Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

[DawnSuiter]

I'm currently incubating my first batch of yogurt too!

Just whole milk, the best around, milk powder & some greek yogurt for starter.
I will sweeten with homemade jams & jellies upon completion, because I'm looking for something with less sugar and organic that is affordable, this might be my answer.

I was tempted to experiment, considering I ALWAYS DO, but milk is expensive, so I took no liberties I'm aware of.

and
BUMP for the newbies

now, I only read the first 70 or so pages of this thread... I will peruse the remainder to see if I've missed anything. Good information.

And as far as using your incubator....Missouri Univeristy says 108-115* F for 4-8 hours if someone needs that info. http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=GH1183

 

[DawnSuiter]

YUM!
Turned out wonderfully, and tonight I used some with melted butter & seasonings to make a great dressing for some smashed potatoes!

Thanks!

 

[Kassaundra]

I just bought a "roaster" cooker that is 6 qt capacity and has temp controls down to 100 in the hopes of trying some yogurt and or cheese recipes.

 

[DawnSuiter]

AWesome!
and


Bowties are cool too

 

[Kassaundra]

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And don't forget Fez's

 

[DawnSuiter]

Several jars later, I can't get enough of this stuff!

I made my last batch out of ultra pasteurized & homogenized Organic milk, because I forgot... and it's the milk I drink all the time. I couldn't find an organic without the ULTRA none-sense. Anyway... came out great again. Fantastic, even using cultures from my first batch from 2 weeks ago now almost.

Anyway, I just wanted to say how awesome it is. I couldn't afford to eat this good yogurt before and now I can.

 

[wsmoak]

Perhaps it's here somewhere but I can't find it... is the temp in the 'yogurt incubator' supposed to be 110F? Mine is holding at 96F. I refreshed the jar of boiling water hoping to get it a bit higher, but that's all I can get.

(I followed the directions and pre-heated a cooler with boiling water, then dumped it out and loaded it with jars of yogurt and boiling water wrapped in towels.)

Also, is it necessary to seal the jar of yogurt? The instructions mentioned sterilizing the jars, lids and bands. I was thinking of drilling a hole in a plastic lid and sticking a thermometer through it down into the yogurt, since I assume *that's* really what I want to watch the temperature of.

Thanks,
-Wendy

 

[marenostrum]

Hello. I'm a Turk and I sometimes make yogurt at home. In the old days making yogurt at home was a -more- common practice. Nowadays, especially in urban areas, most people buy it from the market.

This is a huge thread with 111 pages and I want to read them all and make some overall remarks, but for now, let me tell something mainly starting from the original post:

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True. Or we can put it in this way: The more dry matter (both non-fat dry matter and fat) in the milk, the thicker the yogurt. You may achieve it by chosing a milk with high dry matter percentage (that might not be a possibility), by adding milk powder or by evaporating some of the water of the milk at hand. To evaporate, you plainly boil the milk, preferably in a relatively wide surfaced pot and aiding by taking the milk and pouring in the pot with a laddle. In fact, evenif not to evaporate the water, boiling some is better on contarary to the original recipe.

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Sure, they do. I didn't try goat milk myself. Traditionally in Turkey, in some "goat regions" people for sure used to make and still making yogurt from goat milk and there's nothing wrong about gout goat milk, but goat milk is not particularly famous for its yogurt. Sheep and water buffalo yogurts are highly admired and it should be associated mainly with their fat+non-fat dry matter proportions (Finding water buffalo milk is not easy nowadays here in Turkey as well, but keep in mind that there are some water buffalo farms in the USA.) Anyway, cow milk is more than okay and I use it and its possible to enhance its dry matter proportion by using the tecniques I've told above.

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In my opinion sterilisation is not necessary. Throughly washing, rinsing, drying the utensils should be sufficiant. And what's more, the way I advice calls for pouring the boiling milk to the containers you prefer to ferment the yogurt in, so it will additionally help to kill harmfull bacteria. There might still be some unwanted bacteria, fungi inside the lid and on the parts upper than the milk level but they practically do not give harm. Under any condition: This is not a product to last very long. Yogurt should be consumed at most in two weeks at most (stored in the refrigirator).

