[Luc_H]

I started making yoghurt as a personal experiment. I was following the logic that store bought yoghurt was alive with beneficial bacteria and I wanted to coax them into turning milk into yoghurt at home but most of my trials failed. My conclusion is that store bought yoghurt may not be as <healthy/beneficially alive> as I previously thought. One day I purchased some freeze dried yoghurt culture at the supermarket and started making amazing tasting yoghurt. When I tell people I make yoghurt they think I bought a machine to make it, not the case. I share with you my low tech technique.

Equipment: (have very clean)
1.5+ litre (6 cups+) capacity mason jar
accurate thermometer
a spatula
measuring cup
tall glass
Yoghurt culture (1 pouch/5g makes 1 litre of yoghurt)
a 6 pack beer cooler that can hold water (mine is plastic)
Dishwashing detergent (powder).
heavy bottom pot


Recipe:
I blend 500ml (2cups) of 10% cream (half and half) with 500ml (2cups) of 2% milk to make 1 litre (1 pint) (any combination of milk/cream or just plain milk will do). Place in pot and heat over medium-high

In the meantime:
Add 1 tbsp of dishwashing detergent to the glass and fill with hot tap water. Place the thermometer and spatula in the liquid. This glass is your sanitizing liquid for your instruments.

Add 2 tbsp of dishwashing detergent in the mason jar and fill with hot tap water, close and shake so that the liquid has contacted every surface.

To use either the thermometer or spatula, take it out of the glass, rinse under running water and use. Rinse under water before placing in the sanitizing liquid (glass).

Stir the milk occasionally. Heat to 82C (180F). Maintain the heat for 5 minutes. (If you overshoot the temperature, no problem.). When you reach the temperature, empty the sanitizing water from the mason jar into the measuring cup. Rinse the jar thoroughly several times until no residue. Pour the hot milk in the jar, leave the lid ajar, place in the cooler then add cold tap water to the cooler to the same level as the milk. Let stand until the milk has cooled to between 42-45C (108 – 112F) (about 8 min).

Take out the jar, empty the cooler, rinse the measuring cup thoroughly then add ¼ cup approx of milk, add culture and stir. Pour the inoculated milk back in the jar, seal, mix well then place in the cooler. Let the tap water run in the measuring cup in the sink and adjust the tap hence the water temperature using the thermometer to 45C (112F). Add the 45C (112F) water to the cooler to the same level as the milk. Close the cooler.
Let the mixture sit for 4 to 6 hours. (I usually change the water after 2 hours because it often has cooled to below 42C by then.)
Take out of the cooler when the milk has thicken/gelled and refrigerate. If the milk has not gelled after 7 hours discard and try again.

Luc H.

[HotChef]

and works every time with very little effort.
bought me from moulinex a yogurtmaker. has 6 little glassjars, 200 ml each, with screwtop. machine has a timer, but there are also models without.
at the store buy a very good, plain, Bulgarian type yogurt.
put into each glass a coffee spoon full of yogurt. i than fill it up with 6% milk, no diat for us.
turn it on, the machine keeps the temperature of about 40C and after 8-9h yoghurt is done. close the jars and store the yogurt in the refridgerator.
the last glass you use than always as a 'starter' if you want to make the next patch.
if after some time (10-15 times) the yogurt becomes weaker, just buy a new jogurt and start all over again.
The little yogurtmaker was (here in Moscow) 30 $. it makes now yogurt once a week since 5 years with no hassles.
want to have flavored yogurt or honey. just put one spoon full of whatever you want to into the glasses and than the yogurt on top and milk and the rest...

[OregonYeti]

I've made my own yogurt plenty of times. I make a gallon or a half gallon at a time. What I do is bring the milk/cream mixture barely to a boil in a stainless steel pot, let it cool to about 45 C, then use a whisk to mix in 1 cup of room-temperature yogurt per half gallon of milk, wrap the pot thickly with insulating material (towels or whatever), then let it stand 6-8 hours, in a place free of any major vibration (on top of the fridge is too much vibration). I also use Bulgarian style yogurt because I like the flavor that its culture produces.

After 8 hours or whatever, the way you handle the yogurt is important. In India, where I grew up, a kind of clay wok-shaped pan is used for fermemtation. After fermentation, a few slices are made through the pan of yogurt, and some of the whey separates out into the crevices, making the resulting curds thicker. Here in the US, usually a thickening agent is added (pectin or powdered milk or something like that) and no whey is drained off. Easier for mass production, but I prefer letting some whey drain off.

In India, there is a drink, or kind of a milk shake, made with yogurt that hasn't had any whey drained off. They call it Lassi (rhymes with fussy). It's whisked or stirred, and salt and pepper added to it, or sugar and fruit or whatever. For thicker curds, you don't want to disturb it--handle gently.

[bluezebra]

Luc and Yeti, how about making Greek style yogurt. Do you have any advice on this?

Thanks!

Yeti I love yocheese (where much of the whey is drained out and the yogurt becomes the consistency of cream cheese!)

