Monday, April 20, 2009

Bacteria are my friends

Inspired by the New York Times food section this week, I made yogurt. I was surprised at how easy it was. A few months ago, I tried to make mozzarella cheese and I failed so miserably that it never made it onto the blog. But yogurt is apparently difficult to mess up.

I started with a half gallon of whole milk*. (You can use lower-fat milk, too, but then you have to add powered milk and I thought the simplest recipe would be the one most likely to succeed.) I used my candy thermometer to make sure I didn't heat it above 190F.
After it cooled to the correct temperature, I stirred in four tablespoons of store-bought yogurt. The last step is keeping it at the right temperature while the bacteria do their work for four to ten hours. I had intended to put the yogurt in my oven with a candle, but I needed to bake other things. So I just wrapped the pot in several bath towels. After four hours I had yogurt soup, so I stuck a hot water bottle next to the pan and left it swaddled overnight. This morning I had yogurt.
(I tipped the pan so you'd really believe that it's a solid mass. I meant to take a picture of the finished product, which I topped with maple syrup and cinnamon, but it was so good I forgot until the bowl was nearly empty.
The homemade yogurt was less tangy than the store-bought stuff, but it was smoother and creamier. I'll be making it again, probably regularly.


*Note: The milk can be pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized. I learned this the hard way.

7 comments:

Bernice said...

A candle and hot water bottle! They are not listed in my cookbooks at needed cooking equipment. Who would have guessed.

stef said...

Since you have to use existing yogurt to make yogurt i never understood the point of diy-ing it.

unclem-nm said...

Pretty cool.

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

Stef, I guess the point for me is that it tastes better than the store-bought stuff, and it's quite a bit cheaper. I'm going to take the big container of store brand yogurt and freeze tablespoons of it in an ice cube tray so that I don't have to buy it every time I want to make a batch.

That being said, if you don't really love yogurt, this is probably more work than you want to do.

alexis said...

ooo I like making yogurht cheese.

Rachel Scherr said...

When I was making yogurt every week I used 1% milk and it was fine. No powdered milk added. which reminds me, why am I not doing that now?

Anonymous said...

If you want tangier yogurt, let it continue to set out for longer. More bacterial activity. I used to make yogurt in the 1970's-1980's for Heidi Emhoff, Rene.

I've never been to your blog before, but Heidi mentioned your loss, and gave me the address. I am so sorry for your pain & loss of control over the situation.

I do like what I have seen so far, and hope you continue.

Mary, Heidi's mom.