Thursday, April 9, 2009

An Easy Yogurt Maker



We've been making yogurt lately. Not only is it delicious it is so much less expensive than the store bought kind.

It's really simple. All you need is: a heating pad, stainless steel bowl, thermometer, fresh milk, and plain yogurt (store bought or from a previous batch).

First I heat my milk to 150 degrees in a water bath to pasturize it ( my milk is raw). Next, I let it cool to 110 degrees. Then I add 2 T yogurt for every quart of milk, stir it in, cover, and let it sit for seven hours undisturbed on top of a heating pad on meduim heat. I also wrap some towels around the bowl to insulate it. - presto a wonderful batch of yogurt.


9 comments:

Diane Shiffer said...

wowsers, that is easy! i am hoping to get a source for raw milk myself sometime very soon!

Lisa said...

Can yogurt be made this way with store bought milk? We eat a lot of yogurt, and I'd love to be able to make it using your heating pad method to cut my grocery bill. :)
Thanks!

Jane said...

I don't see why you couldn't make this with store bought milk. The pasturization kills all bacteria so you are only growing yogurt cultures and since yours is already pasturized- you're a step ahead. The best temperature to grow yogurt cultures is 110 degrees. I'd try heating my store bought milk to 110 degrees, mixing in 2 T fresh yogurt per quart of milk, and then proceeding with the recipe. Let me know how it turns out. Even with store bought milk this should be a big saver.

Kim M. said...

How thick is yours? I have been making mine in the crock-pot, but it is a lot runnier than store-bought. Mine turns out more like the drinkable kind.

Jane said...

Kim- Ours gets thicker the longer it's in the frig. The recipes I've read said to refrigerate it as soon as the seven hours are up and then wait until the yogurt is fully chilled to serve. Also, they mentioned that a lot of the store brand yogurts have pectin added which helps them thicken.

Kim M. said...

Jane,
That helps! Thanks so much!

Leslie said...

We love to make yogurt! Another way to thicken it up is to use Knox clear gelatin. After you have heated it, mix it into the milk. (I use a whole packet for 2 quarts.) It has helped my children enjoy it better. Although, we were getting used to it being runny. :)

Kim M. said...

Thanks, Leslie!

Lisa said...

Hi Jane,

It's been several weeks, but I finally was able to try making yogurt! I did use store bought whole milk, and it turned out ok. My married daughter had borrowed my heating pad, so I had to look on the internet for some other ideas of how to "cook" the yogurt and found a few to try (I put it in a covered glass bowl in the oven overnight with the light on). It turned out a little runny, but with decent flavor. I'm going to try it on my kids (ages 8 & 10) this morning with some granola to see how they like it. Thanks for inspiring me to try making my own yogurt as we eat a lot of it (and therefore spend way too much on it!). I'm figuring making my own will cost approx. $.65 per quart as compared to $3 per quart at the store! Plus, it's fun!

Blessings,

Lisa