Homemade Yogurt



I love a good yogurt, so naturally I decided I wanted to make some of my own.  I've seen numerous recipes floating around about how to make yogurt using your crockpot, but I could never work up the courage to try making it that way.  I guess I know too much microbiology....



My in-laws gave Frog Prince and I a EuroCuisine Yogurt Maker for Christmas last year, and we've been putting it to good use.  I love the individual-sized yogurt containers to make the yogurt and I also love that they are glass -- which means I can sterilize them well in the dishwasher before making the yogurt, and I don't have to worry about incubating plastic.


The result is a delicious, creamy yogurt after 9-10 hours of incubation!


We've used the yogurt more recently to make a wonderful frozen yogurt -- can't wait to share that recipe with you too.

Homemade Yogurt - From EuroCusine

42 oz. 1% milk*
6-8 oz. Greek Yogurt {plain}

Begin by pouring the milk into a clean and dry saucepan.  Heat the milk over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 180 degrees.  This is the boiling point for milk, so let it boil (allowing the milk to climb the sides of the pan a bit) for about 1 minute; again, stirring constantly.


Remove the saucepan from the head and allow the milk to cool down to 110 degrees.  To hasten the process, I carefully place the warm saucepan into a cold bowl of water/ice.  I allow it to sit for ~5 minutes, replenish the cold water/ice mix and repeat until the milk reaches 110 degrees.


Combine half of the Greek yogurt with ~1/2 C lukewarm milk and stir until yogurt is dissolved in milk.  Then, add the rest of the yogurt and mix well.


Stir the milk/yogurt mixture back into the rest of the milk in the saucepan, and stir until well combined. At this point, I transfer all the milk to a large glass measuring cup or, leave it in the sauce pan -- whichever is easier for pouring.


Carefully pour the milk mixture into the 7 glass jars.


 Place the jars (without lids) into the yogurt maker.  Cover the yogurt maker; turn it on and set the timer for ~11 hours (up to 12-13 hours if you're using skim milk).


Allow the yogurt cultures to incubate and then when they are done, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.


*I've made batches of yogurt using skim and 1%; I personally like the texture better with 1% milk, but the skim milk worked just fine.  Use what you would prefer!


Making homemade yogurt works great for our family!  Have you tried it?  Do you have a favorite recipe?  Tell me about it in the comments (include a link, if you'd like)!

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