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In my opinion and as to the traditional way here in Turkey and according to some Turkish scientific sources: At this stage, no need to measure the temperature. Just boil the milk. And boil it, lets say 15-20 minutes, at least 10 minutes. (For sure, stay by the stove and stir the milk to prevent it from running over. Prefer low heat to prevent burning. Use a long spoon or a laddle+spoon to mix the sticky layer forming inside the pot back to the liquid. Boiling has three advantages: 1- Boiled and then cooled down to proper temperature milk gives a better, thicker yogurt. 2- If you are using raw (unpastaurised) milk, this should be obviously the way to follow to kill the probable pathogens. (Also, remember that, by this way you can evaporate some amount of the water in the milk, resulting a milk with higher dry matter percentage and so a thicker yogurt.) 3- This is a personal preference but I like the slightly caramelized taste of the final product which has roots in boiled milk.

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Many sources say so: 110° F (43° C), but some call for 113° F (45° C). In fact I personally didn't experience the difference between them. If to be frank, I'm not using a thermometer at all. And I believe that precisely measuring the temperature is totaly useless for most of the people posting under this thread. Let me explain:
1- Without using a thermometer how do I know the correct temperature to add the culture? Tradition says that if you can dip your finger in the milk and stay there up till you count to seven without burning your finger; that's the temperature! (For sure you don't burn your finger in a cold milk too, finding the limit while cooling is important. You can feel the more above temperatures by trying to touch the container from the outer walls.)
2- Why do I believe that most people posting under this thread do not need that much scientific measurements?: For the plain reason that most of the home yogurt makers do not keep that temperature constant actively, with the aid of a heat resource, instead use some wrapping, insulating techniques. Even if you wrap the container or even if you put it in a cooler, the temperature will drop. In my opinion, it will drop dramatically. My late grandmother made yogurt by using wrapping technique as well, but she had an advantage: The stove used for heating the house! It was a little bit easier to find a spot where the temperature stay around those values. Nowadays, my aunt can't even get the result of my grandmother because central heating radiators do not play this role. Aunt relies on wrapping/insulating and her yogurts are -unfortunately- very thin.

So, among other factors, thickness of a yogurt is associated with the constant temperature of 110-113° F during all of its maturing period. If you don't use a system whick keeps the temperature constant for all that 5-8 hours, its useless to deal with a few fahrenheit at the beginning.

What I do for constant temperature: I discovered that our oven's thermostat allows me to set it to function around 110-113° F (again, hand/finger test). So I set it to that degree , pour the boiled milk to my container, wait till it won't burn my finger, add the culture and put the container(s) in the oven (oven's inside, inside walls are heated enough not to burn my fingers). Then wait for the proper time (5-8 hours, lets say) to get it out and cool down. Let it cool overnight or lets say at least 10 hours before spooning the yogurt. It needs that settling time; appearently, something still goes on inside.

Note for DIYers: An insulated box just big enough to take your yogurt container and a heat lamp and a thermostat may work as well: Yogurt incubator!

As container, I don't use jars but oven safe glass casseroles (pyrex?) of about 12 ich in diameter and 4 inch heigt, with a lid. I don't put on the lid while its maturing in the oven to enable further evaporation -and a nice crust formation which is my personal preference. When I'm done I immediately transfer it to the refrigirator (not freezer) or if its winter time to the balcony. (Please don't shake the yogurt during transfer.) I don't prefer to put on the lid before its totally cooled down to enable a fast cooling process and to prevent the condensed water to drip back into the yogurt.

If you don't maintain the proper temperature, if the temperature drops during the process you get a thinner yogurt than you can get with the same milk but with a constant 110-113° F. If you stop the process and begin cooling before its mature, you get a thinner, watery/milky yogurt. If you leave it more than needed before cooling, yogurt begin to get acidic (sourer in some sense) and begin to give out its serum -which is not desired. So, correct timing to stop the process and begin to cool is also important but slightly more or less is not the end of the world. You'll find your ideal by experience.

