Homemade yogurt Some info here, Home Joys: Make It Yourself - Yogurt For a quart of yogurt, you need: 1 quart of milk 1/2 cup dry milk powder (not absolutely necessary but makes it thicker) 1/4 - 1/2 cup yogurt starter (plain - not vanilla - yogurt) room temperature To Make: Mix the milk and dry milk powder well. Heat on the stove to 180 degrees (almost boiling) You can use a double boiler but I don't bother. When heated, take off stove and cool milk to 115 degrees (baby bath water temperature) To cool faster put pot in a pan of cold water. When cool, add a small amount of your milk to your yogurt starter and whisk well. Add all milk and whisk well. Pour milk into a quart jar and cover. Incubate for 6 to 8 hours. Refrigerate. Serve! FYI- Some of these people are “incubating” in very expensive yogurt machines which totally is unnecessary. -- I pretty much use the above recipe but I double it using 1 C of starter then my twist is that I slop it all in a covered casserole dish then into my oven at 115° for about 8 hours and it’s done. The one thing I’d suggest would be using a candy thermometer the 1st few times until you get it down pat to where you know when the milk is about to boil. Go beyond that and it’ll boil out of your pot in the blink of an eye and all over your stove. Big sticky mess. I flavor our yogurt with 2 T vanilla and somewhere around ¼ C honey. Set some unflavored yogurt aside to use as starter the next time. Store the starter in your frig.
Home made yoghurt I have made home-made yoghurt a few times...the texture isn't quite the same as commercially made yoghurt....but delicious just the same, with a very refreshing acidic aftertaste...don't use commercial fruit yoghurts as a starter, use plain yoghurt. add the fruit later once the yoghurt has set and is ready to be refrigerated.
Incubation of your yogurt can be performed in a small cooler with a standard heating pad set to medium. This maintains the temperature and is dirt freakin' cheap. Commercial yogurt machines are set to maintain a temp of approximately 110-115 degrees, in a hot water bath. This is totally unneeded. I flavor my vanilla yogurt with vanilla and maple syrup. I am going to try the honey soon...
Use an aquarium heater to culture yogurt. They are cheap, adjustable temperature, and can make a gallon or more at a time. g
Commercial yogurt is thickened with gelatin. I like acidic yogurt, but you can shorten the incubation time for less acidic yogurt. Lately I'm using Lifeway kefir as starter and it tastes great. BTW, using an aquarium heater sounds like a great idea.
I love the tart acidic taste of homemade yogurt, but it never came out thick enough. Now I strain it overnight in the fridge after it is made and it comes out wonderfully thick. You can also use the water left over in your baking.
I never thought about using a heating pad in a cooler or an aquarium heater, but will try both. I too strain the yogurt in the frig overnight for a thicker yogurt that will spread on fruit slices.
And for a great use for some of that homemade yoghurt, combine in a blender with chopped cucumber, garlic and dill for a homemade tzaziki sauce! Kalyn's Kitchen: World's Best Tzatziki Sauce Recipe - Greek Yogurt and Cucumber Sauce
