Making Yogurt
Making your own yogurt is actually simple as dirt. I had thought about it periodically over the years, but had never really bothered since we didn't eat all that much yogurt. However, I've been doing a lot of Indian cooking lately, and so many of the dishes want some yogurt stirred in to make a creamy sauce, and you just have to have a good thick yogurt to make a nice raita...oh, and lassis...and a quart of good yogurt costs almost as much as a gallon of milk!?!
And then pinning the thought to the forefront of my mind, maziemaus had just made a batch when we visited a few weeks ago, and ZOMG was it good! And did you know that stirring maple syrup into plain yogurt is just awesome??? :9
So I cruised the web and compiled directions and hints, and made a batch, and just finished making another, bigger batch...
Making Yogurt
Ingredients:
milk [1]
plain yogurt with active cultures [2]
Overview:
Scald milk. [3] [EDIT] DON'T FORGET TO WATCH AND STIR WHEN IT'S ON THE STOVE! [endedit]
Cool milk to comfortably-warm. [4]
Stir in starter. [5]
Pour [optional: strain] into container(s). [6]
Incubate until it sets. [7]
Optional: Drain whey for thicker (Greek style) yogurt. [8]
Refrigerate. [9]
Is a rescue necessary? [10]
Additional notes [11]
Details:
[1] Milk. You can use any kind of milk. Whole milk, lowfat of various percentages, even skim. Cow's milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, whatever. Yes, even soy milk if you have to. Pasteurized, homogenized, organic, raw, diluted evaporated, reconstituted powdered. UHP, or ultra-high pasteurized milk, is processed to a higher temperature, which breaks down some of the proteins that the bacteria need to make the milk into yogurt. Some have reported difficulties in making yogurt from UHP.
[2] Plain yogurt with active cultures. The starter is yogurt (preferably plain yogurt)left from your last batch, or from purchased yogurt with active cultures. Whey also works; whey is the yellowish water that sometimes separates from your yogurt, and is what you drain out to make the thick Greek yogurt. You will need about a teaspoon to a Tablespoon of starter per quart of milk. Don't use more than that, though, or there won't be enough room for the cultures to grow.
You can actually use less - even just a teaspoon per gallon - but it will take longer to set if you do.
If you are going to flavor your yogurt before eating it, it's ok to use flavored yogurt as a starter. (I'm assuming the same or a complementary flavor here.) If you prefer your yogurt plain, then flavored starter might make it taste funny, but you can still do it if that's all you have on hand.
[3] Scald milk. Heat the milk to 185F/85C. If you don't have a suitable thermometer, this point is after it steams and the edges bubble vigorously, but before a full rolling boil. [EDIT] DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED WHEN IT'S ON THE STOVE! NOT EVEN FOR "JUST A MINUTE"! It seems like it takes forever to heat up when you're standing right there, but I promise you it takes less time than whatever else it was you wanted to do. Don't forget to stir! If you don't stir it, it will stick, and then scorch. If you do forget and let it scorch, do not scrape up the bottom when you come back or you'll have to strain it out. (This warning really only applies to heating the milk on the stove; I don't think it will be a problem if you nuke it hot instead.) [endedit]
The purpose of scalding/pasteurizing your milk is to kill off everything in it but the bacteria you want to grow. Some sites advocate keeping the temperature up there for 10 minutes; this is not an issue with a gallon of milk, but if you're only doing a quart, you might want to reduce the heat and simmer it a bit, watching and stirring carefully. (Alternate method: allow to cool a bit and repeat the scalding process once or twice.)
Use a container that holds a bit more than the amount of milk you're using, because you still need room for stirring without spilling over, and for bubbling and minor expansion from heating, and for adding the starter. A 1.5 or 2qt. dish is fine for a quart of milk, but for a half gallon, you'll do better with the 3qt. dish, and a whole gallon wants the 4.5 or 5qt. dish.
[4] Cool milk to comfortably-warm. Now that you've heated the milk up enough to kill any nasties, you need to cool it back down to a comfortable 110F/43C (make sure it's below 120F/49C, but don't let it drop below 90F/32C) to make your yogurt cultures happy and multiply. Again, if you don't have a thermometer, it's cool enough when you can stick in your (clean!) pinkie finger and keep it there for a full 10 seconds.
