Home made yogurt

[iislander]

I am looking into making my own homemade yogurt, Can anyone help me with some suggestions as to what is better yogurt machines or making it yourself. And possibly some hints on making some good tasting yogurt. Jack

[xmascarol1]

I used to make two quart of yogurt a day when my kids were home. Of course this was the 60's and 70's, but the best recipe I ever used was one in the old Adelle Davis nutrition books. She would use a can of condensed milk as part of the 2 quarts of milk. I found back then that the best incubator was a diaper bag into which I would put a heating pad set on low, and then the towel wrapped jars of innoculated milk. I usually make it in 2 single quart jars. I just buy it by the quart now from the store as I can't even eat a quart in less than a week.

[Jikoni]

Yakuta's homemade yorgurt always works for me you can find it here.Yogurt Problem

[Maverick2272]

This is an interesting thread. The DW loves yogurt. Just curious is it cheaper to make your own?
Between the wife and kids, they would go thru a quart a day if ya let em! LOL.

[Jikoni]

I'd say it is cheaper because because all you need is a cupful of yorgurt to make a lot lot more. I use a lot of yorgurt,so instead of buying lots of it, I just buy a small tub to make a huge tub!

[xmascarol1]

actually , you only need a quarter cup of culture. Then you can keep using that much out of the new batch. You can keep this up for at least 6 -8 batches or more. The Adelle Davis yogurt recipe is very thick because of the extra milk protein added with the canned milk. You could also achieved that extra thickness by adding 1/3 c pwd. milk to the quart of milk before you boil it. Yet another trick is to make it out of all pwd. milk (which is just skim milk) and boil your water instead, and then milk the milk up and cool to lukewarm. Pwd. milk is usually 1/3 c. to 1 c. water. Add a little more powder for a thicker yogurt.

[milkdemcows]

I've got some incubating right now! It's cheaper--a gallon of milk is about $3.50, and 2 lbs of yogurt (so 2 quarts?) is $2.50.

I (now) have a yogurt "maker"--but really there's not much "making" that these machines do. They are basically just an incubator, keeping the yogurt at a steady and ideal temperature. So I heat milk to 185 F, cool to 130 F, add yogurt, and put it in the machine. I let it go a whole 24 hours or so to really work on the lactose and thicken.

Almost every recipe I see suggests adding some powdered milk to make it thicker. I hate the taste of powdered milk, and even a little bit gets to me. What I do instead to get thicker yogurt is simply strain it--line a colander with cheesecloth or simply paper towels, add the yogurt, and let drain over a bowl in the fridge until desired consistency (you can get it right up to cream-cheese consistency if you like, aka "yogurt cheese").

[bethzaring]

Originally Posted by milkdemcows

I've got some incubating right now! It's cheaper--a gallon of milk is about $3.50, and 2 lbs of yogurt (so 2 quarts?) is $2.50.

I (now) have a yogurt "maker"--but really there's not much "making" that these machines do. They are basically just an incubator, keeping the yogurt at a steady and ideal temperature. So I heat milk to 185 F, cool to 130 F, add yogurt, and put it in the machine. I let it go a whole 24 hours or so to really work on the lactose and thicken.

2 pounds of yogurt is one quart, so it is more economical than you thought.

I heat my milk to 180*F and cool to 110*F to 112*F. With the culture I use, 130*F milk would kill the culture. I also let mine incubate for at least 8 hours, or longer. I do not add dry milk, just add a bit of real vanilla and a tad of maple syrup. Sometimes my consistency is surprisingly firm.

[CharlieD]

I too make yougurt. I usually make a 1 quart by adding about about a cup of existing yougurt and letting it seat over night. No machines, no fancy equipment. I warm up milk befor.

[milkdemcows]

Heating milk up to 180-190 range slightly changes the structure of the milk protein (or something along those lines), making the finished product thicker/firmer than it would be otherwise. And incubation is just to let the bacteria work at maximal efficiency; lower temp just has them work slower (low enough, e.g. the fridge, they stop though).