jars with the milk. Put the lids on tightly.
  6. In an insulated cooler lined with a small towel, nestle the jars and the quart freezer bag, fill in the spaces with more towels and put on the lid.
  7. Put in an out of the way place and do not disturb for about 12 hours or overnight. At this point, it will be a bit heterogenous, put the jars in the fridge to firm up the yogurt.
  8. If you want thicker yogurt, line a colander with cheese cloth or a large coffee filter and pour the yogurt on top.  Let it drain over night in the refrigerator.

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