Do stir periodically while it cools to keep it from developing a skin, or if you do allow a skin to form, just skim it off before adding the starter.
Cooling the hot milk will take 15-18 minutes for a quart, or about an hour for a gallon. You can cool it quicker with an ice bath. Be careful with that, though; if you chill it down too much, you'll just have to warm it up again. You'll know it's too cold just like testing a baby's bottle - if a drop of it on the inside of your wrist feels cold.
[5] Stir in starter. Stir the starter into the cooled milk. It mixes in better if you stir up the starter to "liquefy" it before adding it to the milk, or stir a bit of the milk into it to thin it first. Alternatively, you can stir it in with a fork or whisk to make sure it gets distributed more thoroughly.
If you add the starter before the milk cools to a comfortable temperature, you will kill the cultures in it, so be careful not to do that.
If you get caught short and realize that your pot was just a leetle too small to let you stir in the starter after you got the milk warmed, do not despair - just put your starter into your incubation container (or distribute evenly into multiple containers) and pour or ladle the milk into it/them.
[6] Pour [optional: strain] into container(s). If you like your yogurt very smooth, then strain the milk to keep out any lumps that might have developed either before or while you pour it into your container(s). Otherwise, well, that's just another dish to wash, so don't bother if you don't want to.
[7] Incubate until it sets. Set the containers in a reasonably warm and draft-free space for 2-12 hours. On average it will take 6-8 hours, so overnight is perfect. The longer it sits, the thicker and tangier it gets. Don't worry if a thin yellowish liquid separates out; that's just whey, and you can either stir it back in, or pour it off. It's ready when nothing but whey moves when you tilt the container.
There are many methods of keeping the yogurt culture warm while it grows.
[8] Optional: Drain whey for thicker (Greek style) yogurt. If you like thicker yogurt, or you want to use it in a sauce, you will probably want to drain some of the whey out of your yogurt. Depending on how thick you want it, drain for just a few minutes, or a couple of hours. (Or draining overnight to a day or two will turn out a nice cheese, especially if you put a weight over it.) For longer draining periods, you should do this in the refrigerator.
A fine-mesh chinois is perfect for this task if you have one, or a large metal coffee filter basket. Or you can line a strainer or colander with cheesecloth, or a clean non-terry kitchen towel, or an old tshirt (don't use one with iron-ons or anything like that), or a paper coffee filter, or a paper towel, or a length of muslin...just make sure it's clean and has no "tasty" fabric softener or dryer sheet residue.
Just set it up in the sink, or set it over a bowl if you will want to use the whey in something else. Whey substitutes for buttermilk in many baking recipes, and it is an excellent liquid for cooking vegetables or rice or making soup - or you can even use it to culture your next batch of yogurt.
[EDIT 2010-03-27] I forgot to mention that I used a paper coffee filter in a strainer the first time, and a Bounty paper towel in it the next, and I was absolutely amazed at how the yogurt does not stick to the paper; it simply rolls right off. I think it's because the whey soaks the fibers before the fat can think about binding itself there. I like how the Bounty towels are strong enough to just pick the yogurt up out of the strainer and dump where I want it, instead of having to spoon and scrape. [endedit]
[9] Refrigerate. Yes, yogurt is desert food, so you don't need to panic about it being out of the fridge for a few hours. However, it still keeps better and longer when refigerated. Also, it sets up a little firmer after it's refrigerated.
[10] Is a rescue necessary? If your yogurt never thickened up at all, it's going to be one of two things: either your yogurt starter was dead (in which case you need to beg or buy a new one), or you weren't careful enough with temperatures.
[11] Additional notes.
