SRP
Cathlete
Hi all -
A while back, someone was asking if anyone ever tried to make yogurt and how to do it. I'd been thinking about it myself and that finally pushed me into giving it a try.
I have since made three successful batches, and it's really not hard. BUT it's very time consuming, and if you're doing it as a way to save money, I'm not sure that it actually does that. It is fun though... or it was, up to the point where I dropped an entire quart of milk in a glass jar on my very hard tile floor. Needless to say, the jar shattered, and I had milk and glass everywhere. I decided I'm going to buy my yogurt from now on.
But if any of you are interested, here is what I did:
Buy a container of plain yogurt. Make sure it has active yogurt cultures in it. Freeze it in ice cube trays. Whenever you are ready to make a batch, take out two yogurt cubes the night before and let them thaw in the fridge. The next morning, get them out and let them come to room temperature.
You'll need to get an early start. Yogurt has to incubate for at least 8 hours.
Bring a quart of milk slowly to 180 degrees. I use powdered milk, but regular milk works fine. If you use regular milk, add about a quarter cup of powdered milk, too, since you get thicker yogurt if you have more milk solids.
Once you get the milk to 180, let it cool down to 115 degrees. Keep an eye on it. It cools faster than you'd think. Take a little of the 115-milk and mix it in with the yogurt cubes that you thawed. Then add that into all the milk and mix well.
I use a glass quart jar for the incubation. I'd recommend glass or ceramic. I wrap the jar in a big bathroom towel to help keep the heat in, and then stick it in my oven with the light on. I keep a candy thermometer in the oven to watch the temperature. Every once in a while, I'll turn the stove on "warm" to give it an extra boost, but I can only keep it on for a few minutes, because my "warm" is too warm for the yogurt.
Keep this up for about 8 hours. I think the longer you go, the more of a "tang" the yogurt will have. You pretty much just have to stick around the house if you do it this way. If you have a more thermally insulated way to let it incubate, it won't be so bad.
After the 8 hours, take a look. You should have yogurt.
A while back, someone was asking if anyone ever tried to make yogurt and how to do it. I'd been thinking about it myself and that finally pushed me into giving it a try.
I have since made three successful batches, and it's really not hard. BUT it's very time consuming, and if you're doing it as a way to save money, I'm not sure that it actually does that. It is fun though... or it was, up to the point where I dropped an entire quart of milk in a glass jar on my very hard tile floor. Needless to say, the jar shattered, and I had milk and glass everywhere. I decided I'm going to buy my yogurt from now on.
But if any of you are interested, here is what I did:
Buy a container of plain yogurt. Make sure it has active yogurt cultures in it. Freeze it in ice cube trays. Whenever you are ready to make a batch, take out two yogurt cubes the night before and let them thaw in the fridge. The next morning, get them out and let them come to room temperature.
You'll need to get an early start. Yogurt has to incubate for at least 8 hours.
Bring a quart of milk slowly to 180 degrees. I use powdered milk, but regular milk works fine. If you use regular milk, add about a quarter cup of powdered milk, too, since you get thicker yogurt if you have more milk solids.
Once you get the milk to 180, let it cool down to 115 degrees. Keep an eye on it. It cools faster than you'd think. Take a little of the 115-milk and mix it in with the yogurt cubes that you thawed. Then add that into all the milk and mix well.
I use a glass quart jar for the incubation. I'd recommend glass or ceramic. I wrap the jar in a big bathroom towel to help keep the heat in, and then stick it in my oven with the light on. I keep a candy thermometer in the oven to watch the temperature. Every once in a while, I'll turn the stove on "warm" to give it an extra boost, but I can only keep it on for a few minutes, because my "warm" is too warm for the yogurt.
Keep this up for about 8 hours. I think the longer you go, the more of a "tang" the yogurt will have. You pretty much just have to stick around the house if you do it this way. If you have a more thermally insulated way to let it incubate, it won't be so bad.
After the 8 hours, take a look. You should have yogurt.
