Lately I've been on a mission. I really want to modify my pantry and fridge. It's been this way for years, it's nothing new but I can always do better right? Frankly speaking, I get lazy and tired of being the wretch that's trying to "bring down the man" with healthier living. Although we do rely on oodles of grocery mart items, I know that I can do better with not only providing better nourishment to my boys but saving some money. Yogurt in recent years has drastically gotten a face lift. The yogurt isle is what seems a mile long, and the endless options are sometimes overwhelming. Yogurt is without a doubt one of the power foods we could all use daily. The big word with yogurt now days is probiotics, meaning "with life." All yogurt is made with live culture, or good bacteria otherwise it would not ferment. It all contains some live culture, so it is all essentially "with life" depending on how fresh it is and what other preservatives were added. Most store yogurts contain manufactured culture, not a bad thing but making homemade yogurt allows you the benefits of yogurt with your very own local, live culture. Along with helping with digestion yogurt also gives you calcium, protein, and vitamins.
Homemade Yogurt
Easy as it gets to make, and well worth it. Natural homemade yogurt can be made in as little as a few hours or in a 24 hour period. The longer it rests the thicker and more sour it will should become. If you want traditional plain yogurt it will take about 8 hours. Mine has always come out pretty thin every time. I've added powdered milk, I've added gelatin, it is still runny. I'll continue to experiment with it. If you choose to add the powdered milk it goes in with the starter. (either live yogurt or starter culture) This recipe can be used with raw milk, or plain milk from the store. Ultra pasteurized milk is not ideal. For raw yogurt with live cultures and enzymes be absolutely certain your milk does not go above 110 degrees.
8 cups milk (I use raw (whole) milk, or 2%)
2 tablespoons - 1/2 cup fresh yogurt with live culture
- Step 1: In a sauce pot gently warm milk to about 110 degrees. Many sources suggest heating to 180, then chill the mixture to 110. This is sterilizing or pasteurizing the milk. If you have previously pasteurized milk, I think its over kill. If you have raw milk, killing the beneficial bacteria is defeating the purpose of drinking raw milk. If you opt to heat to 180 be sure to allow the milk to cool to approximately 108-113 degrees before adding your starter. You will kill the starter culture if it is too hot.
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- Step 2: Stir in 2 tablespoons or up to 1/2 cup of yogurt into your cooled milk. Sources say that the less starter you use affects how thick your yogurt will be. If you are adding powdered milk you want to add your powdered milk here. Whisk together until there are no more lumps. Pour into jars or just leave it in the bowl. (it won't mind)
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- Step 3: Incubate, This is fancy pants talk for allow it to hang out in a warm environment for a bit. Place in an oven set to 100-110 degrees, or another warm place for 8 hours to 24 hours. I typically leave the yogurt naked with the lids off. I will put lids on if I'm placing it in a random warm spot. (like on top of my stove) Soule Mama's yogurt post states that most people have had good luck with heating pads. I've read various things. Using the pilot light on the oven, crock pots, or even dehydrators. (I'm really not sure how that works.) I've rigged "proof boxes" in my home for proofing bread. If you are desperate and not in the mood for the oven you can place hot water in the bottom of a cooler, and put the yogurt in there. Be sure the water is not too hot, and check to make sure its still warm every now and then.
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- That's All folks! Put it in the fridge and enjoy within two weeks. To maintain an active starter you will have to make yogurt fairly regularly. I buy Greek yogurt from the store every couple weeks. I use it as sour cream, having it around insures I have a fresh starter for my yogurt.
To Sweeten or Thicken Further-
If your yogurt adventures continue to result in pourable, wet yogurt you can thicken it with gelatin. Gelatin can be controversial however, I don't mind it. I prefer to not use it when I don't have to. I have added powdered milk, less starter, more starter. I've used higher temperatures, and lower. Its always delicious, but wet.
If I am looking for a yogurt that will not pour off of a spoon I go ahead and add gelatin. This also allows you to add sweetener, more specifically in the liquid form. I like to add local raw honey. Once your yogurt has incubated combine 1 packet (about 2 teaspoons) of gelatin to 2 tablespoons or up to 1/3 cup of hot water. Stir to dissolve, and whisk into the yogurt. (use your finger to be sure the gelatin mixture is not too hot.) Add a few tablespoons of honey, maple syrup, natural vanilla or other flavorings if desired. Combine thoroughly and refrigerate. This will last in the refrigerator for quite a long time. If you are looking to use it as a starter to make another batch of yogurt you will want to do so within one week.