References used:
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/making-yogurt-how-to-make-yogurt-at.html
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/07/greek-style-yogurt-and-flavored-yogurt.html
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-to-do-to-rescue-yogurt-that-doesnt.html
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/alternate-methods-of-incubation-for.html
http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-yogurt-at-home.html
http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-yogurt-at-home.html?showComment=1266048184702#c3498226200739717809
http://chetday.com/howtomakeyogurt.htm
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/how-to/how-to-make-yogurt-at-home-125070
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Yogurt
http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com/how-to-make-yogurt-at-home.html
http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com/homemade-yogurt-creamy-or-a-bit-runny.html
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/soyyogurt.htm
Additional references gathered:
http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2010/07/01/how-to-make-yogurt/
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-yogurt.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PqQtdtcJtE
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-secrets/healthy-homemade-greek-yogurt
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/family-recipes/can-i-use-whey-left-over-from-straining-yogurt-to-make-more-yogurthttp://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/recipes-with-yogurt/18-ways-to-use-whey-a-by-product-of-greek-yogurt
Crossposted from http://montuos.dreamwidth.org/694151.html ;
comments on original post. If you do not have a Dreamwidth ID and you want to read comments on protected posts there, you can log in with OpenID using your LJ ID.
And then pinning the thought to the forefront of my mind, maziemaus had just made a batch when we visited a few weeks ago, and ZOMG was it good! And did you know that stirring maple syrup into plain yogurt is just awesome??? :9
So I cruised the web and compiled directions and hints, and made a batch, and just finished making another, bigger batch...
Making Yogurt
Ingredients:
milk [1]
plain yogurt with active cultures [2]
Overview:
Scald milk. [3] [EDIT] DON'T FORGET TO WATCH AND STIR WHEN IT'S ON THE STOVE! [endedit]
Cool milk to comfortably-warm. [4]
Stir in starter. [5]
Pour [optional: strain] into container(s). [6]
Incubate until it sets. [7]
Optional: Drain whey for thicker (Greek style) yogurt. [8]
Refrigerate. [9]
Is a rescue necessary? [10]
Additional notes [11]
Details:
[1] Milk. You can use any kind of milk. Whole milk, lowfat of various percentages, even skim. Cow's milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, whatever. Yes, even soy milk if you have to. Pasteurized, homogenized, organic, raw, diluted evaporated, reconstituted powdered. UHP, or ultra-high pasteurized milk, is processed to a higher temperature, which breaks down some of the proteins that the bacteria need to make the milk into yogurt. Some have reported difficulties in making yogurt from UHP.
[2] Plain yogurt with active cultures. The starter is yogurt (preferably plain yogurt)left from your last batch, or from purchased yogurt with active cultures. Whey also works; whey is the yellowish water that sometimes separates from your yogurt, and is what you drain out to make the thick Greek yogurt. You will need about a teaspoon to a Tablespoon of starter per quart of milk. Don't use more than that, though, or there won't be enough room for the cultures to grow.
You can actually use less - even just a teaspoon per gallon - but it will take longer to set if you do.
If you are going to flavor your yogurt before eating it, it's ok to use flavored yogurt as a starter. (I'm assuming the same or a complementary flavor here.) If you prefer your yogurt plain, then flavored starter might make it taste funny, but you can still do it if that's all you have on hand.
[3] Scald milk. Heat the milk to 185F/85C. If you don't have a suitable thermometer, this point is after it steams and the edges bubble vigorously, but before a full rolling boil. [EDIT] DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED WHEN IT'S ON THE STOVE! NOT EVEN FOR "JUST A MINUTE"! It seems like it takes forever to heat up when you're standing right there, but I promise you it takes less time than whatever else it was you wanted to do. Don't forget to stir! If you don't stir it, it will stick, and then scorch. If you do forget and let it scorch, do not scrape up the bottom when you come back or you'll have to strain it out. (This warning really only applies to heating the milk on the stove; I don't think it will be a problem if you nuke it hot instead.) [endedit]
The purpose of scalding/pasteurizing your milk is to kill off everything in it but the bacteria you want to grow. Some sites advocate keeping the temperature up there for 10 minutes; this is not an issue with a gallon of milk, but if you're only doing a quart, you might want to reduce the heat and simmer it a bit, watching and stirring carefully. (Alternate method: allow to cool a bit and repeat the scalding process once or twice.)
