Health, Taken Seriously

Regular, sweetened yogurt can be loaded with sugar. Some brands have a whopping 33 grams per serving. If you want to get plenty of probiotics in your diet by eating yogurt, you’re going to end up eating a lot of sugar too. A great way to avoid all that added sweetness is to enjoy plain yogurt. But plain yogurt can be really tart. The solution? Make your own! It’s not that hard and you can control the tartness (incubating the milk with the yogurt cultures for less time means a less tart yogurt and you can pick a starter that you like best). We’ve been making it for the past couple years and love it. Here’s the recipe we use, typed up by my husband.

Basic steps:

1. Kill existing bacteria in milk by bringing it up to 170-180 F for about 5 minutes. This can be done either with a double boiler, or over direct heat being careful to stir constantly so the milk doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pan. If using direct heat, you can rinse the pot with water and leave it a bit wet (i.e. don’t wipe it dry), just before you start the cooking.
2. Cool the milk down to 115-120 F. I do this in an ice bath, but a refrigerator would work as well, just take longer.
3. Add the starter yoghurt. I use 8-12 tbsp per gallon.
4. Incubate the milk. The milk needs to stay between 90-120 F for anywhere from 2-12 hours. I use a crock pot, with 2-3 towels on top to help keep the heat in. Keep your thermometer in the crock pot so you can monitor the temperature without taking off the lid. I usually have to turn the crock pot on low for 10-15 minutes every 2-3 hours to keep the temperature up. DON’T STIR IT WHEN YOU ARE AT THIS STAGE!
   • High temperature incubating does the following:
     • Faster set time, meaning if you keep it between 115-120, it should only take a couple of hours for it to set.
     • Coarser protein structure, meaning that more of the whey will leak out, if you strain it (Be careful not to incubate it at too high of a temperature or you will get very coarse curds that taste grainy)
   • Low temperature incubating does the following:
     • Longer set time, meaning 90-100 will need to be incubated for 8-12 hours before it will set.
     • Finer protein structure, meaning that it will be more runny, and less whey will leak out
   • I generally like to keep it between 105-115 for 4-6 hours for the best flavor/texture combination
5. Cool it in the refrigerator to fully set the yoghurt before you eat or strain it.