I've been trying my hand at homemade yogurt these last few weeks and it is actually pretty easy. Initially I wanted to try making kefir but decided that I probably wouldn't use it as much as homemade yogurt. I checked out a book about homemade dairy by Ashley English and went to work.
In a nutshell the keys are to have some tasty plain yogurt to start with (a few T.), milk, a thermometer and something in which to keep your yogurt warm. The key is to incubate the cultures + cooked/cooled milk for ~7 hours at 110 F. I use our crock-pot. I set it to low while I heat the milk (to 180 F then it must be cooled to 120 F so you don't kill the cultures). After cooling the milk and adding the starter (yogurt from the last batch or the store is fine) I put it in jars and place them in the crock-pot. Then I turn the crock-pot OFF and stuff dish towels around the jars to keep them nice n' warm.
Once the yogurt is set several hours later I whisk it a bit and refrigerate.
We eat it with homemade muesli or fruit. Yum.
I love making homemade yogurt. I use Greek yogurt for a starter as that makes the final product a bit thicker. If I'm really on top of it I'll have homemade granola around at the same time. Perfect breakfast or snack!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Can't wait for you to meet TimBob!