Use a container that holds a bit more than the amount of milk you're using, because you still need room for stirring without spilling over, and for bubbling and minor expansion from heating, and for adding the starter. A 1.5 or 2qt. dish is fine for a quart of milk, but for a half gallon, you'll do better with the 3qt. dish, and a whole gallon wants the 4.5 or 5qt. dish.
- On the stove: A heavy-bottomed pot or double-boiler works best, but with care and attention you can still get away with a thin aluminum pot. The thinner the pot the more often you will need to stir to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom and burning. So a double-boiler on low heat you can afford to walk away from for a few minutes, but the thin aluminum requires contant stirring. If you use medium to medium-high heat, there will be less sticking before the milk reaches the desired temperature [EDIT] but you do need to watch it and stir it regularly when you use higher heat [endedit].
- In the microwave: Use a microwave-safe bowl or casserole. This works better for smaller batches. Microwave a quart of milk for about 8 minutes, with a 2 minute rest halfway through to avoid a boil-over. (I haven't actually tried this method myself yet. I am assuming that this is on the high setting, and you may need to adjust according to the wattage of your microwave.)
[4] Cool milk to comfortably-warm. Now that you've heated the milk up enough to kill any nasties, you need to cool it back down to a comfortable 110F/43C (make sure it's below 120F/49C, but don't let it drop below 90F/32C) to make your yogurt cultures happy and multiply. Again, if you don't have a thermometer, it's cool enough when you can stick in your (clean!) pinkie finger and keep it there for a full 10 seconds.
Do stir periodically while it cools to keep it from developing a skin, or if you do allow a skin to form, just skim it off before adding the starter.
Cooling the hot milk will take 15-18 minutes for a quart, or about an hour for a gallon. You can cool it quicker with an ice bath. Be careful with that, though; if you chill it down too much, you'll just have to warm it up again. You'll know it's too cold just like testing a baby's bottle - if a drop of it on the inside of your wrist feels cold.
[5] Stir in starter. Stir the starter into the cooled milk. It mixes in better if you stir up the starter to "liquefy" it before adding it to the milk, or stir a bit of the milk into it to thin it first. Alternatively, you can stir it in with a fork or whisk to make sure it gets distributed more thoroughly.
If you add the starter before the milk cools to a comfortable temperature, you will kill the cultures in it, so be careful not to do that.
If you get caught short and realize that your pot was just a leetle too small to let you stir in the starter after you got the milk warmed, do not despair - just put your starter into your incubation container (or distribute evenly into multiple containers) and pour or ladle the milk into it/them.
[6] Pour [optional: strain] into container(s). If you like your yogurt very smooth, then strain the milk to keep out any lumps that might have developed either before or while you pour it into your container(s). Otherwise, well, that's just another dish to wash, so don't bother if you don't want to.
[7] Incubate until it sets. Set the containers in a reasonably warm and draft-free space for 2-12 hours. On average it will take 6-8 hours, so overnight is perfect. The longer it sits, the thicker and tangier it gets. Don't worry if a thin yellowish liquid separates out; that's just whey, and you can either stir it back in, or pour it off. It's ready when nothing but whey moves when you tilt the container.
There are many methods of keeping the yogurt culture warm while it grows.
- If your house stays pretty warm, you can just set your covered containers aside where they won't be disturbed until they are done; covering with a bath towel or blanket will help hold in the heat.
- You can use the oven if you weren't going to be using it for anything else; this is especially good if it is a gas oven with a pilot light. Even with an electric oven, if the oven light is incandescent, you can turn that on for extra heat. Also, you can preheat the oven to about 100-115F/40-45C, but turn it off when you put the yogurt in. If your oven doesn't have a setting that low, you can still preheat it with its lowest setting; just be careful to turn it off after only a few minutes, and check with an oven thermometer if you can.
- You can use a rice cooker or crockpot on the keep-warm setting.
- You can use a heating pad.
- You can use an insulated (travel) casserole dish.
- You can use a cooler or other insulated container.
- You can use a covered cardboard box; for better warmth, fill in extra space with towels, or crumpled or shredded newspaper, or hot water bottles, and/or cover the box with a bath towel or blanket.
