wizardofid
Honorary Master
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- Jul 25, 2007
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First thought would be why ? Isn't it just easier to buy it.Not really, yogurt is probably the easiest thing you can make and pretty hard to screw it up.You don't even need a fancy yogurt starter or maker you can make it with plain yogurt and a slow cooker (crock pot).
There are two different methods of making yogurt one is with mesophilic bacteria and thermophillic bacteria.The simplest one is to make it with thermophilic bacteria which requires heat 43 to 45 degrees, to flourish, the taste is also slightly better for me then mesophilic method of simply adding the yogurt stater to cold milk, I don't like this method in that your equipment needs to be sterile to avoid unwanted bacteria growth, if that is a concern you can also use UHT milk, but requires adding milk powder or gelatin, that can end up in runny mess or too thick, you can also use raw milk that has been pasteurized by cooking it and allowing to cool down to room temperature, but still requires adding some milk powder.
Thermophilic method is much easier, you can also use UHT milk again with some milk powder to get a thicker consistency but not really needed unless you want thickish yogurt, you can also add cream if you don't have access to milk powder.
Once you start adding milk powder and cream it isn't as cheap as using simply raw milk.Local butchery sells raw milk at 8 a liter. So really up to you how you want to go about it. 5 liter milk will give you slightly less then 5 liters of yogurt with whey.
Whey is the clear liquid made during the fermentation process, now while most drain the whey using a cheese cloth, doing so gives you a thicker yogurt, this draining process can take several minutes to 3 hours or more pending how thick you want your yogurt to be.Draining the whey will provide you with less yogurt.It is really optional not every one has a cheese cloth handy, but if you still want to drain the whey and don't have a cheese cloth handy you can always use filter coffee bags.
I don't drain the whey as my yogurt is thick enough and even if it is slightly runnier it is still perfectly usable.I do a fair amount of cooking with yogurt, especially in winter I do a fair amount of curries and most require marinating meat for a day or two in yogurt to really bring out the flavour of the meat.
It also makes a prefect snack if you make frozen yogurt even drinking yogurt is a delicious healthy snack in summer.It is also perfect for diabetics as it contains no sugar, in my area it is especially difficult to get your on hands yogurt that doesn't contain cane sugar.
Some things to note thermophilic bacteria is heat loving bacteria, so the temperature needs to be perfect, too hot and you will kill the bacteria culture, too cold and the culture will not be able to ferment the yogurt quickly, while optional, most people will recommend getting a thermometer, to keep the heat level constant.The perfect heat level for thermophilic bacteria is 43 -45 degrees.
A yogurt maker keep the temperature levels constant, this is where a slow cooker comes in handy, as the cooker pot keeps it's heat for a fair amount of time, however you can extent heat loss by placing two or three big towels around the cooker pot and placing it in a oven with the oven light on, this is more then enough to insulate the heat for the 8 to 12 hours needed to ferment the yogurt.
That is correct you need less then half a day to create perfect yogurt.
Here is my quick recipe to make 2.5 liters of yogurt
Slow cooker (sterilized with boiling water)
2.5 liters of raw milk.
3 Tablespoons of plain yogurt with active cultures ( You don't need more then that, adding more will crowd the bacteria nor will it make thicker yogurt)
Thermometer (optional)
Cheese cloth (optional)
Measurement jug (sterilized with boiling water)
Separate sterilized bowl for mixing
Start by washing out the slow cooker pot with boiling water.
Place the cooker pot back into the slow cooker set to low heat and pour all the raw milk in, place lid on
Sterilize the milk for 2 and half hours with lid on, if a skin forms on the milk carefully remove the skin.(don't remove the lid each time you remove the lid you set the cooking time back 15 minutes)
After 2 and half hours turn off the slow cooker.
Let the slow cooker stand to cool down for at least an hour or more or regularly check with the thermometer till it reaches 45 degrees, you don't have a thermometer simply let it stand for 2 hours or 3 hours in summer.
In a separate sterilized bowl scoop two full measurement jugs milk into the bowl, lightly mix the 3 tablespoons yogurt and milk till it's full incorporated, pour the milk back into the slow cooker pot, and lightly mix it.
Place the lid back on remove cooker pot, cover with towels and place in oven with oven light on for 8 to 12 hours. I normally let it stand overnight so that it is a full 12 hours, you don't need more then that, more time just opens the door for unwanted bacteria.(Leave it undisturbed every time you peek you lose heat and possibly introduce unwanted bacteria)
After 12 hours remove it from the oven, if you can place spoon in the yogurt and it stands up right, you made perfect yogurt.
Place the cheese cloth over a large enough bowl scoop the yogurt on top of the cheese cloth and place in the fridge for 4 hours or till all the whey has been drained or till you happy with the thickness.(You can throw the whey away or use it in recipes that require milk)
Place yogurt in airtight containers in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Keep a bit of the yogurt in a smaller container as a yogurt starter, for the next batch, you should replace the yogurt starter with a fresh starter every 7 days.
Flavor yogurt as you use it, don't add flavoring to the whole batch, as you will not be able to store it that long.I think it's really great alternative to the store bought stuff that also contains artificial stabilizers, preservatives.
Not all raw milk is the same, so if your yogurt is runnier then it should be, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk powder before boiling the milk experiment with more or less milk powder till you get the right thickness you want.
Will talk about cheese at a later date as it is a considerably more complex process among other things you need animal or vegetable rennet as well as dealing with acidity(Ph level) of milk as well as cooking, curdling of milk ect, but will talk about making a simple yogurt ricotta cheese.
