Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Homemade Yogurt

Since we're on the subject of yogurt, I thought I'd talk about homemade yogurt. It's so easy to make. It tends to be less sour-tasting and not as thick as store-bought yogurt. I like that it's less sour because it requires less sweetener. I also like that it only has what you put in it. Even innocent-looking vanilla yogurt often has sugar in it.

There are so many ways you can make yogurt--this is just one. I'm definitely not an expert either, I've only been making it for the last several months and this is what works for me. You can even make it out of powdered milk if you'd like. I used to, when milk was so expensive. But the price of milk went down and dry milk went up so I started using regular milk, especially because I can get some that I know is hormone-free.

Now let's get started.

1. Heat 3 3/4 cups milk (or 3 1/4 cups water and 1 3/4 cups dry milk, stirred) in the microwave for 8-10 minutes, just before it starts boiling. This kills the bad bacteria. If you're using regular milk you can add 1/4 - 1/2 cup dry milk to thicken it before heating, or not. I've done both.

2. Let the milk cool to about 118 degrees.

3. Add the starter. There is actual yogurt starter that you can buy which I have never used or you can use any store-bought yogurt that has live active cultures. Add about 1/4 cup to your milk. Stir.

4. Incubate. There are many different ways to do this. I put mine in a thermos and leave it on the counter for about 6-8 hours.

5. That's it! See, I told you it was easy. Save some of your homemade yogurt to be the starter for your next batch. You'll be able to do this several times but you'll eventually have to buy some yogurt for some fresh starter.

2 comments:

  1. Does the yogurt have to stay at a certain temperature on the counter? Or is it really that easy? What kind of thermometer do you use to determine your yogurt is 118 degrees? I'm so excited to try this!

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  2. You don't have to worry about it at all after you put it in the thermos. It really is that easy.

    I use a candy thermometer.

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