Thursday, February 3, 2011

Easy Yogurt

Many years ago I used to make yogurt at home using powdered milk, a starter from purchased plain yogurt, an electric heating pad, with a towel on top of it in a particular basket. Well, that worked very well, but now I have milk goats.

I have read, more than once, that goat milk will not make good yogurt. Phooey. That's simply not true. At the natural foods store I bought a liter of wonderful yogurt made from organic, grass fed cow's milk. It was marvelous! It was pourable, but still beautifully thick. And it occurred to me that I could try using that as a starter.

I looked around on the internet and found instructions for making yogurt using a Crockpot. I have made several batches of it, always using some of the current batch to inoculate the milk for the subsequent batch. It is wonderful! Here is the current batch with 1/2 cup poured out:



Here is how to do it. Pour 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) milk into your 3.5 - 4 quart Crockpot:



Put on the lid, plug it in, turn it on low and set the timer for 2 1/2 hours (2.5 hours.)



Turn off and unplug the Crockpot and let it sit undisturbed for 3 more hours. Then, measure out 1/2 cup plain yogurt (with live cultures) and mix it into 2 cups of the warm milk.

Pour the milk with the yogurt back into the Crockpot, mix well and put on the lid. Then wrap the whole thing up with a couple of big fuzzy towels or a nice warm blanket and let it sit for another 8 hours. Longer (if you are doing it overnight) will not hurt (up to a point!)

That's it! Pour it into a container (I used a half-gallon jar) put on the lid and refrigerate.

This is the BEST yogurt we've ever had. My husband loves it, and he's not that easy to please. :) I enjoy it plain, but my favorite way is with a little real maple syrup drizzled on top.

9 comments:

  1. Yum! I will have to try that with some of my raw cows milk before it goes bad.

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  2. I am going to have to try this. We love yogurt!

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  3. Vicki, I would urge you to use whole milk when you make your yogurt. And Autumn, yes! Do it asap! Just figure out the timing so you'll be there for the steps.

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  4. Hi Yolanda! I hope all is well for you and yours. I am sitting back reading emails and some of my favorite blogs while sipping on a rich, thick, creamy glass of kefir. Yum!

    Later today I will enjoy some of my fresh strawberry water kefir "soda pop" that I made. Yum, again!

    Thanks again for such wonderful, well cared for milk and water kefir grains. :)
    Carol

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  5. This is a fantastic idea! I never thought of using a crockpot to keep the yogurt warm, but it's so smart. If my room-temp yogurt doesn't turn out as I am hoping, I will give this method a try! Thank you for the very helpful info!

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  6. Do you ever make strained yogurt?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, and also strained milk kefir. Wonderful stuff.

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  7. Planning to try this tonight, wonder if you could clarify...In step one you say pour 2Q (1/2 gal) into the crockpot and then in step 3 mix 1/2 c plain yogurt with 2c milk..... does that mean 2 MORE cups of milk or 2cups from the 2Q's? Does this work with Raw milk?
    thanks!

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    Replies
    1. It is 2 cups of the warm milk. You don't add more. Sorry about that!

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