Why is making yoghurt such an issue?

[Bhavana]

Yeah.

It is such an easy process...the most easiest in the kitchen, requires 2 utensils at the most+An oven if its winter.

Yoghurt maker, checking temp, crockpot....honestly, you guys dont need all that. Take it from me, who makes yogurt every night....like most Indian women.


1. Boil milk and let it cool/get to lukewarm.
2. Into another bigger pot, add in your starter culture & Mash it with a spoon, so its runny-not a dollop. -helps with distribution. 4-5tbsps per litre of milk. More spoons if you want it to set faster/get sour.
3. Pour the milk from a height-about 1foot- into the starter pot. and back. Do this back and forth some 4 times to ensure that your starter has completely mixed in with the milk. It will get frothy..but they will dissipate.
Cover it to set overnight. Refrigerate the next morning.

That's it.

During fall and winter, you will need to keep it in a draftless place in the kitchen/somewhere warm-maybe near the heater. My aunt in NY used to keep it overnight in the oven with just the lights on....that was sufficient heat for the yogurt to set!

Now if you want to add flavors/keep them in individual little serving bowls, you can add the flavors in step 3, and divvy it up in the bowls to set.

Sugar you can add while boiling, but fruits with vit C in them -like strawberries/blueberries/jam will spoil the milk. It will curdle. So you'll need to add them when you are eating.

I set the milk to boil as we start eating dinner. It cools off while we finish cleaning up. I mash the culture, pour the milk in and out. Set the pot in a corner overnight. Stow it away in the fridge as Im getting the milk out for my tea in the am.

And Im sure this thread will die!

[jjordan]

Our house is ~60* these days (cooler at night). What works in India doesn't always work here. I did mention in the other thread that my friend's oven light warms her oven sufficiently to set the yogurt; I tried it in my oven and no-go. I have found a relatively easy method for me that uses a warm water bath in a cooler to keep the water from cooling too quickly, but even then I have to warm up the water a few times during the incubation, so it's not fool-proof.

I think that the thermometers are helpful when someone is figuring out how to get it to work, so that they can develop a feel for the correct temperature range. I used it the first two times I made yogurt, but not since then.

[Bhavana]

Yep, I agree, being in the tropics..everything reproduces faster! Absolutely, this method will work anywhere in South Asia.

I used to live in South Korea and even when it was ~50'/snowing, I could get the milk to set that way. However, on extremely cold nights, I had to wrap the pot in a blanket and set it on the heater!

[evasimone]

I had success with your method but I don't think we eat enough yogurt to justify it. But I do agree that making yogurt really doesn't need all kinds of fancy equipment.

I will say that I can make bread by hand but the ease and amount of stress saved by my bread maker is totally worth it to me! So I don't know how much help a yogurt maker is but if it's anything like my bread machine I could understand people that want one.

[Leanbh]

Can you recommend any flavors to do during the process that won't spoil? My kids eat a lot of yogurt, but it needs to be flavored. They don't mind a bit of honey or real maple syrup to unflavored though.....


I tried to do strawberry(made a puree/reduction) added about your step 3, but it did spoil quickly as you said.

[elizabeth.scalf]

I hadn't heard about making it and leaving it out overnight until the thread I started jjust a few days ago. All the recipes I'd ever read made it seem like if the temperature strayed more than a few degrees up or down you'd end up with a nasty bowl of spoiled congealed milk! After some of the posts about the easier 'countertop' method o f making yogurt, I may try it this way soon. Not sure where I'll leave i - I'll probably put it in toaster oven while off, just it will keep it somewhat insulated and free of draft.

[evasimone]

Originally Posted by elizabeth.scalf I hadn't heard about making it and leaving it out overnight until the thread I started jjust a few days ago. All the recipes I'd ever read made it seem like if the temperature strayed more than a few degrees up or down you'd end up with a nasty bowl of spoiled congealed milk! After some of the posts about the easier 'countertop' method o f making yogurt, I may try it this way soon. Not sure where I'll leave i - I'll probably put it in toaster oven while off, just it will keep it somewhat insulated and free of draft.

When I did it mine didnt spoil or anything. I put it in the oven with the oven light on and 10 hours later I had yogurt. If you Google, "salad in a jar" she makes her own Greek yogurt and has a pretty decent tutorial. It's the first time I was able to make it successfully.

[Bhavana]

Originally Posted by Leanbh Can you recommend any flavors to do during the process that won't spoil? My kids eat a lot of yogurt, but it needs to be flavored. They don't mind a bit of honey or real maple syrup to unflavored though..... I tried to do strawberry(made a puree/reduction) added about your step 3, but it did spoil quickly as you said.

1.Vanilla beans..not the essence- but just scraping out the bean pods into it? I also think you could add the whole pod while you are boiling the milk..and remove it and add the pod again for your next batch. The boiling heat should be able get out the vanilla flavor and by reusing the pod, you are stretching its use. I dont know how deeply that will flavor or how many times you can reuse the pod, but I once saw on Nigellas Kitchen about how she keeps vanilla pods in her sugar container and it making her morning coffee smell wonderful.

2.Cardamom pods. Boil with 1 pod/litre. Smell the milk, and add more if you feel like it. You can most definitely reuse it, and then grind the seeds up and add them for the 3rd/4th use.

3.Saffron. Again boil with a 6/7 strands. Lovely fragrance. Will turn your yogurt a beautiful yellow. Dont remove the strands!

4. Honey and maple syrup both contain VitC...but since you'll have to use very little of them to flavor, Im not sure if they'll split the milk.

[BattleBuddies]

Ive never made my own yogurt, but this has me dyin to try it!

[madebymommy]

Double post!