By prefering a more flat glass casserole than a jar has two advantages for me: 1- While consuming over time, I can take small amounts by a spoon from one side of the glass casserole without "mixing" all the product. 2- Yogurt leaks its serum to the "hole" I spooned off and I have the chance to take it out from time to time. (You can drink it; its tasty and full of nutrients; or you can feed it to your chickens, soaking it to some dry feed.) So, the remaining part waiting to be consumed becomes thicker beause its gives away a considerable amount of water.)

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Basically that's what I do as well. If to add: That "old yogurt" used as culture shouldn't be a very old one. A not-that-much-old an not-that-much acidic culture gives sweeter results. (Here sweet means "not sour", it has nothing to do with sugar or any other additive.) For pure cultures there's no such discussion, for sure. (I've never used a pure culture. I even haven't seen one. Its not common here.) While preparing the culture, let it some time to reach room temperature, if it was in refrigirator. In a cup, mix it with a spoon/fork to crush its rigidity and obtain a smooth liquid. Then, thin it with adding small amounts of milk which cooled down to the proper temperature to be cultured. Now, you can mix the culture easily to the milk in the container. While doing this, no need to try to throughly mixing it. What I do is, to pour it with spoon from two or three points from the sides of the container, being careful not to crush, spoil the crust of the milk too much and I mix it with the spoon under the crust to some degree. Four-five wave, done with spoon is enough. I try not to crush the crust, which is the fat of the milk because it will be a very nice part of the yogurt on top of it. In a relatively flat container, crust protects yogurt and it can stay more so taking the crust part off from the parts you'll consume and not to crush the other parts would be wise. For the upright small jars, there's no such discussion, for sure.

I might write some more after reading all the thread and I'm ready for your questions if there are any.

 

[Kassaundra]

marenostrum, thanks for the detailed multigenerational personal experience in yogurt making. Did I understand correctly you only "cook" (or incubate) the yogurt for 5-8 hrs and not 12, and going longer then the 5-8 makes a "tarter" (more sour) yogurt?

I had always strained the "yogurt juice" w/ a coffee filter or paper towel to thicken and make the yogurt less sour, but as I understand your post this is less then ideal?

I am definately going to try the boiling the milk thing.

 

[marenostrum]

Hi Kassaundra ,

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You are welcome.

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That's right. Many people go up to 12 hours just because their heat decrases and they can't get the desired product in the ideal time so they think that allowing it some more hours will help it to mature. Even if this might be true to some extent (some more time, maybe up to 12, might tolerate some degrees less then the ideal; but this should have limits as well; you can't get yogurt by waiting one week at room temperature, lets say) the cost will be a "tarter" (more sour) product.

But don't get me wrong, if the conditions one can meet is this, it is still a yogurt. Just a little bit on the thin and sour side. Not the end of the world and there might even be fans of that kind of a yogurt. (My aunt's yogurts are that type.)

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And as I understand from your post, yes, its less than ideal. But even if one has "ideal" yogurt (whatever it is) s/he might want to strain it for an even thicker yogurt. In fact, here in Turkey -a true "yogurt land"- there are such products, special "strained" yogurts. One may strain even an "ideal" product for more consistency but that "sourness" at the beginning of the life of the yogurt points to some issues during the "incubation" period. (For sure, yogurt gets sourer by time; even in the refrigirator.) There's nothing wrong to strain it by some means at the beginning (after an overnight, 10 hours at least cooling period) or when you think its the proper time. I can imagine straining it with coffee filter but I couldn't get how you use the paper towel for that purpose. You may also try cheesecloth. Lay it in a bowl pour the yogurt on it. Wrap the sides and tie it. Put it on a strainer. Put the strainer on a tray suitable to collect the dripping juises/serum. Put the whole thing in refrigirator. When you think its OK, transfer the yogurt to a container or consume immediately.

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Give a try. In fact I don't get the point why not to boil and measure the temperature to some degrees. Boiling, as I wrote, will help for the consistency as well, as far as I know.