Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

[MissPrissy]

This thread is being edited to include an index to the recipes contained here.

Ice cream

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

Butter

Buttermilk - Cultured

Cream Cheese

Creme Fraishe

Kefir

Mozzarella Cheese

Pizza Dough

Rhubarb Sauce

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

Vinegar Cheese

Yogurt

Yogurt with photos

Yogurt Cheese

Low Carb Yogurt


First you need a good starter of plain yogurt culture. You can buy it dried but the best way is to buy a container of good yogurt that you like to eat. Plain yogurt. Nothing with fruit or other flavors in it. I use Stonyfeild Farms Organic plain yogurt. It has 6 different types of active yogurt cultures in it.

If you want a thick yogurt you will need a small box of powdered milk.

Cow milk or goat milk will make good yogurt.

Using quart sized mason jars - Sterilize the jars and lids.

1 quart of milk mixed with 1/3 cup powdered milk.

Using a candy thermometer heat the milk slowly to 185 degrees.

Remove from heat.

Allow to cool naturally(or set pot in a ice water bath and carefully watch the temp -it will drop fast while stirring) to 110 degrees.

Stir in 2 heaping tbsp of your plain yogurt. Mix well until all is dissolved.

Pour the mixture in your quart sized jar. Wrap in a dishtowel to insulate.

Using a second jar, fill it with boiling water. Wrap it in a dish towel to insulate.

Place both jars in a small cooler that you have heated with hot water****. Allow the yogurt to cure for 10 - 12 hours. When the milk is set to a solid it is ready. Refrigerate and serve cold.

If you do this in the morning you will have fresh yogurt for the following morning.


****Do not leave water in the cooler. Fill the cool with hot water while you are preparing everything then pour it out. You simply want a warm place to incubate your yogurt cultures.

 

[ozark hen]

I think it is so cool that MissPrissy is putting step by step photos for the newbies to yogurt making. I was a bit confused before I made my first batch and I can see that these photos will help anyone starting out. Personally, I put my sugar and flavoring in when the temp reaches 110. I think I would add any dried fruit to the mixture just before refrigerating so I could blend them into the yogurt. Since it is just my DH & myself, I only make a quart at a time. Though I am thinking of mixing up a quart for my daughter who lives 35 miles away. She tried it and loved it. I should be making up a plain one just for my flock. Only problem with that is then I would have to get the big cooler and dumping that hot water out poses a problem for me. I am very short and don't have the leverage. ha But I honestly have no desire for a yogurt maker after trying this method.
I also made the quiche on the Egg & Chicken Recipes which was very good.

 

[MissPrissy]

Nothing is wrong with store bought yogurt if that is what you like and don't mind the expense. I find store bought yogurt to have a bitter after taste and to be more sour than homemade.

This summer we are trying to eat more local foods and foods we produce or grow ourselves.

The homemade yogurt is cultured from local fresh milk. I can make a gallon of yogurt for about what a quart costs at the grocery store.

The yogurt and cheese that you can make at home in your own kitchen tastes so much better than most of the mass produced items you can buy at your local grocer.

It takes a little bit of effort to make your own but it is also a skill I want my children to learn. I want them to grow up with a respect for food, how it is raise/grown and how much work it takes to get the foods we like onto the table at meal times. I want them to grow up knowing that they don't have to be tied to only what is available in a commercial grocer store.

We aren't hippies or trying to live off the grid or stick it to the man. We want to be more self sufficient. We want to eat whole, natural, organic, non-hormonal, non-altered, non-chemical, just plain non-messed-with foods. I grew up and spent most of my adult life on a farm in Georgia. We grew, harvested, canned, froze, pickled and perserved for as long as I can remember. After marrying and relocating to Virginia I have had to learn how to grow things in this climate. You wouldn't think dirt is very different from place to place but growing things here is very different from growing things there. I have had a HUGE learning curve the last 2 years.

Doing it yourself also in many ways is far less expensive than paying up at the cash register.

Come over to the darkside, lurky. Make a quart of yogurt. LOL

 

[ozark hen]

wow, now making cheese would be awesome!! We had goat's milk on my grandparents farm and never knew the difference. When my girls were young I poured some goat's milk in a reg. milk carton and didn't tell them and they never even noticed.

 

[MissPrissy]

Once you have made your delicous yogurt you might want to try this recipe using it. These are absolutely amazing warm from the oven with butter. I usually make them for sunday morning breakfast.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

1/2 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans


Topping Crumbles:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
Dash cinnamon
2 tablespoons softened butter
1/4 cup oats

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin cups (liners).

In bowl combine yogurt, milk, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, melted butter, and egg.

In separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Combine the mixtures, stirring only until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently fold in berries.

Spoon into muffin cups.

