Make your own yoghurt

[Malter White]

If you've ever wondered how yoghurt is made, take a look on YouTube and see how wonderfully easy it is to do yourself. I made a batch for the first time yesterday. It's a similar process to harvesting yeast but even easier. It even tastes like yoghurt.

 

[Malter White]

I thought I'd share some basic instructions of the process of making youhurt for those too busy to look it up and to show how easy it is.
I used 2 litres of low fat milk but you can use just about any kind of milk apparently. Heated it up. Simmered for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Let it cool to around 40C.
I bought a small tub (170g) of plain yoghurt. Check the label to ensure it contains live culture. I brought the yoghurt up to room temp. Put a couple of spoonfuls into a small bowl and added a few spoons of the 40C milk. Mixed it so it was a pourable consistency. Then add this to the rest of the milk and gently mixed it altogether.
Poured the mix into jars and wrapped them in a towel with another container of warm/hot water to maintain some warmth.
Let sit for 8 hours and the next thing you know you have yoghurt. You can leave it longer and this will give you a stronger flavour.  Put it in fridge to cease the setting process.
I made two large jars (as per the above photo) and a smaller jar. The smaller jar will be the seed for next batch so no need to purchase yoghurt again.
As I said it's similar to yeast harvesting but there's no need for pre-boiled water or sanitiser etc.

[James Lao]

We make our own kefir, which is a bit like yoghurt And it has loads of good bacteria, for your gut.

With the kefir it comes in a sachet like a packet of yeast, which is poured into a litre of full cream milk, then shaken up and left for 24 hours at room temp.

Then once it starts to thicken is put into the fridge.

Then 200ml of this kefir is mixed with 2L of milk and can do this 5-6 times from the one sachet.

Drink with a teaspoon of honey 

It has sorted out my heartburn big time, the good bacteria would be the same in the real yoghurt you are making.

its amazing how something so easy can be beneficial for your health!

Cheers

James

[Malter White]

Absolutely, @James Lao. The simplicity of it was what appealed to me so much.

I don't usually eat a lot of yoghurt but my daughter does and when I found out I could easily make it had no hesitation to give it a try. I'm now also eating it with muesli each morning.

My next culinary experiment is going to be a simple cheese recipe. Three ingredients: milk, vinegar and salt.

 

[Lettucegrove]

Thanks for the run down @MUZZY. My household goes through a tonne of yoghurt so this'll be a welcomed process.

[Malter White]

1 hour ago, Lettucegrove said:

Thanks for the run down @MUZZY. My household goes through a tonne of yoghurt so this'll be a welcomed process.

No worries, LG. Be sure to check out some YouTube vids to get a more informative tutorial. 

[ben 10]

Even easier with UHT milk, just warm to 40°c, no need to bring to a boil.

[Hairy]

2 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

Even easier with UHT milk, just warm to 40°c, no need to bring to a boil.

I make it with UHT milk and also add milk powder to give it more body.

[Malter White]

4 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

Even easier with UHT milk, just warm to 40°c, no need to bring to a boil.

Yeah, I watched a few different videos. The first couple said use raw milk but as I watched more it became relevant you could use almost any milk, including powdered.

[Lettucegrove]

14 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

Even easier with UHT milk, just warm to 40°c, no need to bring to a boil.

Is there much of a taste difference between UHT and normal milk?

[ben 10]

1 hour ago, Lettucegrove said:

Is there much of a taste difference between UHT and normal milk?

Not that I have noticed but have not done a side by side

[ben 10]

10 hours ago, MUZZY said:

The first couple said use raw milk

Be hard to get that

[yab]

I also use UHT and powdered milk - don't even heat UHT milk. Whole process takes about 2 minutes to prepare (and then about 10 -12 hours in thermos thingy). Very simple and great product at end.

[Malter White]

4 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

Be hard to get that

True. I think it is or was illegal to sell it in Oz.

[Thirsty Jim]

On 6/29/2020 at 1:27 PM, MUZZY said:

Absolutely, @James Lao. The simplicity of it was what appealed to me so much.

I don't usually eat a lot of yoghurt but my daughter does and when I found out I could easily make it had no hesitation to give it a try. I'm now also eating it with muesli each morning.

