Homemade Yogurt

 

Homemade Yogurt…recipe from The Fermenters Club

 

Ingredients

• 2 quarts raw or organic whole pasteurized (but not ultra-pasteurized) cow or goat milk
• 2 Tablespoons of yogurt with active cultures (from a previous batch, or an unflavored store-bought variety)

 

Instructions

If using PASTEURIZED milk: Gently bring two quarts of milk up 180°F/82°C in a saucepot. (If you cook it too fast, you’ll burn some on the bottom of the pot).

If using RAW milk: Gently bring two quarts of milk up 110°F/43°C in a saucepot. Higher temperatures will kill the valuable enzymes and living bacteria present in the milk!

Add one tablespoon each of yogurt from a previous batch to two clean 1-quart mason jars.

As soon as the milk reaches temperature, remove from heat.

(Skip this step if using raw milk). Cool down the milk to 110°F/43°C. To speed up the cool down, fill a large bowl with water and ice, and carefully submerge the pot, being careful not to mix water in the milk.

Once the milk has cooled, divide the milk into the two mason jars. Mix well to incorporate the starter.

Seal the jars with the metal lids and rings.

INCUBATION

The critters need about 8 hours to turn the milk to yogurt. The goal is to keep the yogurt between 100-105°F/38-40°C for that time:

METHOD 1: Water bath. Fill a cooler with enough hot water to cover the jars. Submerge jars under the water. (Optional) We inserted a probe thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature

METHOD 2: Warm oven. Preheat an oven to 200°F. Turn it off as soon as it reaches temperature. Place jars onto center oven rack.

Do not disturb the jars once you’ve placed them. This will help the yogurt form its consistency.

After four hours, you may need to reheat the incubator to keep within the optimal temperature range:

*METHOD 1: Add near-boiling water to the cooler to get the temperature back up to the desired range.
*METHOD 2: Turn the oven back on to 200°F for just 5 minutes. Turn it off after 5 minutes even if it has not reached temperature.

After eight hours, remove from incubator. Refrigerate and keep up to one month.

Makes 2 quarts.

Troubleshooting:

• If the yogurt isn’t thick after 8 hours, refill the cooler with warm water to bring the temperature back to 110°F/43°C. Let it sit for another 4 hours.

• If there is an acidic sour taste and an effervescence in the finished product you used too much starter. More is not always better!

When the yogurt is done do not stir. Immediately chill until the yogurt is set.  There will be a layer of whey on top when this process is done.  You can choose to either stir this into the chilled yogurt or pour off and save the whey for baking etc.


Bringing my pasteurized milk up to 180 degrees


One tablespoon of starter in each 1 quart mason jar


The finished product….I love mine with bananas and a little pure maple sugar.  Yummy!



This process was actually a lot easier then I thought.  This was my first attempt at fermentation and I think I am hooked.  A big thanks to all of the seasoned yogurt makers who helped me during the final stages on facebook.  It was like I had my own homemade yogurt consulting team.  In case you were wondering I used pasteurized milk and the oven method.  My yogurt ended up being in the incubation state for about 16 hrs.  I like a thicker yogurt so I kept it going until I reached the right consistency.  I wish I could have used Raw Milk but I am still in the process of finding a good cow share in my community.  Best of luck to you!  Please try if you have never done this before.  The taste is amazing and it really is so easy.  I can honestly say that this is going to become a new staple in our household.  For more information on fermentation please check out these books:

Wild Fermentation
Nourishing Traditions
Preserving Food

Happy Fermenting!