In a small bowl combine the topping ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Top muffins with crumb topping.

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes about 12 muffins.


If I have a few more berries (say 1/2 a cup) I just add them in. It makes a more fruity muffin with a little less bread but delicious none the same!

 

[MissPrissy]

I am not a cheese making expert. I have experimented and have had success and failure with making cheese. The first time I tried this "30 Minute" style of mozzarella I screwed it up big time. Over heated the milk and created a giant yucky mess. Live and learn. Lost 1 gallon of milk.

If this recipe doesn't work for you all I can say is we can troubleshoot through the internet and take a look at your exact steps and try to figure what went wrong.

You will need

1 gallon of whole milk (make sure it is not ultra pasturized or you cannot make cheese from it due to the proteins being destroyed in the heating process)

1/4 tablet rennet dissoved in 1/4 cup cool water

1 1/2 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water.

Slowly heat milk to 55 degrees F. At this temp add the dissolved citric acid.

As you stir you will see the milk begin to curdle.

Continue to heat slowly to 90 degrees F. At this temp add the dissolved rennet.

In a chopping up and down motion stir in the rennet. You will see it clump and begin to pull away.

There will be a lot of whey in the pan, as it clears the cheese curd is ready. If the whey is milky wait another few minutes and let the chemistry work and the whey will become clear -yellowish clear.

With a slotted spoon remove the curd to a microwave safe bowl. Press out as much whey as you can. I never have had success with just my hands. I pour it into cheese cloth and press the liquid out the best I can.

Put the dish of cheese curd intro the microwave for 1 minute. Take itout and knead the curd like bread. Pour off any liquid that comes out of the curd.

Return to the microwave for 35 seconds. Take it out and knead the curd. The cheese will get very hot, almost too hot to handle.

You may have to repeat this a few more times to get the curd up to 145 degrees so that it begins to melt together and become a little stretchy.

Once the cheese comes together (like taffy) shiney and smooth form it into a ball. Use now or refrigerate in a little cool water or whey until you need it.

When you separate the whey from the curd do not through out the whey. This is like liquid gold. You can make so many other things from it. I poured mine into a milk jug, added buttermilk culture and it will sit on my counter in the warm kitchen for about 12 hours. In the morning I will have cultured buttermilk. The same stuff they charge way too much for in the dairy case at your local grocer.

Think about buttermilk biscuits, pancakes, waffles all sorts of wonderful bread and cakes or even chess pie (buttermilk pie). Don't waste anything if you can help it.

Note here that my whey in the jug doesn't look clear. It is. The milky color of the jug obstructs the view of the whey.

If your attempt at cheese is a loss don't through it out. You can feed it to your chickens. I wouldn't suggest feeding to other larger animals (like goats or sheep, etc) it will give them the scours. Not nice.

Happy cheese making everyone!

*This mozzarella cheese recipe is from Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll.

 

[ChickenChaps]

I just found this site! WOW! I love it! I have had chickens for 5 years or so. I have 27 right now. I have 2 nigerian dwarf goats. They are due to have babies NEXT WEEK!! (March 25) This will be their third kiddings.

I have made motzerella and ricotta cheese a number of times, but have never made yogurt because I didnt think I would like it. After reading this thread, I MUST try it! I cant wait!

While reading this thread, I had some comments on some things....
You can make ricotta with the used whey - it is great stuff!

See this site for cheese recipes!
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_course/Cheese_course.htm
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/CHEESE.HTML

I found them recipes to take a long time and found a source that was similar to the one posted by Miss Prissy. I have TONS of other goat milk recipes if anyone is interested.

I have made motzerella (and ricotta from the whey leftover) from frozen milk with fine results.

I use a sterilized hankerchief instead of cheese cloth because the cheese cloth I have found here is way too course and the cheese gets stuck in the fibers and wasted.

I strain my goat milk through coffee filters to get any debris out of it. No matter how careful I am, I still get a hair or so in it. But it is still plenty good for cheese! and I do not pasterize it before making cheeses.

when my motz flopped, it had the consistency of ricotta so I used it as ricotta in recipes, it was good!

I cant wait to make some yogurt!!

 

[joebwe25]

Sounds like fun.
I've always wanted to learn how to make cheese.
I guess yogurt is similar.

 

[MissPrissy]

I just made a new batch of yogurt tonight. My chicks will have a treat tomorrow. I also picked up some blackoil sunflower seeds today.

Has anyyone tried making the yogurt themselves yet?

 

[poppycat]

My mom used to make it all the time. She had a little "yogurt maker" appliance that sat on the counter and made four, half pint yogurts. I've thought about trying it in the oven (preheated and turned off) Yogurt you buy in the store is generally full of crap, but the good stuff is so expensive!