[8] Optional: Drain whey for thicker (Greek style) yogurt. If you like thicker yogurt, or you want to use it in a sauce, you will probably want to drain some of the whey out of your yogurt. Depending on how thick you want it, drain for just a few minutes, or a couple of hours. (Or draining overnight to a day or two will turn out a nice cheese, especially if you put a weight over it.) For longer draining periods, you should do this in the refrigerator.
A fine-mesh chinois is perfect for this task if you have one, or a large metal coffee filter basket. Or you can line a strainer or colander with cheesecloth, or a clean non-terry kitchen towel, or an old tshirt (don't use one with iron-ons or anything like that), or a paper coffee filter, or a paper towel, or a length of muslin...just make sure it's clean and has no "tasty" fabric softener or dryer sheet residue.
Just set it up in the sink, or set it over a bowl if you will want to use the whey in something else. Whey substitutes for buttermilk in many baking recipes, and it is an excellent liquid for cooking vegetables or rice or making soup - or you can even use it to culture your next batch of yogurt.
[EDIT 2010-03-27] I forgot to mention that I used a paper coffee filter in a strainer the first time, and a Bounty paper towel in it the next, and I was absolutely amazed at how the yogurt does not stick to the paper; it simply rolls right off. I think it's because the whey soaks the fibers before the fat can think about binding itself there. I like how the Bounty towels are strong enough to just pick the yogurt up out of the strainer and dump where I want it, instead of having to spoon and scrape. [endedit]
[9] Refrigerate. Yes, yogurt is desert food, so you don't need to panic about it being out of the fridge for a few hours. However, it still keeps better and longer when refigerated. Also, it sets up a little firmer after it's refrigerated.
[10] Is a rescue necessary? If your yogurt never thickened up at all, it's going to be one of two things: either your yogurt starter was dead (in which case you need to beg or buy a new one), or you weren't careful enough with temperatures.
- If you added the starter while the milk was still too hot, the heat killed it, so you need to warm it back up to 110-115F/40-45C - but no warmer than that - add more starter, and proceed again from there.
- If you let it cool off too much - waited too long to add the starter, and/or didn't keep it warm enough for incubation - you just need to warm it back up to 110-115F/40-45C - but no warmer than that - and be more careful to keep it warm until it's done.
- If you know you didn't keep it warm enough for incubation but you're not sure whether you might have killed the starter first, it's ok to just add more at this point.
- If your starter thickened a little bit but not really, make sure it's warm enough and try letting it incubate a bit longer - and be careful not to jostle it until you're sure it's done.
[11] Additional notes.
- You don't absolutely have to sterilize your equipment, but do make certain that it is scrupulously clean.
- Be sure to save a little bit of this batch of yogurt (or at least its whey if you drained your yogurt) to use for starting your next batch.
References used:
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/making-yogurt-how-to-make-yogurt-at.html
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/07/greek-style-yogurt-and-flavored-yogurt.html
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-to-do-to-rescue-yogurt-that-doesnt.html
http://foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/alternate-methods-of-incubation-for.html
http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-yogurt-at-home.html
http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-yogurt-at-home.html?showComment=1266048184702#c3498226200739717809
http://chetday.com/howtomakeyogurt.htm
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/how-to/how-to-make-yogurt-at-home-125070
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Yogurt
http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com/how-to-make-yogurt-at-home.html
http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com/homemade-yogurt-creamy-or-a-bit-runny.html
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/soyyogurt.htm
Additional references gathered:
http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2010/07/01/how-to-make-yogurt/
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-yogurt.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PqQtdtcJtE
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-secrets/healthy-homemade-greek-yogurt
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/family-recipes/can-i-use-whey-left-over-from-straining-yogurt-to-make-more-yogurthttp://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/recipes-with-yogurt/18-ways-to-use-whey-a-by-product-of-greek-yogurt
Crossposted from http://montuos.dreamwidth.org/694151.html ;
comments on original post. If you do not have a Dreamwidth ID and you want to read comments on protected posts there, you can log in with OpenID using your LJ ID.