My next culinary experiment is going to be a simple cheese recipe. Three ingredients: milk, vinegar and salt.

 

Muzzy,   You should give labneh a go.  It is more like a cream cheese and dead easy to make.  Just line a strainer with cheese cloth or Chux or even a coffee filter and place it over a bowl .Tip in your yoghurt and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.  The whey will drain into the bowl and the yoghurt thickens into soft cream cheese.  It's a great base for dips and you can flavor it anyway you like. 

 

[Malter White]

8 hours ago, Thirsty Jim said:

Muzzy,   You should give labneh a go.  It is more like a cream cheese and dead easy to make.  Just line a strainer with cheese cloth or Chux or even a coffee filter and place it over a bowl .Tip in your yoghurt and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.  The whey will drain into the bowl and the yoghurt thickens into soft cream cheese.  It's a great base for dips and you can flavor it anyway you like. 

 

Hi Jim.
Isn't this the method for Greek yoghurt? OR is Labneh just another name for Greek yoghurt? Either way I'll be giving it a go because my daughter said the yoghurt didn't have enough bite for a tzatziki dip she made with it.

[ben 10]

Not the same as greek yoghurt, look it up. Labneh is very nice with a good evoo drizzled on it.

[Thirsty Jim]

It is supposed to be Lebanese but it has probably been going on elsewhere as long as Miss Muffet has been sitting on her tuffet.  You can drain a lot of whey away and the yoghurt firms up to the point that you can roll balls of it in your hand.  Try doing that with Greek yoghurt.  It also has a more tart, sour edge to it than yoghurt (which would make it ideal for unspellable Greek dips) and it marries to other flavours really well, like evooo

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Thirsty Jim

[Ocean's of Ale-]

Home brewers would honestly have no issues surviving a nuclear fallout..

(!)Plenty of piss...???obviously, check!!

(!)Plenty of yoghurt??...check.

You lot would would be left to repopulate the world!!

Keep up the good work mates-

[Malter White]

30 minutes ago, Ocean's of Ale- said:

Home brewers would honestly have no issues surviving a nuclear fallout..

(!)Plenty of piss...???obviously, check!!

(!)Plenty of yoghurt??...check.

You lot would would be left to repopulate the world!!

Keep up the good work mates-

And not forgetting all the wonderful fresh produce gardeners, bakers and smallgoods makers on here too.

Edited July 1, 2020 by MUZZY

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

3 hours ago, Ocean's of Ale- said:

Home brewers would honestly have no issues surviving a nuclear fallout..

(!)Plenty of piss...???obviously, check!!

(!)Plenty of yoghurt??...check.

You lot would would be left to repopulate the world!!

Keep up the good work mates-

Just need the knowledgeable Benny to teach us all how to make our own small goods and we’ll be laughing!

[Journeyman]

On 6/29/2020 at 12:57 PM, MUZZY said:

My next culinary experiment is going to be a simple cheese recipe. Three ingredients: milk, vinegar and salt.

I'm going to give it a go. Thanks for the post.

re: the cheese, I've heard many of the milks sold now will not make cheese - they are sterile from the pasteur and homo processes. Be careful which you get.

Hmm... apparently you can 'adjust' for pasteurised and homogenised milk. Sounds a bit like adjusting the water for AG brews.

https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/cheese/adjusting-pasteurized-homogenized-milk/

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Journeyman

[Malter White]

@Journeyman The cheese video I watched suggested it turns out the consistency of mozzarella. When I get around to making it I'm going to add some basil and parsley for a herb cheese style.

[ben 10]

43 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

I've heard many of the milks sold now will not make cheese - they are sterile from the pasteur and homo processes

More a protein issue. The processed milks make a good ricotta, paneer, cottage cheese but these don't require a culture or rennet.

29 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

The cheese video I watched suggested it turns out the consistency of mozzarella.

Not as easy as it looks, the heating of the curd so it can be stretched is key.

[yab]

Speaking of which...

I made mozzarella last week out of unhomogenised jersey milk from my local IGA. It worked, but I think I needed the temperature of the whey to be a bit higher for the stretching/folding phase - this seemed to effect the consistency of the final product. I plan on giving it another go soon. 

I did read any fresh milk should work, but not UHT, and apparently the fresher the milk the better.  I might try a cheaper milk for my next go.