Daring Cook's June Challenge: Yogurt

Yogurt is not one of those things that I've really desired to make "home-made"

It sounds...almost unnecessary. I've felt the same way with cheese. I know it's probably cheaper and just all-in-all better, but it's scary, foreign territory to me. Working with bacteria and the like just didn't seem to be my forte.

I'm still not 100% convinced that the effort is worth the outcome. I'm sure with a little practice, the effort would become less...intense. So I've decided that I'll likely try it again.

Because I get it. We're all control freaks a little bit and we want to put what we want in our yogurt and nothing else and we want it to be just the right amount of tangy, or runny, or whatever it is. I get it. We like control. So we make our own yogurt!

Well, maybe I need to take a deep breath and be ok when the yogurt bacteria start doing what they want and don't ask me what I want. So my yogurt turned out...not very tangy...and a little bit runny...and different than what I wanted.

But hey, I did it for the experience, not the control....right?? Maybe.

After I got over my slight disappointment, I started actually enjoying the yogurt (maybe I don't even know what's best!).

I'll be honest, I'm sad, because I ate it all. And I'm scared to make it again because I don't want the whole process to flop!

I need to let it go. Stop fearing failure, and cook me up another batch of this homemade yogurt. Because I've decided...it's good, and I'd gladly have some more hanging around in the fridge.

This excellent challenge came from Cher at http://crazyworldofcher.blogspot.com

Traditional Milk Yogurt

Servings: 4-6 servings
Adapted from “Cuisine at Home” June 2011

Ingredients
One quart (4 cups) (1 litre)whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml) (18 gm) (2/3 oz) non-fat dry (powdered) milk (optional, but recommended) (may substitute other thickening agent as noted above)
Sweetener (optional – 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of agave nectar, honey or sugar)
¼ cup (60 ml)(60 gm) (2 oz) plain yogurt or 1 packet of yogurt starter or other starter

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a double boiler* (or in a microwave-safe bowl), stir together the milk, powdered milk and sweetener (if using).

2. Place the bowl over the simmering water (medium heat) and heat until the mixture reaches 185°F/85°C. Be sure to stir frequently during this time. You can also opt to microwave the mixture until it reaches the desired temperature, but I have found that the double boiler method seems to produce the best results for me when making a milk-based yogurt.

3. While your milk is heating, prepare an ice bath. (I place ~4 cups of ice and 2-4 cups of water in a large bowl – the goal is to cool down the heated mixture as quickly as possible).
4. Once the mixture reaches 185°F/85°C, remove the bowl from heat and place in the ice bath. Stir constantly until the temperature of the liquid drops to ~115°F/46°C.

5. When the liquid cools to 110°F/43°C, stir in the starter. (If you are using a freeze-dried culture or pro-biotic capsules, make sure the liquid has cooled to the temperature recommended for that particular culture).

6. Ladle the yogurt mixture into ½ pint (235 ml) glass jars (should be ~5-6 jars depending on how full you fill them), secure the cover and place into your incubator. (If you are using a large glass bowl or some other vessel, cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap and proceed as below).

7. Incubate the yogurt for about 5-10 hours. Longer incubating times will result in a tangier yogurt. The optimal incubating temperature is ~122°F/50°C for yogurt starters (if you are using a freeze-dried starter or pro-biotic capsules, follow the recommended temperatures for those starters). Ideally, you want to keep the temperature as close to that as possible for the incubating period. Realizing that may not be possible – I try to target keeping the mixture between 115°F and 125°F (46°C to 51°C).

8. Once the yogurt is done incubating, carefully transfer the containers to the refrigerator and chill for at least 8 hours. This step helps to thicken the yogurt and lulls those ravenous friendly bacteria back to their sluggish state.
9. After the cooling period, the yogurt is ready to be enjoyed.

*If you do not have a double boiler, you can use a large heat safe (i.e. glass or metal) bowl that will nestle on top of a pan of simmering water. You don’t want the bottom of the bowl to touch the water.More detailed instructions can be found here.