Nibbles asked yesterday how to make yogurt.
So here you go:
I'm giving directions for a smallish amount of yogurt. I usually make more than this, but for a first try this would be good.
Put a quart of non fat milk into a pan with a heavy bottom so the milk is less likely to scorch.
Stir together a cup of dry milk powder with a cup of water. Stir this into your milk.
The dry milk powder adds 'milk solids' which make thicker nicer yogurt.
Heat this up over low heat until it measures 180 degrees on a thermometer. We are 'scalding' the milk.
Take it off the heat and let it sit and cool in the pan until it is about 110-115 degrees or a little less. This will take a while. Go do something else.
Have some clean glass containers you want to make your yogurt in. I use pint canning jars, and also littler glass jars for individual servings. It really doesn't matter. You can put it all into one jar if you want to. Just make sure it is nice and clean and has a lid.
Once the milk has cooled, Take off any 'skin' that may have formed on the surface of the milk and stir in some yogurt that you bought at the store. Plain is best, but I have also used 'fruit on the bottom' yogurt and it works fine. Choose a brand that you like the flavor of. I have used Dannon, Mountain High, Nancy's (a tart variety) and most recently
I have found an Italian yogurt at Trader Joe's that I like the best. I can't remember the name of it. In any case, buy the best plain yogurt you can afford. Make sure it says 'live cultures' or 'live bacteria' those are the critters you need.
For a quart of milk, I used about a half cup of yogurt from my last batch. (About every 7 or 8 batches, I buy some new starter as sometimes it seems to get 'tired' and wants refreshing)
Anyway, stir that in well to incorporate it throughout your warm milk and pour it into your jar(s).
Now it needs to sit quietly in a warm place. If you have a hot water heater handy, that is perfect. Just put a folded towel on top of it and then your jars of yogurt covered with another towel for a few hours. It will set up. Don't check it for at least three hours or move it around much.
What I do with mine is this.... I put a bath towel on my countertop in the kitchen. I put an electric heating pad on that. I let it heat up for several minutes then put my jars right on the mat and cover the whole thing with a down lap throw I have. A thick towel would work.
Then I turn OFF the heating pad. After a while if I reach my hand under there and think it is not warm enough, I turn it back on for 5 min. to warm it up a tad. You want it to stay around 110 -115 degrees or so. Too hot and you will kill the culture, too cool and it won't set.
It sounds all scientific and fiddley, but really it's not that exact.
Now you can really go do something else.
Then after about 3 or 4 hours I lift up the blankie and give a jar a little poke to see if the yogurt has set. If it has I put them right into the refrigerator. If it is still liquid, I let it sit longer and make sure it is warm enough in there. 110 is not that hot, so don't get crazy with the heat.
That's it.
Make sure to save some yogurt for your next batch.
I know it sounds kinda tricky at first, but hey, you are only risking a quart of milk after all !
Go forth.
Experiment!
So here you go:
I'm giving directions for a smallish amount of yogurt. I usually make more than this, but for a first try this would be good.
Put a quart of non fat milk into a pan with a heavy bottom so the milk is less likely to scorch.
Stir together a cup of dry milk powder with a cup of water. Stir this into your milk.
The dry milk powder adds 'milk solids' which make thicker nicer yogurt.
Heat this up over low heat until it measures 180 degrees on a thermometer. We are 'scalding' the milk.
Take it off the heat and let it sit and cool in the pan until it is about 110-115 degrees or a little less. This will take a while. Go do something else.
Have some clean glass containers you want to make your yogurt in. I use pint canning jars, and also littler glass jars for individual servings. It really doesn't matter. You can put it all into one jar if you want to. Just make sure it is nice and clean and has a lid.
Once the milk has cooled, Take off any 'skin' that may have formed on the surface of the milk and stir in some yogurt that you bought at the store. Plain is best, but I have also used 'fruit on the bottom' yogurt and it works fine. Choose a brand that you like the flavor of. I have used Dannon, Mountain High, Nancy's (a tart variety) and most recently
I have found an Italian yogurt at Trader Joe's that I like the best. I can't remember the name of it. In any case, buy the best plain yogurt you can afford. Make sure it says 'live cultures' or 'live bacteria' those are the critters you need.
For a quart of milk, I used about a half cup of yogurt from my last batch. (About every 7 or 8 batches, I buy some new starter as sometimes it seems to get 'tired' and wants refreshing)
Anyway, stir that in well to incorporate it throughout your warm milk and pour it into your jar(s).
Now it needs to sit quietly in a warm place. If you have a hot water heater handy, that is perfect. Just put a folded towel on top of it and then your jars of yogurt covered with another towel for a few hours. It will set up. Don't check it for at least three hours or move it around much.
What I do with mine is this.... I put a bath towel on my countertop in the kitchen. I put an electric heating pad on that. I let it heat up for several minutes then put my jars right on the mat and cover the whole thing with a down lap throw I have. A thick towel would work.
Then I turn OFF the heating pad. After a while if I reach my hand under there and think it is not warm enough, I turn it back on for 5 min. to warm it up a tad. You want it to stay around 110 -115 degrees or so. Too hot and you will kill the culture, too cool and it won't set.
It sounds all scientific and fiddley, but really it's not that exact.
Now you can really go do something else.
Then after about 3 or 4 hours I lift up the blankie and give a jar a little poke to see if the yogurt has set. If it has I put them right into the refrigerator. If it is still liquid, I let it sit longer and make sure it is warm enough in there. 110 is not that hot, so don't get crazy with the heat.
That's it.
Make sure to save some yogurt for your next batch.
I know it sounds kinda tricky at first, but hey, you are only risking a quart of milk after all !
Go forth.
Experiment!