Homemade Yogurt
Make your own yogurt. I have made this ad infinitum times and it always turns out well. I usually make it just before bed then it is ready in the morning.
Ingredients
- 4 cups pasteurized milk (I use skim milk)
- 2 tbsp. live culture yogurt, room temperature (see notes)
- 1/3 cup dry milk
- large glass bowl
- thermometer (see notes)
- finished yogurt containers (I use one pint glass mason jars with plastic lids)
Directions
1. Sanitize the glass bowl, thermometer, and ygurt containers. I soak them in boiling water for a few minutes (dip the thermometer probe to sanitize it). I have made the yogurt successfully without this step but I'm taking a chance.
2. Commercially sold milk is pasteurized. Read the label.
3. Make sure the starter yogurt has live cultures in it. Some yogurts have been pasteurized which would kill the live cultures.
4. Mix the dry milk in the pasteurized milk.
5. Heat milk in glass bowl in microwave until 180 degrees (about 6 to 8 minutes). Gently stir after 5 minutes so skin does not form on top of milk. This is necessary to change the milk structure so the milk proteins set together rather than clump to form curds and whey. Let sit 5 minutes.
6. Cool to 110 degrees. I put milk bowl inside a larger one filled halfway with cold water. It cooled in about 15 minutes.
7. Pour yogurt starter into milk and gently stir for 1 minute.
8. Cover. If the bowl does not have a hat, use a plate.
9. Incubate mixture at 110 degrees until set, about 6 hours. I use an electric oven with oven light on (heats up to about 105 degrees). See below for more methods.
10. Refrigerate then strain if you want.
11. Divide up into containers and keep refrigerate. I use 1 quart mason jars with screwtop lids. Keeps at least one week.
I have had success in making double or triple batches. Since the oven light is on, having two or three bowls of yogurt helps maintain the incubation temperature.
Optionals
To get Greek yogurt effect, strain in the refrigerator for an hour. The leftover liquid (whey) is very nutritious. I use it in place of water or milk in homemade bread. The longer the thicker. I left a batch overnight and it was very thick.
Mix in flavorings, if necessary. Try 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract or 2 tbsp honey.
Strainer Ideas
1. very fine mesh strainer. (this is what I use). I place the strainer over a bowl and cover. I generally wait 1 to 3 hours.
2. cheesecloth in a colander
3. I have heard that paper coffee filters do not work well because they saturate and tear; I have not tried them.
Incubation Methods
There are a lot of ways to incubate yogurt mixture.
- Put in electric oven with oven light on. If you have a remote sensor thermometer with alarm, you can set the alarm to ring at 113 degrees so the mixture does not kill off the cultures. This is my preferred method as it is the most controllable.
- Buy a commercial yogurt maker.
- Put mixture bowl on heating pad, cover with inverted pot, and set pad to low.
Thickeners
The original yogurt is a little thin though straining it will thicken it up. If you don't want to wait for straining, mix in a little gelatin.
Starter Yogurt
Use a quality nonfat, plain yogurt from the store. Once the first batch is made, save a few tablespoons for the next batch. I have read that the starter yogurt should be replaced every 5 or 6 batches with a commercial one, though I have not done this. I'm not sure of the ramifications.
Shelf Life
The yogurt has a shelf life in a refrigerator of 10 to 21 days.
Doug's Notes
I use an instant thermometer. While cooling, it is handy to have a remote thermometer with an alarm on it so you do not have to hang around. A remote thermometer with probe in yogurt mixture would be ideal so the incubation temperature can be monitored.
I use this yogurt in place of buttermilk in many recipes.
The dry milk adds milk solids which help thicken the yogurt.
If the yogurt incubates too long, it will get tart.