Apr 27 11
by cara
at 9:37 PM
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Homemade Yogurt

My go-to breakfast these days is yogurt (with oatmeal running a close second).  Greek yogurt, to be exact.   I eat plain Greek yogurt with homemade granola OR with cinnamon, ground flaxseed and honey mixed in, topped with slivered almonds and blueberries or blackberries.  Plain Greek yogurt is definitely an acquired taste, but now I don’t even like the taste of the other flavored yogurts.  They seem way too sweet and artificial tasting!  My favorite store bought Greek yogurt is Fage, and I can easily go through a large container of it in a week or less, since it can also be used for baking, cooking and dips.

Last year I started reading about other bloggers who regularly make their own yogurt, and decided to give it a try.  There are many methods out there that don’t require any special equipment.  If you’re not quite ready to splurge on a yogurt maker (though you can get one for around $40), here are a few homemade yogurt recipes to try first:

Make Your Own Yogurt (and Cream Cheese) @ Heavenly Homemakers

Homemade Yogurt, the Easy Way @ Kitchen Stewardship

Homemade Yogurt: Crockpot Style @ Finding My Niche

Making Homemade Yogurt @ Keeper of the Home

I decided to splurge on a yogurt maker (using a gift card), and I LOVE it!! This is the one I’ve got:

This yogurt maker is available from Amazon or King Arthur Flour for around $40.

I love the little glass jars and just how easy it is to make yogurt with this!!  The recipes I tried previously seemed a little fussy, but I’ve had nothing but success with this little appliance.

How to make yogurt:

Bring 4 cups of milk to a boil.  Then mix 1 glass jar of store bought or previously made yogurt (6 oz) with the milk until smooth.  Then divide the mixture evenly between all 7 jars, place in the yogurt maker without the jar lids and cover with the large plastic lid.  Set the timer for 9-11 hours (varies depending on what percent fat milk you use and how thick you want your yogurt) and let it cook!  Once the yogurt is finished cooking, you refrigerate it for at least 3 hours before eating.  This yogurt has wonderful texture and firmness, but to make it even more Greek-like, you simply strain the yogurt overnight through cheesecloth to get rid of the excess liquid (which is actually whey).

I haven’t tried adding flavoring or fruit add ins just yet since I enjoy plain yogurt, but this is definitely something I plan to experiment with in the future.  Maybe some honey and vanilla, maybe some blueberries or strawberries.  I’ve also seen some recipes for savory yogurt with basil or pesto that can be used as a sandwich spread.  With my next batch, I’m planning to freeze some for delicious frozen yogurt….mmmm!

Have you tried making your own yogurt?  What was your experience like?

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1 Comment
  1. Whuebl permalink

    “Have you tried making your own yogurt? What was your experience like?”

    We make a gallon or more a week and it is very easy. We have a Waring Pro yogurt maker and, with a minor adaptation, will hold 4 wide mouth quart jars. The adaptation is needed because with the larger jars, the top does not meet with the bottom of the unit and leaves a gap… all we do is toss a large towel over the top of the yogurt maker and it helps hold in the heat – the unit is thermostatically controlled.

    While there is much more information on our website: http://mryogurt.info/ – some basic tips include always adding a bit of dried, powdered milk before heating the milk and also use a tablespoon or more of sugar per quart and a pinch of salt. One last thing is to blend the milk with the culture in a blender as you are trying to distribute literally billions of bacteria evenly throughout the milk.

    With over a hundred gallons of yogurt made since we started last year with no failures, I have to say we are extremely satisfied with the DIY yogurt. And DIY has probably saved us upward of a thousand dollars of retirement money we could not afford to use for yogurt.

    Cheers!

    Bill

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