Homemade_Yogurt.pdf

⬆️ Link to Formatted PDF ⬆️

Homemade Yogurt “Yogurt does not like anxiety” — my mom Approach this process with curiosity and a willingness to fail (heads up, “failed” yogurt can be rescued and/or repurposed!) and try not to fuss too much about the specifics. You’re just boiling some milk, putting some stuff in it, then wrapping it in a blanket and lettin’ it do its thing for a day. 🌻 Equipment and ingredients Make sure all of your pots and tools are nice and clean. Only nice bacteria are allowed to thrive in our yogurt! 📌 Tools: Ingredients: A large pot—anything without a non-stick coating (i.e. aluminum, glass, stainless steel, enamel) A second vessel (with a lid) to ferment in—preferably not plastic. (i.e. glass, stainless steel, enamel) Thermometer Silicone spatula—for stirring Starter culture—you can get yogurt starter from the store, or just use ~2TBS of plain, unsweetened Greek, Bulgarian, or Armenian yogurt, or skyr. Skyr works great. (chobani is banned because it tastes and smells of house paint) Whole milk—you can start with a quart or half-gallon if it’s your first time (~1-2L) Homemade Yogurt 1

(confession: I don’t stir the milk while it’s boiling) Spoon Cozy blanket—for swaddling your yogurt A spot in your house that’s not cold (i.e. a cabinet next to the oven, on top of the fridge) Optional: A cheesecloth—if you want to strain your yogurt to make it thicker (low-fat or skim just ain’t right) Process

  1. Boil milk until it reaches 180°F, or until you can see it starting to boil and bubble at the edges. Milk boils over very quickly once it starts foaming, and it can be annoying to clean cooked-on milk, so just be wary of that (but not like, too wary).
  2. Transfer milk into the second vessel and allow it to cool to between 110°-120°F. My personal preferred temperature is between 115°-118°F. Leave it uncovered (but if you have cats, maybe put a mesh strainer or steamer basket on top to keep curious whiskers away). This will take a couple hours depending on the temperature of your home, how much milk you’ve boiled, and how much surface area the vessel provides. I usually start checking the temperature after an hour or so. You’ll develop an internal timer for this the more you do it.
  3. Add ~2 tablespoons of your starter yogurt to the milk. If the milk’s temperature drops below 110°, you can heat it back up to temp (you don’t have to boil it all the way back to 180° again). 📌 Homemade Yogurt 2
  4. Cover the yogurt vessel with its lid and wrap it up in a blanket. Spread your blanket out on a table, but the pot in the middle, and wrap it up nice and cozy so that it will stay warm overnight to incubate.
  5. Place the swaddled yogurt somewhere warm, and let it ferment for ~24 hours. You can check on it after a few hours if you’d like to see if it’s firming up, but don’t leave it unwrapped or uncovered for long.
  6. After 24 hours, it should be well set. You can leave it out for another 12 hours if you’d like it to be more tart. At this point, you can chuck it in the fridge (or feel free to enjoy some if you’ve got nothing against room-temp yogurt)! If you are using a packaged starter, follow the instructions on the package for the proper ratio of starter culture to milk. 📌 At this point, you can choose to strain the yogurt using cheesecloth to make it thicker. 📌 Troubleshooting If you already added starter and your yogurt didn’t set... You likely won’t be able to boil it again and add more starter. You will, however, be making fresh ricotta! Boil it again and it will start to separate a bit because of the acidity from the starter culture you used—you can add some lemon juice or citric acid to seal the deal. Did you forget to add starter? If it’s only been 1-4 hours and the milk still smells fine, you can reheat the milk—just back up to 110°F—add starter, wrap it back up, and let it go! Does the milk smell spoiled? Throw it out—sorry. Homemade Yogurt 3