That is a LOT of yogurt.
Luckily, it's probably the easiest thing I do in my life, so I don't sweat it.
If you, too, would like to make a disgusting amount of yogurt, you'll need the following items:
1 gallon of milk*
2 cups plain, store bought yogurt**
Crock Pot
Whisk
Put the milk in the Crock Pot on low for three hours. After three hours, turn off the Crock Pot and let the milk just sit there like a chump for another three hours. Then whisk in the yogurt - I just eyeball it, and shoot to use around a third of a quart - and let all sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. (I've been known to leave it out upwards of 24 hours before, and it doesn't hurt it at all.)
That's it. Yogurt: accomplished. You end up with a gallon of yogurt for about three bucks and two minutes of hands-on time, which is better than buying it for $3 per quart at the store. You win at life!
*We use whole milk, but any homogenized milk works. This yogurt ends up runnier than store bought, so I like the thickness the fat adds. If it's too runny for your liking, you can always run it through some cheesecloth or a coffee filter, but I feel like that's bordering on coddling the yogurt, and no one has time for that when there are REAL babies to be coddled.
**Any plain yogurt works for these purposes, though I'd steer clear of lowfat kinds that have a bunch of stabilizers in them. This time, I only had fat free Greek on hand, so I used that. My favorite is whole, though - again, the fat makes it a little thicker.
And there you go. You just made enough yogurt to last a lifetime. (Or, about a week and a half if you're a Van Voorst.)
5 comments :
life = hacked!
Do you put it in containers after done in the crock pot? I make about 3 gallons at a time (lasts us about 2 weeks) so I put it in jars in a cooler with hot water but then it is already jarred to put in the fridge. I also use whole milk and whole starter (dannon seems to work best) but only about 1/2 cup per gallon of a touch more and it sets up fine. If you start with fairly fresh raw milk you can make it raw by skipping the pasturize step but the consistency is a little more like jello.
Thanks for sharing! We make (soaked if possible) baked oatmeal too :) kids devour it! Do you serve yogurt on top of use it for soaking?
Hannah, I just dump it into a one-gallon pitcher with a lid, which fits in the fridge nicely. I like using Dannon as well! I have found the Aldi organic whole plain works well, too - have you tried that one? I'd be curious to hear if you have good luck with it! And do you use raw nonhomogenized? Mine always comes out soooo lumpy if it's not homogenized. What's your secret??
(And yes, our oatmeal is soaked, too!)
Pitcher is a good idea! I think I tried the aldi one and didn't like it. It also might not have as many bascillus strains in it but I can't remember. Stoneyfield plain has worked too. And I have used freeze dried starters but that is expensive unless you reuse from your batches for a while. As for lumpy, the only troubles I have had using raw (non pasturized, non homogenized) is the jello like consistency and sliminess from lack of temp control. I know using too much starter can crowd the bacteria and it doesn't set up right. My best results are using raw milk, bringing it to 185, then cooling to 115, adding starter to small amount and stir that into the whole batch, then jar and put in cooler for 7 hours or so. Never had lumpy as far as I remember but if I use a higher fat content there is a thick layer of "cream cheese" on the top by the end. Have you thought of trying kefir?
I made kefir for a while a few years ago, but I got overwhelmed by having to feed it all the time. (It's one of the things that overwhelms me about having so many kids, too!) That same reason is why I can't keep sourdough or kombucha anymore, either. They just require too much regular maintenance!
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