[OregonYeti]

You mean tzatziki? Greek style yogurt dressing for gyros?

[OregonYeti]

Or if you were talking about just the yogurt itself, the cultures that are used make a difference, and the handling if it. If you are talking about a Greek yogurt culture, I don't know.

[Littlemama]

I make my own yogurt all the time....ussually the kind that you drink...mixed with lemon curd or pureed peaches....very good.....and then the thicker kind too...the thin yogurt I let sit covered with cheese cloth for about 8 hours and the thicker kind I let set for 10 hours....I could post the recipe but I think every one here is pretty much knowlegable in that department.

[HotChef]

[QUOTE=bluezebra;179105]Luc and Yeti, how about making Greek style yogurt. Do you have any advice on this?

with the 8% milk it that thick that the spoon says upright in the jar.
maybe if you want to pour yoghurt into a very fine marley cloth and let drain of the liquid for an hour or so. than it will be realy thick.

[KYHeirloomer]

"I was following the logic that store bought yoghurt was alive with beneficial bacteria and I wanted to coax them into turning milk into yoghurt at home but most of my trials failed."

Luc, there are really two types of supermarket yogurt. Most of it, perhaps 99%, has been pasturized and flavored. That will never work, because the bacteria are dead. Even "plain" yogurt usually has been pasturized and sugar added.

If you want to start with store-bought, it has to specifically say "live culture" on the package.

But the freeze-dried culture is cheap enough. And is consistent every time. So that's what we use.

[OregonYeti]

There's that "pasturized" word again. Has the yogurt been put out to pasture? Ok aside from that most yogurt here has live cultures.

[bluezebra]

KYHeirloomer I would like to make a yogurt that tastes like greek yogurt (not tzaziki SP? sorry...). It tastes different. Is there a specific culture you use for this and how do you handle it? Do you use cream instead or is it raw goat milk or raw cow milk? I would like the probiotics in it that's for certain!

[Luc_H]

Originally Posted by bluezebra

Luc and Yeti, how about making Greek style yogurt. Do you have any advice on this?

Thanks!

Yeti I love yocheese (where much of the whey is drained out and the yogurt becomes the consistency of cream cheese!)

Bluezebra,

I found this reference for you (if yogurt cultures are available in your local supermarket I would go for that instead of buying plain yogurt, see my reason below...)
Luc

[Luc_H]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

"I was following the logic that store bought yoghurt was alive with beneficial bacteria and I wanted to coax them into turning milk into yoghurt at home but most of my trials failed."

Luc, there are really two types of supermarket yogurt. Most of it, perhaps 99%, has been pasturized and flavored. That will never work, because the bacteria are dead. Even "plain" yogurt usually has been pasturized and sugar added.

If you want to start with store-bought, it has to specifically say "live culture" on the package.

But the freeze-dried culture is cheap enough. And is consistent every time. So that's what we use.

KYH,
I knew about the live yogurt versus the pasteurized ones but nevertheless when using live plain yogurt my results were disappointing and inconsistent (sometimes it worked sometimes not).
It almost felt like what Hotchef said :...after some time (10-15 times) the yogurt becomes weaker...
I think live yogurt is pumped, packaged and transported (etc..) that it is probably affected in someway and weaken. Cultures is the way to go.

HoChef,
I posted this recipe because many people that I tell them about making yogurt think you need a machine and are hesitant to make it themselves. This post was to show how low-tech yogurt making can be.

Luc H.

[Luc_H]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

I....I also use Bulgarian style yogurt because I like the flavor that its culture produces.

After 8 hours or whatever, the way you handle the yogurt is important. In India, where I grew up, a kind of clay wok-shaped pan is used for fermemtation. After fermentation, a few slices are made through the pan of yogurt, and some of the whey separates out into the crevices, making the resulting curds thicker.

In India, there is a drink, or kind of a milk shake, made with yogurt that hasn't had any whey drained off. They call it Lassi (rhymes with fussy).

OregonYeti,

That clay wok-shaped dodad is interesting. I can almost taste the yogurt you are describing.
I have made Lassi before (with mango purée).. great stuff but never had the salt/pepper lassi.

As for Bulgarian yogurt, it is a very thick product that has to do with the culture composition:
The culture I use has a combination of:
Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus Thermophilus, Lactobacillus Acidophilus.

L. Bulgarian bacteria converts lactose to lactic acid quickly which sets the yogurt into a firm product. If you replace milk with cream your yogurt will be thicker and creamier.

Luc H

[OregonYeti]

Depending on what I will be using the yogurt for, I'll use whole milk (normally), or mix in some cream for a richer, thicker yogurt. When I buy yogurt in a store, it's plain whole milk yogurt, preferably "Bulgarian Style" or "Russian Style". The store-bought flavored yogurt usually has so much sugar in it that I don't care for it.

Brands I like, which may be just local:
Pavel's Russian Style Yogurt (whole milk variety)
Mountain High Original (which also has L. Bulgaricus)