- 3-3/4 cup warm tap water
- 1-2/3 cups instant nonfat dry milk
- 2 to 4 tablespoon store-bought,
plain yogurt with active yogurt cultures
(read the label to be sure)
In a large saucepan combine the tap water
and dry milk powder. Stir it very well, and
let it sit a few minutes. Then stir it
again. All of the dry milk should be
dissolved. Heat the milk over medium low
heat until it reaches 180°. This kills off
any competeing bacteria so that the yogurt
will respond better to the acidophilus
cultures. Remove from the stove and allow to
cool to 115°. If the milk is any hotter than
this then it will kill off the yogurt
cultures. Add the store-bought plain yogurt
to the warm milk. Stir well. Allow it sit
for a few minutes and stir a final time.
This should dissolve the store-bought yogurt
completely.
Carefully pour the mixture into a very
clean, quart-sized, wide-mouthed canning
jar, or another clean, quart-sized
container.
Incubate the yogurt in a warm spot for 6 to
8 hours, or until it is set almost as thick
as store-bought yogurt. Chill and eat.
Each cook develops her own way of incubating
home made yogurt through trial and error. I
am going to describe my method, followed by
some other common methods and ideas. But
first there are a few things you need to
know. Yogurt is cultured from acidophilous
bacteria, which you can sometimes buy in
powdered form at the health food store. I
have never actually seen it, but I've heard
tell about it.
Yogurt can also be cultured from
store-bought yogurt which contains "active
yogurt cultures" or live bacteria. Read the
label and it will tell you if the yogurt
contains active cultures or not.
I always use prepared yogurt as my culture.
I buy a large container of plain store brand
yogurt from the store. I bring it home and
scoop it into a couple of icecube trays.
Then I freeze it. When it is completely
frozen, I take the frozen yogurt cubes and
pack them in a plastic freezer bag. Each
time I make yogurt, I use one cube as the
starter. You can use your own fresh yogurt
as a starter too, but eventually it loses
it's power due to the introduction of
foreign bacteria, usually after using it
about 3 or 4 times. I like to use a new
frozen yogurt cube each time I prepare
yogurt. I've had my best results this way.
When making yogurt with powdered milk, it is
good to use more dry milk powder than you
would to just make fluid milk. For instance,
normally I would use 1 1/3 cups of dry milk
powder to make a quart of milk. When I
reconstitute milk for yogurt, I add an extra
1/3 cup of dry milk powder, using 1-2/3 cups
of dry milk powder for a quart of yogurt.
This makes the yogurt thicker and also
higher in calcium. Even when preparing
yogurt from fluid milk, the results are
better if you add a little extra powdered
milk for thickness.
There are lots of ways to incubate your
yogurt. I prefer to do it in my electric
oven. I set the stove dial half way between
OFF and 200°, or at approximately 100°. The
light which signifies the oven is on, pops
on for a moment, and then pops off when the
temperature is reached. I set my jar of
yogurt in the oven and leave it for between
6 and 8 hours, usually overnight, or while
I'm out for the day. I take out the yogurt
when it is thick. This method works every
time for me. My yogurt has a very mild
flavor, which the kids like better than the
sour stuff we used to get from the store.
There are many other ways to incubate your
yogurt. Some people pour the warm milk
combined with the starter, into a large
preheated thermos and let it sit overnight.
Other folks set the yogurt on top of a warm
radiator, or close to a wood stove, or in a
gas stove with the pilot operating, or on a
heating pad set on low. Sometimes I have
placed the jar in a pan filled with warm
water, to keep the temperature even. This
worked pretty well when I incubated the
yogurt next to the wood stove. It kept the
yogurt at a uniform temperature, even with
occasional drafts from the front door
opening and closing. The heating-pad method
is supposed to be pretty reliable. You set
it on low and then cover the heating pad
with a towel, place the yogurt on top of it,
and put a large bowl or stew pot upside down
over the yogurt. This makes a little tent
which keeps the heat in. I don't have a
heating pad, and have never actually used
this method myself, but a good friend swears
by it. Another friend uses a medium sized
picnic cooler to incubate her yogurt. She
places the jars inside the cooler and then
add two jars filled with hot tap water, to
keep the temperature warm enough. After 4
hours, check the yogurt to see if it is
thick enough. If it isn't then refill the
water jars with more hot water, return them
to the cooler, and let the yogurt sit
another 4 hours. When I tried this method,
it worked very well. It took a full 8 hours,
but the yogurt was perfect, and I liked not
having my oven tied up during the day. Also,
there was little danger of getting the
yogurt too hot while it incubated, and
drafts weren't a problem because of the
closed nature of the cooler. You should try
to disturb the yogurt as little as possible
while it is incubating, in ensure you get
good results.
After the yogurt is thick, place it in the
fridge. It will stay sweet and fresh for
about a week or two. You may prepare more
than one jar at a time if you like. I
included the method for a quart because this
is the size canning jar I use. Narrow mouth
canning jars would probably work too, but I
prefer the wide mouth ones because it is
easier to stick a measuring cup or ladel
down inside of it, to scoop out the yogurt.
I usually prepare two quart jars at a time.
The prepared yogurt is good mixed with
jelly, fresh or canned fruit, served with
granola for breakfast, or substituted for
sour cream in many recipes like stroganoffs.
It is also nice pureed in fruit smoothie
blender drinks, or stirred into gelatin or
popscicles before freezing them. It can also
be stirred half and half with regular
mayonnaise to make a very tasty low fat
mayonnaise. This mixture can be used in just
about any recipe which calls for mayonnaise.
Learning to make yogurt is a trial and error
process. Most people don't have perfect or
consistant results the first few times they
make it. With a little practice though,
anyone can learn to make it. When you get a
little skill at it, the entire process
becomes second nature, and you will have
sweet fresh yogurt available whenever you
like.
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