Have you made yogurt before, what is your experience did you do some thing different.
There are two different methods of making yogurt one is with mesophilic bacteria and thermophillic bacteria.The simplest one is to make it with thermophilic bacteria which requires heat 43 to 45 degrees, to flourish, the taste is also slightly better for me then mesophilic method of simply adding the yogurt stater to cold milk, I don't like this method in that your equipment needs to be sterile to avoid unwanted bacteria growth, if that is a concern you can also use UHT milk, but requires adding milk powder or gelatin, that can end up in runny mess or too thick, you can also use raw milk that has been pasteurized by cooking it and allowing to cool down to room temperature, but still requires adding some milk powder.
Thermophilic method is much easier, you can also use UHT milk again with some milk powder to get a thicker consistency but not really needed unless you want thickish yogurt, you can also add cream if you don't have access to milk powder.
Once you start adding milk powder and cream it isn't as cheap as using simply raw milk.Local butchery sells raw milk at 8 a liter. So really up to you how you want to go about it. 5 liter milk will give you slightly less then 5 liters of yogurt with whey.
Whey is the clear liquid made during the fermentation process, now while most drain the whey using a cheese cloth, doing so gives you a thicker yogurt, this draining process can take several minutes to 3 hours or more pending how thick you want your yogurt to be.Draining the whey will provide you with less yogurt.It is really optional not every one has a cheese cloth handy, but if you still want to drain the whey and don't have a cheese cloth handy you can always use filter coffee bags.
I don't drain the whey as my yogurt is thick enough and even if it is slightly runnier it is still perfectly usable.I do a fair amount of cooking with yogurt, especially in winter I do a fair amount of curries and most require marinating meat for a day or two in yogurt to really bring out the flavour of the meat.
It also makes a prefect snack if you make frozen yogurt even drinking yogurt is a delicious healthy snack in summer.It is also perfect for diabetics as it contains no sugar, in my area it is especially difficult to get your on hands yogurt that doesn't contain cane sugar.
Some things to note thermophilic bacteria is heat loving bacteria, so the temperature needs to be perfect, too hot and you will kill the bacteria culture, too cold and the culture will not be able to ferment the yogurt quickly, while optional, most people will recommend getting a thermometer, to keep the heat level constant.The perfect heat level for thermophilic bacteria is 43 -45 degrees.
A yogurt maker keep the temperature levels constant, this is where a slow cooker comes in handy, as the cooker pot keeps it's heat for a fair amount of time, however you can extent heat loss by placing two or three big towels around the cooker pot and placing it in a oven with the oven light on, this is more then enough to insulate the heat for the 8 to 12 hours needed to ferment the yogurt.
That is correct you need less then half a day to create perfect yogurt.
Here is my quick recipe to make 2.5 liters of yogurt
Slow cooker (sterilized with boiling water)
2.5 liters of raw milk.
3 Tablespoons of plain yogurt with active cultures ( You don't need more then that, adding more will crowd the bacteria nor will it make thicker yogurt)
Thermometer (optional)
Cheese cloth (optional)
Measurement jug (sterilized with boiling water)
Separate sterilized bowl for mixing
Start by washing out the slow cooker pot with boiling water.
Place the cooker pot back into the slow cooker set to low heat and pour all the raw milk in, place lid on
Sterilize the milk for 2 and half hours with lid on, if a skin forms on the milk carefully remove the skin.(don't remove the lid each time you remove the lid you set the cooking time back 15 minutes)
After 2 and half hours turn off the slow cooker.
Let the slow cooker stand to cool down for at least an hour or more or regularly check with the thermometer till it reaches 45 degrees, you don't have a thermometer simply let it stand for 2 hours or 3 hours in summer.
In a separate sterilized bowl scoop two full measurement jugs milk into the bowl, lightly mix the 3 tablespoons yogurt and milk till it's full incorporated, pour the milk back into the slow cooker pot, and lightly mix it.
Place the lid back on remove cooker pot, cover with towels and place in oven with oven light on for 8 to 12 hours. I normally let it stand overnight so that it is a full 12 hours, you don't need more then that, more time just opens the door for unwanted bacteria.(Leave it undisturbed every time you peek you lose heat and possibly introduce unwanted bacteria)
After 12 hours remove it from the oven, if you can place spoon in the yogurt and it stands up right, you made perfect yogurt.
Place the cheese cloth over a large enough bowl scoop the yogurt on top of the cheese cloth and place in the fridge for 4 hours or till all the whey has been drained or till you happy with the thickness.(You can throw the whey away or use it in recipes that require milk)
Place yogurt in airtight containers in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Keep a bit of the yogurt in a smaller container as a yogurt starter, for the next batch, you should replace the yogurt starter with a fresh starter every 7 days.
Flavor yogurt as you use it, don't add flavoring to the whole batch, as you will not be able to store it that long.I think it's really great alternative to the store bought stuff that also contains artificial stabilizers, preservatives.
Not all raw milk is the same, so if your yogurt is runnier then it should be, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk powder before boiling the milk experiment with more or less milk powder till you get the right thickness you want.
Will talk about cheese at a later date as it is a considerably more complex process among other things you need animal or vegetable rennet as well as dealing with acidity(Ph level) of milk as well as cooking, curdling of milk ect, but will talk about making a simple yogurt ricotta cheese.
Have you made yogurt before, what is your experience did you do some thing different.
Last edited:
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