Post by: thalassa on December 14, 2008, 05:20:02 PM
After B. started a thread inquiring about making yogurt (
http://www.paganforum.com/index.php/topic,17772.0.html), I started experimenting at this a bit…
You see, Sophie is a skinny Minnie, and she needs as much fat and calories in her diet as possible…the problem with this is that the only whole milk yogurt I have been able to find in the grocery store is the YoBaby stuff…which is NASTY (or, as Scott put it, I wouldn’t feed that to my dog, much less to my kid), and she won’t touch (and she LOVES yogurt).
The recipe I started with:
Homemade Yogurt Recipe
4 cups of fresh, organic 2% milk
1/3 cup of powdered milk
1/2 cup organic yogurt (this will be your starter)
Making yogurt begins with milk. Readers of 101 Cookbooks will not be surprised with the advice to buy organic milk that is fresh as possible. Slowly heat the milk on the stove over low-medium heat.
At this point you can choose to add powdered milk. Powdered milk creates thicker yogurt that takes less time to ferment. It's optional if you are using whole milk or two percent. Some skim and one percent milk include added milk proteins which make the product taste less watery and will behave the same way as if you added powdered milk.
For your first batch we are going to go with two-percent milk plus 1/3 cup of powdered milk. This combination of milk with the powder will produce a delicious, basic yogurt.
The most tedious thing about making yogurt is watching the milk get hot. You need it to hit 170 degrees, but not have it boil. So you want to pay attention to the pot and have a thermometer at hand. Once you've hit the target temperature, remove from heat and then wait for the milk to cool. Unless you put the pot in the refrigerator it will take some time to cool to 108-112 degrees.
If you are using existing yogurt as a starter, have it handy in a cup. When the milk is cooled to the proper temperature, mix a small amount it in with the yogurt. This will break up the yogurt and makes blending it with the rest of the milk easier. Once you add the starter, the milk can be placed in the pre-heated yogurt maker for four to eight hours. Refrigerate before serving. Makes one quart.
From
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000176.html\
Since then, in my research of blogs, biologists and chemists webpages, recipe sites, etc, I have come to a simple conclusion…as long as you don’t kill the bacteria, everything else is open to experimentation… All these websites make it more complicated than it needs to be.
My new (and simple) method to quick (a relative term in this) yogurt making:
Take a very large pan (I use a roasting pan) with a lid, fill with a gallon of whole milk. Scald milk (this results in less whey, but is actually not necessary). Cool milk, blend some milk with a cup of started yogurt til not lumpy. Pour in pan and stir. Maintain in heated area in the bacteria’s preferred temperature range (about 100-130 degrees F). The higher the temp, the shorter the incubation time, the lower, the longer. Drain the whey. Refridgerate.
…or just buy a yogurt maker
(If you hate being wasteful and have issues tossing out the whey, you can make bread with it, in place of the water…it makes for a bit denser bread, but is plenty yummy. I have actually heard of people that make a drink out if it, but can’t find any recipes).
I have been splitting up the yogurt into thirds (minus a cup as a starter for the next batch)…1/3 to use in place of sour cream, 1/3 to flavor with fruit and stevia (for me) or sugar (for Sophie), and 1/3 to make into a yogurt spread (put yogurt in a cheesecloth like piece of cloth) and further drain, add herbs and such.
More resources for info:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser...yogurt2000.htm
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/...licationId=525
http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/yogurt.html
http://chetday.com/howtomakeyogurt.htm
http://homecooking.about.com/library...ogurtindex.htm
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