When I started making yogurt 3 years ago, I had a hard time finding information and recipes. Now the internets are practically exploding with yogurt methods — crock pot, oven, yogurt maker, heating pad, back seat of your car, you name it. Yes, there is even heirloom yogurt now. (Thanks, Christina!)
Anyway, as my kids kept getting bigger I started having to make yogurt with my little yogurt maker twice a week. I have limited time, so I put the yogurt maker away for a while. Here’s how we’re doing it, three years later:
Start with a 1/2 gallon of the best whole milk you can get your hands on. Heat it to just around the boiling point, or 180 degrees F. Remove from heat, plunge into a sink full of cold water, and bring the temperature back down to 110-115 degrees F.
Stir in a cup or so of yogurt from your last batch. Whisk.
My oven has a setting called “proofing” — for people who have time to bake bread (some day I’ll get back into it, sniff) — it holds the oven at around 100-110 degrees. Perfect. I bake my yogurt overnight usually, around 8-9 hours. Simple, and it makes quite a bit — usually around 80 ounces. Still no plastic to recycle (though now the city of Minneapolis does take yogurt containers).
A little chunky for ya? That’s what happens when you use non-homogenized milk. Doesn’t bother me, honestly. A solid week’s worth of full fat yogurt from grass-fed cows who live less than an hour away (and who I’ve actually met) for only about $5. Cool!
May 10, 2012 at 1:02 pm
do you ever make different flavors?
May 10, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Nah, I always make plain. We add flavors as we eat it. Usually just add a dollop of strawberry jam or a bit of maple syrup. I also like to add it plain to indian foods.
May 22, 2012 at 10:10 am
Hey Jennifer: We just got back into yogurt making, using raw milk we get from a farm out here. You’re so right about using the best whole milk–the result is compulsively eatable, nothing like the very acidic commercial stuff. Oh, and we get our milk for $1.75 a half gallon! But Cedar Summit would be my choice, too, if we didn’t have that. Cheers~ Brett
May 22, 2012 at 10:25 am
$1.75?!?! That’s it, I’m moving to the country.
May 27, 2012 at 2:48 pm
I’m so jealous of your “proof” setting — I do a lot of bread in the winter, and well, my house is cold.
I’ve had huge success with yogurt in a cooler filled with warm water. Put the jars in, fill the cooler with hot tap water, put the lid on and leave it in the corner overnight. Just FYI …