Lazy Girl Dinners: DIY Yogurt--How to Make Yogurt

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

DIY Yogurt--How to Make Yogurt

I have been wanting to make my own yogurt for a long while now. I have put off making it because I rarely buy milk, unless I want to make ice cream. The truth is that we don't drink milk, so there is rarely a need for it in our home. I was in Whole Food's the other day and went to pick up a jar of my favorite Bulgarian yogurt, when I thought--now is the time to make my own. The process is super simple. I did it with my Sous-vide machine, but you could do this in your slow cooker on low, in a dehydrator set to 110F, or with just the light of your oven door.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes Plus 6 hours of non cook time

Ingredients:

4 cups of full fat organic milk

4 tablespoons of full fat organic yogurt--make sure the yogurt that you choose has active live cultures.

Directions: Heat the milk in a stainless steel sauce pan,

When the temperature reaches 110F turn off the fire and whisk in the yogurt.

Transfer the mixture to a glass jar,

Lightly cap it,

If you aren't using a slow cooker or a immersion circulator, place the jar in the oven and turn on the oven light and allow to culture over night. If using a slow cooker, fill the cooker with water, place the jar inside and set the cooker to low--or 110F.

If using a circulator, fill a pan with enough water to cover the sides of the jar, set the circulator to 110F and add the jar--let sit for 4-6 hour's or until the yogurt thickens to the consistency of store bought yogurt--the longer you let the yogurt sit the more tart and thick it becomes--so if you find that you like the consistency and taste at 4 hours then remove it from the heat then--if you like it more tart then let it go for longer--even over night--it's really up to you, and your preference.

Remove from circulator and refrigerate. Once refrigerated, the yogurt will thicken a bit more, and the whey will separate from the yogurt, you can pour it off or mix it back into the yogurt.