Homemade Yogurt

Confession: around the time Brittany created this brilliant blog, I developed some serious stomach/nausea issues. Thus, I have been unable to cook for the past few months (unless you consider cooking to be combining a can of condensed soup with water in the microwave, then hey! I've become a pro at that!). This recipe is for creating homemade yogurt, something I had been doing on a monthly basis.

So although I didn't make something specifically for this first blog post, I’m still excited to share this with you because it’s been a part of my repertoire for a very long time. Sadly, I only have a few photos of the yogurt-making process to share (and apologies in advance to Facebook/Instagram friends…you've probably seen these photos before!) My fingers are crossed that by my next post, things will have resolved and I will have something new (with way more awesome pictures) to share.

So why make your own yogurt? Because it’s insanely easy and tastes about a million times better than the store bought stuff. And (ok, here’s my real reason) making it yourself is cheaper than buying it pre-made. Even when I use organic, grass-fed, local milk it is still cheaper, per quart, than the generic brand stuff available at Wal-Mart. For a family like mine, that loves its yogurt, that money saved can make a difference in the grocery bill.



*Note: This recipe makes four quarts of yogurt. Feel free to halve the recipe to suit the size of your household. The milk heating/cooling times might need to be adjusted, but the incubation period should remain the same.

Homemade Yogurt
Prep/Cook Time: About 1 hour
Incubation Time: 4-8 hours

Ingredients:
(US Measurements)
1 gallon of milk (don’t use anything lower-fat than 2%, or you will risk having runny yogurt!)
1 6 oz. container of commercial yogurt (this will act as your starter for the yogurt).

Special Equipment:
A large stockpot
4 wide-mouth, glass canning jars and lids
An immersion blender
A fine-mesh strainer
A food thermometer (doesn't have to be anything fancy—I use my meat thermometer and it works just fine!)
A cooler

Instructions:

1. Heat your gallon of milk in the stockpot over medium-low heat. Check the temperature of the milk every ten minutes or so—you want to bring it to a temperature of 180 F. Plan on this taking a while—a good 40 minutes or so. It’s important that you don’t heat the milk too quickly, you don’t want it to burn.

2. While the milk is heating, sterilize your jars, the lids, the strainer, and the blender blades by standing them in boiling water for 10 minutes. The easiest way to do this is to fill a few pans with an inch or so of water and bring them to a boil. Then plop your kitchenwares right in.

Your stovetop will look crowded, but your inner germaphobe will be doing a happy dance.

3. Are you still checking on your milk? Good. When it starts approaching 180F, fill your kitchen sink with a few inches of cold water. As soon as that baby hits the 180F mark, you need to remove the stockpot from the stove and put it in the sink to cool to 120F. The cooling process should only take about 10-15 minutes. Keep a close watch on it, because it’s important that the milk doesn't cool to the point where it won’t be able to sustain the cultures.

4. Once the milk is at 120F, use your immersion blender to mix the commercial yogurt (which contains all the active cultures) into the cooled milk. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can try whisking it together by hand. But be forewarned: unless you are very, very thorough, you risk having clumpy yogurt. And that’s just gross.

5. Transfer the yogurt/milk mixture to the quart jars, through the strainer. It’s tricky for me to pour directly from the pot into the (small) strainer, so I first pour a quart into a 4-cup measuring cup and then pour from that into the strainer/quart jar.

6. And the strainer! It’s important! It prevents clumps and bits of the skin that forms while the milk is heating from getting into your final product. USE IT.  It’s easy, just hold the strainer in one hand over your quart jar, and pour the milk mixture from the measuring cup with your other. Lid each jar after filling it.

7. Pour a gallon of hot water into your cooler. Use your thermometer to check the temperature: it should be no hotter or cooler than 120F.  Getting this step right is important if you want your yogurt to incubate properly.

8. Put the cooler somewhere in your home where it can sit undisturbed (away from pets and toddlers), and carefully place your jars of milk in the water bath. Close the cooler securely.

9. Let it incubate. You can probably get away with as few as 4 hours, but I typically let mine go for 8 hours (or more). We have serious lactose intolerance issues at my home, and the longer the yogurt incubates the more of the lactose is digested by the bacteria. I also feel that the longer incubation time creates a sweeter and creamier product, but feel free to experiment and find an incubation time that works best for you (and your tastebuds). Also, it should go without saying, but do not open the lid of the cooler while the yogurt is incubating. 

10. Once the incubation period is complete, time to check out your product! The mixture in the jars should look noticeably thicker. Don’t worry if it still appears a bit liquid-y, a few hours in the fridge will help it firm up. That’s it! You have made your own yogurt!

Everybody seems to have their own favorite way of eating it, but my family loves it plain, in smoothies, with fruit, in overnight oats... any way imaginable, really.

Enjoy!