Well I’ve decided to try a bit of an experiment today. I got randomly interested in making my own yogurt a few days ago, and after a little research decided that it seemed very doable. The stuff’s been fermenting for about 3 1/2 hours now and most of the recipes call for 7 or 8. I’m making it with 4 cups of 2% milk, and my plan is to keep half of that normal and strain the other half to see how each turn out.
Any of you ever make yogurt? If so I’ve got a few questions. The recipes usually say to ferment until everything sets and it doesn’t run when you tip the bowl, since I’m making a lower fat version it’ll be thinner, is there another thickness I should aim for or should I just time it? Second I’m going to be straining with cheese cloth, how many layers will I need to approximate muslin cloth? Of course any general advice would be much welcomed.
Good on you! I make my own yogurt, too. I can’t answer your questions, I’m afraid, since I just wing it a lot. I like it to be a smooth consistency and much less thick than the nasty stuff you buy in the supermarket (I usually cut that with cream or milk so it’s thinner) but really, how you want it, as long as it’s “done”.
I only tried it once and it was way, way too thin. I used a yogurt maker, though, and I was so discouraged I never tried it again. So, watching thread with interest since I’d love to make my own yummy yogurt.
I make mine in 2 one-quart jars, wrapped in a heating pad and placed in a small soft-sided cooler. I’ll try to dig up the recipe I wrote down, but I’m pretty sure it’s based on the one from The Frugal Gourmet’s first book. It’s excellent, and works just as well with 2% milk.
Making this thread made me curious so I took a peek. It’s got a lot of solidity to it now, in fact the bottom of the bowl seems to have a soft set to it already. The top layer looks like it’s entirely whey. At least my fears of getting a bad culture or accidentally killing it didn’t come true.
I bought a yogurt maker, it was a plastic insulated bowl with a cover. I used 1% milk (all I had), heated it to the proper lukewarm temperature, and stirred in a couple of tablespoons of plain Dannon yogurt. Let it sit overnight, and it firmed up nicely the next day. Though I like it thicker, I dumped it in a cheesecloth lined strainer. It was certainly easy enough to make, and probably cheaper than buying prepared, but I thought it was awfully strong and tangy. Better suited to savory things and as a cooking ingredient than eating sweetened/with fruit. But that was only the one time I made it, and I’m going to try it again with 2% and whole milk, or even goat milk.
I’ve been making my own Greek-style yogurt for a couple of years now and have streamlined the process a bit. I make a big batch starting with 2 gallons of milk, heat to 180 degrees, cool to 110 degrees, add starter. My oven has a 100 degree warm setting, so I just put the stockpot in there overnight for 8 to 12 hours.
The next day I line a couple of big colanders with cheesecloth or a dish towel, set them over bowls and let them drain. After the first hour they are emptied and then put in the fridge overnight. I drain them a lot: I end up with only two quarts of thick yogurt.
My main flavor is chocolate. To that batch I add 1.25 cups of dry cocoa powder and 1.25 cups Splenda or sugar and beat to luscious fluffiness with a mixer. It has a great mouthfeel with skim milk, even more so with 1% or 2% milk. Yield will fill about 10 leftover plastic cups from the yogurt starter.
About a half hour left on the timer and I just gave it a stir. Unfortunately it’s not as set as it looked, it’s got some chunks but it’s mostly liquid. The temperatures been very consistent, between 108° and 112°, but I suppose the thermometer could be off. I’ll give it more time and hope for the best.
We make our own yogurt at home every day. And I am constantly amazed at the need for a “yogurt maker”. Making it is amazingly simple.
Warm some milk until its lukewarm. I think that would make it at around 100-110 F. Put in a little starter - a couple of spoons is enough. The put it in a warm place. An oven with the light turned on is perfect. And then check it about 5-6 hours later. And then put it in the fridge to thicken.
One note about the starter - you can use almost any store bought yogurt that has live cultures.
We use it to make smoothies, or just eat plain…and being from the South of India its part of every meal. I usually add a few raisins and a few drops of agave …makes for a fantastic dessert.
I tested out the oven with just the light on and it wasn’t nearly warm enough in our oven. Currently the yogurt-to-be (hopefully at least) is in a pyrex bowl covered in foil sitting on a heating pad and the whole thing is covered with a towel. The stuff smells like yogurt which is giving me hope, and looking at it again there are a lot of small chunks. I’ll give it another hour and see what happens, but I think I’m going to end up straining all of it unless it really starts solidifying soon.
Well I dug up another thermometer, this one a fancy infrared thing, and I think that my other thermometer was off. If this one’s correct than the yogurts been fermenting at about 103°. I cranked up the heating pad but that seems to not be quite enough, so I’ve carefully heated the oven to the right temperature range and am hoping that I can salvage this yet.
The oven didn’t work very well, so I put the bowl in warm water in a cooler for an hour or so. That worked a bit, I ended up with something the consistency of gravy with chunks, but I decided to throw in the towel. I strained it and ended up with a little less than two cups of yogurt. I’ll wait till tonight or tomorrow to taste it and give a final update. Honestly though unless I can find a better way to warm it I don’t think that I’ll be attempting this again.
I wonder if the conditions in the house make any difference? For example do you have an air conditioner set to a fairly low temperature? I don’t know I’m just guessing. I really want to make yogurt too and it’s discouraging to hear that people have such great luck!
The AC’s not that low, and the yogurt was set up in the warmest room in the house. I’m thinking that maybe the heating pad might be to blame, even with the pad set on high wrapping the bottom and sides of the bowl and with a towel covering the whole thing it didn’t get quite warm enough. The results looked and smelled like yogurt, if they taste decent I might decide to purchase another heating pad at some point and try again.
No, don’t give up! (I’ve been trying to find my yogurt maker online, it was really cheap like a big thermos with a lid, but I guess they don’t make them any more.) I’m astonished by all the complicated machines and accessories offered up for sale, just to make curdled milk! Anything for a buck! The only real problem you’re having is getting your milk heated up to the right temp and keeping it there. It sounds like you actually did achieve yogurt. It’s always going to need to be strained, to get a thicker product.
When I make mine it gets a lot thicker in the fridge.
I’ve successfully made yoghurt in a thermos. Google will turn up some recipes, it’s quite easy - basically heat up milk, add that + yoghurt to a sterile thermos, and leave it somewhere warm for 8 hours or so.
I had wanted to make my own yogurt for a long time, but didn’t want to buy an appliance whose only job was to make yogurt. I realized a few months ago that the inside of my microwave gets nice and warm when I turn on the light over the stove. (Microwave is over the stove and has the lighting for the stove underneath.) Now I not only set my yogurt jars in there to ferment, but that is where I let my bread dough rise too.
keep it for the full time of 6 to 8 hours to use up all the milk. careful with the temperature, too high will kill the culture, lower will take longer, near but under the temperature will be fine.
i use all the yogurt as is. stir before taking a portion to eat.