yogurt success
Well, last night after I posted, I went and jiggled the mason jars. It had been almost seven hours, and I'd read that the longer the yogurt incubates, the tangier it tends to be. The yogurt had pretty much solidified - it stayed in place when I tilted the jars, so I moved them into the back of the fridge right away.
This morning we popped open the jars, and J dug his spoon in, and we had smooth, thick plain yogurt. The consistency and taste was almost exactly the same as the starter yogurt I'd used. It's so good. I can't believe it! I'm currently eating it with home-made granola. Is there anything better?
firm and thick
with granola for breakfast, right out of the jar.
I wasn't going to post the method until I was sure I got it right. So this is exactly what I did.
1. I used half a 1⅓ℓ bag of milk. Milk comes in bags here in Ontario. This is what J buys. In a 4ℓ bag you get three little bags of milk (roughly 1 quart, or 4 cups each). Basically, I put 2 cups of 1% milk into a large measuring glass. I filled up a large pot with water, put a metal trivet inside the pot, and sat the measuring glass of milk on the trivet inside the pot.
2. Put the pot on the stove, turn the heat up to high.
3. Wait. You don't really have to watch the milk if you're double-boiling it, since it'll never burn. But you'll want to make sure that the water level doesn't drop too low (our house is dry; boiling water disappears quite fast).
4. When the water starts boiling, turn the heat down a little bit (you don't want water jumping into your milk). Give the milk a little stir, check the temperature. This was a weird part. I was under the impression that the milk had to hit 180°f, so I kept double-boiling it. It never reached 180°f, but it got pretty close. Probably about 178°f or so. In my effort to hit 180°f, I probably heated the milk for about half an hour (which will eventually contribute to the thickness of the yogurt in the end).
5. Sterilise a couple of mason jars. Grandma Henry makes jam in the fall, and we keep the jars to store food in (I generally prefer glass to plastic). I just boiled some water and filled the glass jars up and dropped the lids into a dish of boiling water.
6. I gave up trying to hit 180°f on the milk. Took the milk out of the pot, cooled the entire measuring glass in a water bath. You can plug the sink, fill it with cool water, put your milk in it.
5. Wait for the milk to drop to 110°f. I had the milk in a cool-water pot next to the window, it took about 15 minutes.
8. Stir 3 teaspoons of plain yogurt in. I used Western Creamery 2%. Make sure it's all dissolved. Pour 1 cup each into two mason jars, cap them.
9. Wrap the jars in a sock each, and together in a dish towel, and set them up on a wooden trivet on top of the bedroom radiator. It was warm yesterday, about 2°c, and the rads were cooling off. At first I worried that they'd be too warm, then later in the day, when the rads had pretty much cooled off, I worried it was too cool. This step is also odd, because I don't have any equipment to ensure an consistent temperature. You just want to make sure that they're warm. Like body heat warm (conducive to bacteria, right?).
10. 7 hours later, tilt to jars to see that the yogurt has solidified, or gelled. Stick them in the fridge.
11. Wake up in the morning, pop open the jars, and experience that incredible joy when you dig the spoon in and it's perfect.
so happy.
I think yogurt is generally quite forgiving, except for the temperatures. Too cool and the bacteria won't incubate; too hot and they'll die. But it's not rocket science or a NASA launch or anything. Living organisms do pretty well in a relatively wide range of temperatures and environments; yogurt is no different. This is definitely something I'm going to keep making, especially since the cost of making it is far lower than buying it.
This morning we popped open the jars, and J dug his spoon in, and we had smooth, thick plain yogurt. The consistency and taste was almost exactly the same as the starter yogurt I'd used. It's so good. I can't believe it! I'm currently eating it with home-made granola. Is there anything better?
firm and thick
with granola for breakfast, right out of the jar.
I wasn't going to post the method until I was sure I got it right. So this is exactly what I did.
1. I used half a 1⅓ℓ bag of milk. Milk comes in bags here in Ontario. This is what J buys. In a 4ℓ bag you get three little bags of milk (roughly 1 quart, or 4 cups each). Basically, I put 2 cups of 1% milk into a large measuring glass. I filled up a large pot with water, put a metal trivet inside the pot, and sat the measuring glass of milk on the trivet inside the pot.
2. Put the pot on the stove, turn the heat up to high.
3. Wait. You don't really have to watch the milk if you're double-boiling it, since it'll never burn. But you'll want to make sure that the water level doesn't drop too low (our house is dry; boiling water disappears quite fast).
4. When the water starts boiling, turn the heat down a little bit (you don't want water jumping into your milk). Give the milk a little stir, check the temperature. This was a weird part. I was under the impression that the milk had to hit 180°f, so I kept double-boiling it. It never reached 180°f, but it got pretty close. Probably about 178°f or so. In my effort to hit 180°f, I probably heated the milk for about half an hour (which will eventually contribute to the thickness of the yogurt in the end).
5. Sterilise a couple of mason jars. Grandma Henry makes jam in the fall, and we keep the jars to store food in (I generally prefer glass to plastic). I just boiled some water and filled the glass jars up and dropped the lids into a dish of boiling water.
6. I gave up trying to hit 180°f on the milk. Took the milk out of the pot, cooled the entire measuring glass in a water bath. You can plug the sink, fill it with cool water, put your milk in it.
5. Wait for the milk to drop to 110°f. I had the milk in a cool-water pot next to the window, it took about 15 minutes.
8. Stir 3 teaspoons of plain yogurt in. I used Western Creamery 2%. Make sure it's all dissolved. Pour 1 cup each into two mason jars, cap them.
9. Wrap the jars in a sock each, and together in a dish towel, and set them up on a wooden trivet on top of the bedroom radiator. It was warm yesterday, about 2°c, and the rads were cooling off. At first I worried that they'd be too warm, then later in the day, when the rads had pretty much cooled off, I worried it was too cool. This step is also odd, because I don't have any equipment to ensure an consistent temperature. You just want to make sure that they're warm. Like body heat warm (conducive to bacteria, right?).
10. 7 hours later, tilt to jars to see that the yogurt has solidified, or gelled. Stick them in the fridge.
11. Wake up in the morning, pop open the jars, and experience that incredible joy when you dig the spoon in and it's perfect.
so happy.
I think yogurt is generally quite forgiving, except for the temperatures. Too cool and the bacteria won't incubate; too hot and they'll die. But it's not rocket science or a NASA launch or anything. Living organisms do pretty well in a relatively wide range of temperatures and environments; yogurt is no different. This is definitely something I'm going to keep making, especially since the cost of making it is far lower than buying it.