Teletran
Apr 24th, 2008, 03:11 PM
I thought I would share how to make your own yogurt at home.
Buying yogurt costs around $2.5 or more for 750g or so plus or minus. I make 4kg of yogurt costing me around $5 ($8.3 savings). So here is how you can make it at home and save some $$ not to mention having nice fresh home made yogurt :)
Ingredients needed:
Homogenized Milk (3.25%)
Yogurt (not fat free) - This is used as your active bacterial culture to make the yogurt.
For each 1.33 Litres of milk, you will need one big heaping tablespoon of plain yogurt (not fat free). I usually make 4 Litres at a time when I buy the 4 Litre bags of milk.
You have 2 options.
Option 1 - Microwave
Use a microwave and a glass container to get the milk to a boil in.
Option 2 - Stovetop
Use a stove top and a pot.
I used the microwave because it is more convenient and I do not need to worry about burning the bottom of the milk which may happen when you cook milk over the stove if you are not stirring constantly. I also boil each bag of milk separately in my microwave at a time. I do not have a GIANT Microwave to do all all at once!. The duration required per bag depends on the strength of your microwave. In my microwave it takes approximately 10 minutes to boil a bag of milk.
Common Directions
Take the appropriate amount of yogurt required and place the yogurt in a separate 1L container in a hot water bath to bring the yogurt to room temperature. Leave this yogurt aside while it warms up. We will come back this the yogurt later.
Directions Option 1 - Microwave
Bring your milk to a boil in a glass container using your microwave. Once the milk has boiled, pour the milk out into another container so that you can re-use the glass container for boiling the next bag of milk. I use a big pot which will fit the 4 Litres of milk. Boil your next bag of milk in the same glass container you were using. Repeat this process until you have boiled all your milk. Once you're done, you will be left with really hot milk in one big container.
Directions Option 2 - Stove top
Pour all the milk into a large pot and bring the milk to a boil in the pot. You will need to constantly stir the milk to avoid burning the milk that is at the bottom of the pot. Once the milk has boiled, remove the pot off the stove.
Common directions.
Cool the milk back down to approximately 40 Celsius. Should be a temperature you can easily keep your finger in the milk (clean your finger first if you are using your finger for temperature testing!). I cool the milk by placing the container with milk in a cold water bath in my sink. This cools the milk relatively fast. Pay attention so that your milk doesn't get too cold.
Once the milk is around the 40 Celsius mark, take some of the warm milk and mix it into the container that you have set aside for the yogurt. Stir the milk and the yogurt together until you feel that the have been mixed together well (usually around 20 seconds). Now pour the yogurt milk mixture back into the large milk container that is still warm. Stir that mixture for 20-30 seconds.
You have two options now. Cover the large container and use that container for storing your yogurt OR pour the contents of the container into separate smaller containers. I suggest using your old yogurt containers that you bought before if you decide to pour into smaller containers.
Once you have decided how to split up the milk, cover the milk with 2 covers so that the milk stays warm. Set the container(s) aside in a spot that you won't accidentally bump into it.
Wait 9 hrs.
Uncover the yogurt and check out how it looks. It should like solidified and should smell like wonderful fresh yogurt!
Put the yogurt in your fridge and cool it down. The yogurt will settle in your fridge and become a little more rigid.
Enjoy!
Buying yogurt costs around $2.5 or more for 750g or so plus or minus. I make 4kg of yogurt costing me around $5 ($8.3 savings). So here is how you can make it at home and save some $$ not to mention having nice fresh home made yogurt :)
Ingredients needed:
Homogenized Milk (3.25%)
Yogurt (not fat free) - This is used as your active bacterial culture to make the yogurt.
For each 1.33 Litres of milk, you will need one big heaping tablespoon of plain yogurt (not fat free). I usually make 4 Litres at a time when I buy the 4 Litre bags of milk.
You have 2 options.
Option 1 - Microwave
Use a microwave and a glass container to get the milk to a boil in.
Option 2 - Stovetop
Use a stove top and a pot.
I used the microwave because it is more convenient and I do not need to worry about burning the bottom of the milk which may happen when you cook milk over the stove if you are not stirring constantly. I also boil each bag of milk separately in my microwave at a time. I do not have a GIANT Microwave to do all all at once!. The duration required per bag depends on the strength of your microwave. In my microwave it takes approximately 10 minutes to boil a bag of milk.
Common Directions
Take the appropriate amount of yogurt required and place the yogurt in a separate 1L container in a hot water bath to bring the yogurt to room temperature. Leave this yogurt aside while it warms up. We will come back this the yogurt later.
Directions Option 1 - Microwave
Bring your milk to a boil in a glass container using your microwave. Once the milk has boiled, pour the milk out into another container so that you can re-use the glass container for boiling the next bag of milk. I use a big pot which will fit the 4 Litres of milk. Boil your next bag of milk in the same glass container you were using. Repeat this process until you have boiled all your milk. Once you're done, you will be left with really hot milk in one big container.
Directions Option 2 - Stove top
Pour all the milk into a large pot and bring the milk to a boil in the pot. You will need to constantly stir the milk to avoid burning the milk that is at the bottom of the pot. Once the milk has boiled, remove the pot off the stove.
Common directions.
Cool the milk back down to approximately 40 Celsius. Should be a temperature you can easily keep your finger in the milk (clean your finger first if you are using your finger for temperature testing!). I cool the milk by placing the container with milk in a cold water bath in my sink. This cools the milk relatively fast. Pay attention so that your milk doesn't get too cold.
Once the milk is around the 40 Celsius mark, take some of the warm milk and mix it into the container that you have set aside for the yogurt. Stir the milk and the yogurt together until you feel that the have been mixed together well (usually around 20 seconds). Now pour the yogurt milk mixture back into the large milk container that is still warm. Stir that mixture for 20-30 seconds.
You have two options now. Cover the large container and use that container for storing your yogurt OR pour the contents of the container into separate smaller containers. I suggest using your old yogurt containers that you bought before if you decide to pour into smaller containers.
Once you have decided how to split up the milk, cover the milk with 2 covers so that the milk stays warm. Set the container(s) aside in a spot that you won't accidentally bump into it.
Wait 9 hrs.
Uncover the yogurt and check out how it looks. It should like solidified and should smell like wonderful fresh yogurt!
Put the yogurt in your fridge and cool it down. The yogurt will settle in your fridge and become a little more rigid.
Enjoy!