Fruit on the Bottom
Fruit on the bottom yogurt you find in the store can be expensive, and you rarely know what might or might not be in it. Good quality yogurts cost around 75 cents to 1 dollar a piece. If you read the ingredients you'll notice corn starch, corn syrup, preservatives, "natural flavor" and/or "color." Additionally the waste of packaging kind of annoys me. Homemade yogurt can be sweetened with honey, or jam. If I have fresh fruit around and it's starting to look ugly, I make fruit compotes.
Try some of these canned treats
with your scrumptious homemade yogurt!
-Updated 12/13/2011-
3 comments:
If you would like you yogurt thicker you can simply line a strainer with cheese cloth and allow to drain for about an hour. If you would like to make an awesome spreadable cheese (think cream cheese) add adash of salt to your yogurt in a bowl and stir up good. Then pour it into the strainer cheese cloth contraption. Bundle up like a hobo bag(LOL) and tie with string and hang over a bowl or sink for about four hours. If you would like to collect the whey use the bowl and add to baked goods for more protein. I like to pour a little honey over this and serve with bread! However you can stir in garlic or other fresh or dried herbs for flavored cheeses. I think you will love it!
I agree with ohbeeblessed re: yogurt cheese. Yum.
The light draining s/he describes first is part of the process in making the Greek style you enjoy, but I don't think it'll help if your product is "pourable".
Here's mho re: thin yogurt, based on a couple decades of making yogurt at home.
1. I must say 2 Tbl fresh yogurt to a half gallon milk is way too little. With a vigorous starter and a good ratio starter:milk, you should get a very nice yogurt in 2 - 3 hours of incubating, depending on temperature (I mean, plus a thorough chilling). With such a small ratio, you're incubating for too long. The culture which first ate the milk sugars is forced to eat the milk proteins to survive. I use 3 Tbl yogurt to 1 quart milk.
2. The temperature may be too low or fluctuating, so the bacteria colony is unstable.
3. When I first started making yogurt, I read a lot and talked to anyone/everyone I could. One person from the U.S.S.R. told me the milk wasn't hot enough. Without a thermometer, I always turned off the heat when I saw steam rising; she told me that there had to be bubbles all around the edge of the pot (on low-medium, a smaller flame than the diameter of the pan because having the flames lick the outside of the pan would make the perimeter bubble before the middle was properly heated). This would eliminate anything that "distracts" the fermentation. I think she meant interfere with or impede, but I didn't ask at the time. It's always been an amusing image to me of the yogurt culture busy fermenting the milk until some slinky stranger bacteria sidles up and "distracts" the boys. XP
Anyway, seems to me, this would be an even bigger factor with raw milk.
4. Don't agitate the yogurt until it's thoroughly chilled. The protein structure will collapse if you try to spoon some warm yogurt. I've "broken" a batch just by putting the bowl down hurriedly.
5. Is your starter fresh and vigorous? If you're using the last bit of the batch you made 2 weeks ago, the more delicate bacteria species will have died and the remaining culture will be weak, so the symbiosis will be out of balance.
Whether it's sourdough or yogurt, starter needs to be fed to stay healthy.
Regarding this last, may I suggest
1. Make smaller batches, about a week's worth. If that's too inconvenient,
2. Buy a small carton of a popular brand (i.e., high turnover means fresh inventory) each time to use for starter*. OR
3. Make a new batch, and turn the remainder of the previous batch into yogurt cheese. Use it as ohbeeblessed suggests like cream cheese or ricotta in dishes and it will even freeze for a week or two. Be super careful to wrap it airtight and put it in the coldest part to freeze the quickest, or you may have problems with ice or texture.
As usual, I've written way more than I intended. Hope at least some of this is helpful.
Thanks for great reading and recipes. Happiness to you in the new year.
PS Your statement that yogurt contains live cultures is not always correct, re commercial brands: Some companies kill the culture to extend shelf life. A few don't even use live culture to start with, they add thickeners for texture and dead cultures (among other things) for flavor.
So, *please check the label for the words "live" AND "active", meaning the bacteria were alive to make the yogurt AND they're still active (i.e., living) in the package now.
I grew-up on yogurt, and I still love the stuff! I have had a desire to make more things like this at home for reasons of cost, ingredient selection and self-sufficiency. I appreciate your post and the helpful additions of other readers! I think I will be experimenting with yogurt in the near future. My mom made it years ago, so I have my very own instant reference guide :)
~JiMele of Chili & Cormbread
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