Yogurt From Your Kitchen

It took me awhile to get on the "plain - maybe Greek - yogurt" bandwagon. I think I was convinced when I realized just how much sugar is in not plain yogurt...especially if you buy the el cheap-o kind. To be honest, though, I still bought it. But then I saw on Mel's Kitchen Cafe that I could make my own yogurt! Well, the little chemist/bacteria grower inside of me (I spent a whole summer growing e.coli) decided that I would do just that!

The end result? Delicious. Creamy. Wonderful! It has become a highly versatile staple in my kitchen, making its way into pancakes, coffee cake, cookies, butter, frosting, bread, my daughter's stomach...pretty much everything! I do have to say there is something quite remarkable about the fact that I can get my daughter, who is two, to eat it with very little sugar. 

I do have to say, I am not sure if this is legitimate Greek yogurt. I use Greek yogurt as a starter, but my kitchen is no Dannon food processing plant. I do know that if you strain it long enough, it is very very thick and that, to me, is the greatest indicator of it's wholesome delight!

I have now made yogurt for almost a year and I am sold that it is the most affordable way to make it. It also is yummy and healthy I'm not going to pretend that I know all the health benefits. I am not the nutrition facts label, but I can tell you that there is no high fructose corn syrup or loads of artificial sweeteners and yet it still is edible!

(This post is for my mother. Love you, Mom! It is not in its most refined form. If you really want to make yogurt and are confused, comment or call me and I will help you straighten out our worries.)

Yogurt

You must plan ahead to make this delicious stuff. It will take about 6 hours to prep the yogurt, 8 hours to culture and another 4 - 6 hours to strain the whey. I usually begin at 3 PM, let the yogurt culture overnight, and strain it in the morning.

1 gallon of milk (I have used everything from skim to whole)
1/2 C powdered milk
1 6 oz cup of plain Greek yogurt - I just get whatever is cheapest. You want it to say that it has life cultures in it. If it names the life cultures, even more legit. If it doesn't, but does say "live active cultures" then it will still work. But get Greek.

Cheese cloth or flour sack dish towel

Begin at 3 PM.
Pour 1 gallon of milk into a (at least) 5 quart crock pot. Turn the crock pot on high and allow the milk to warm up to 178 F. This is the pasteurization step. First you must kill all the unwanted bacteria before you can put the wanted bacteria in. This can take anywhere from 2 - 4 hours.

When the milk has reached 178 F, remove the stoneware portion of your crock pot from the heater portion. Remove about 1 C of milk from the crock pot to a bowl, add the powdered milk, whisk until dissolved and pour back into the crock pot through a strainer (catching any clumps that did not dissolve).

Allow the milk to cool until it reaches 125 F. You can aid this cooling process by stirring it every so often or putting it on a cold cast iron pan to help draw the heat out - just in case you are anxious to go to bed.

It will probably be around 8 or 9 o'clock PM before your yogurt cools.

Again, remove about 1 C of milk from the crock pot and pour it into a bowl. Add the Greek yogurt starter to the bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the mixture back into the crock pot and mix into the milk.

By now your yogurt should be between 112 F and 119 F. This is the temperature you want to incubate it at for 8 - 10 hours. If it is a little cooler than 112 F, don't panic too much. You can reheat it, or just leave it. The rate of growth of bacteria will be slightly slower. If you do reheat, don't kill your bacteria friends in the process!

Put the lid back onto your crock pot. Wrap your crock pot in a heavy beach or bath towel. Line a cooler* that is big enough to fit your crock pot with a heavy blanket - like fleece or heavier. Place your towel-wrapped crock pot into the blanket lined cooler, wrap the blanket around the crock pot and let it incubate for 8 - 10 hours. Your little bacterias will be as happy as a clam in salt water and they will produce delightful yogurt for you.

When you awake the next morning, pull your yogurt out of the cooler. Line a strainer or colander with the cheese cloth or clean flour sack towel and place it on a large pot - like a stock pot. Transfer the yogurt to the strainer and put the strainer/stockpot combo into the fridge. I like to drain the whey for at least 4 hours. If the yogurt gets too thick, you can always add whey back in.

When the yogurt has become chunky and thick, remove it to a blender or a large bowl and blend it or whisk it with an electric hand mixer until it becomes smooth. This process will also thin out the yogurt. Be careful not to over blend or over whisk. Blending - 2 or 3 pulses, maybe 4 - 5. Whisking - until it looks delicious to you.

Pour your yogurt into storage containers. I use glass jars with canning lids because yogurt can easily take on the taste of whatever used to be in your storage container (garlic yogurt makes great sour cream!)

You can also save all that great whey to use in your pancakes and bready items - just don't do a 1 to 1 substitution for water. You can also add a bit to smoothies. We think it has protein nutritional value - but we have only speculated.

So there you have it! Yogurt.

Let me sum up.

Heat milk to 178 F.
Add powdered milk.
Let cool to 125 F.
Add yogurt starter.
Temperature should be between 112 - 119 F.
Wrap in towel and blanket. Put in cooler for 8 - 10 hours.
Drain whey off through cheese cloth/towel.
Blend until smooth.
Enjoy!

*If you don't have a large cooler, then you can use your oven. I would warm it up to about 200 F and then turn it off before you put your towel and blanket wrapped crock pot in it. It will help to keep the surroundings warm.

If you want to do this but feel nervous, do just 1/2 gallon of milk. No one can cry over 1/2 gallon of milk if it doesn't work...but a full gallon at $3.78 a gallon. That is something to cry over. :)

And as far as eating it goes - I find that a couple of sprinkles of sugar, some lemon juice and a few berries, especially black berries, makes for a delightful combination. You can also add any sort of jam (homemade strawberry), syrup, honey...you name it, try it! The lemon juice takes some of the edge away and results in less sugar to help it taste delicious.

courtesy of Mel's Kitchen Cafe with a revamp of the incubation process