Home Made Yogurt
Submitted by Jsudweekks
Homemade yogurt from powdered milk, heated then cooled and cultured with a spoon of store-bought plain yogurt. A clever thermos incubation trick sets it thick and tangy with no yogurt maker needed.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
20 minREADY
60 minThis is real yogurt made from a box of powdered milk and a single spoon of store-bought plain yogurt: no machine, no specialty cultures, no fuss. The trick that makes it foolproof is a thermos full of hot water.
Temperature is the make-or-break part, and there are two moments that matter. First you heat the milk until it scalds, which clears out competing bacteria so the yogurt cultures have a clean slate to grow in.
Then you cool it down to just warm before stirring in the plain yogurt. Add the culture to milk that is still too hot and the heat kills the very bacteria you need.
That spoon of plain yogurt is your living starter. Stirred into the warm milk, its cultures multiply and slowly turn the whole batch thick and tangy.
The incubation is where the thermos shines. Tuck the jar of cultured milk into a thermos warmed with hot water, cap it, and leave it undisturbed for several hours, up to eight, until set. A warm oven or a towel-wrapped cooler works too.
A turn in the fridge stops the culturing and firms it up for good.
Chef Tips
- Heat the milk to about 180°F (82°C) to scald it, then cool to roughly 115°F (46°C) before adding the starter.
- No thermometer? Scald until steaming with tiny bubbles at the edge, then cool until it feels just warm on your wrist.
- Use a scrupulously clean jar, since stray bacteria can crowd out the yogurt cultures.
- Reserve a few spoonfuls of this batch to start your next one.
Variations
Ingredients
3 3/4 c warm tap water
1 2/3 c instant nonfat dry milk
2 to 4 T store bought, plain yogurt with active yogurt cultures
Directions
In a large saucepan, combine the tap water and dry milk powder. Stir well. Let it sit, then stir again.
Heat the milk over medium low heat until it reaches 180F. This kills off any competing bacteria so that the yogurt will respond better to the acidophilus cultures.
Remove from the stove and allow to cool to 115F. If the milk is hotter than this, it will kill off the yogurt cultures.
Add the store bought plain yogurt to the warm milk. Stire well. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and stir a final time.
Pour the mixture into a very clean, quart sized container. A quart canning jar or an old yogurt container works well.
Now you incubate the yogurt. This method works well for me: Fill a large preheated thermos about half way with hot tap water. Place the container with yogurt inside the thermos, being careful to not allow the water to get into the yogurt. Set the lid on top of the thermos. (Other people have put the yogurt in a barely warm oven, or put it under a heating blanket, or even let it incubate in a warm car!) Check the yogurt after a few hours. May take up to 8 hours. When the yogurt is thick, it is done. Refrigerate.
Comments
This recipe sounds interesting, and it's certainly a great idea to use up some of our dry milk powder. One question, how does the yogurt taste? Thanks for sharing a great recipe :-)
The yogurt tastes like plain, unsweetened yogurt--very boring! You will need to add some sugar or jam or honey to make it taste good, if you plan on eating it for breakfast. It is a good substitute for sour cream. Sometimes the texture is a little grainier or runnier than store bought yogurt.