Thick homemade yogurt?

TVarmy · 03-31-2010, 02:15 PM

I recently bought a yogurt maker, and I've been disappointed at how thin the yogurt it makes has been compared to comercial products. What tricks are there to make it thicker, other than straining it?

Currently, my recipe uses a quart of 1% milk, plus 1/2 c dried milk, plus 2 tablespoons of Stonyfield Organic. I heat the milk in the microwave and wait for it to cool.

Please move this thread if this isn't the right place to ask it.

**Yooper** · 03-31-2010, 02:19 PM

I'm not a yogurt maker, but I read in some of my books that you can use gelatin to thicken the yogurt, if you're not a vegetarian.

Another thought is to use some cheesecloth after it's finished, and strain out some of the whey. If you strain it until it stops dripping, you have yogurt cheese. But if you can just put it in the cheesecloth strainer for a short time, you may get a perfect consistency.

RayInUT · 04-11-2010, 04:59 AM

Adding calcium chloride will give you a thicker yogurt too but the easiest way is to strain. Most commercial brands seem to add thickeners.

FromZwolle · 04-17-2010, 05:20 PM

microwaves do strange things to proteins, i'd omit that step next time. Also higher fat milk will give you thicker yogurt, although it does reduce the healthy aspect a bit. I've also read that the yogurt will get thicker the longer you keep it at culturing temperatures.

frogguruami · 04-17-2010, 11:57 PM

I usually use dry milk only for yogurt and mix it thicker than the instructions say. I am out at the moment but I think I use about 50% more dry milk powder than the instructions call for.

I also let it set for a few days and drain off any whey that separates before eating it.

drac0 · 04-18-2010, 06:13 AM

I've made yogurt a few times and have always added extra powdered milk. This ups the level of milk solids and makes for a thicker yogurt. I've also experimented with adding gelatin to try to make that smooth consistency I'm used to from store bought yogurt.

bleak · 04-28-2010, 05:04 PM

I've made the recipe that Jack Schmidling (whom you may know from the malt mill that he sells), and it really does turn out very thick, much more so than any of the commercial yogurts I've had:

http://schmidling.com/yogurt.htm

Besides the fact that it's made from reconstituted milk powder, it involves heating the milk to 180°F and holding it there for 30 minutes. Apparently this changes the casein in a way that builds a thick texture after it's cultured.

Zombie13 · 04-28-2010, 05:35 PM

I just use 1 qt. whole milk and 1-2 tbsp from the previous batch. Heat the milk over the stove to almost scalded, cool to the temp range shown on the thermometor/spoon from the yogurt maker, add the starter and add it to the maker. It sits overnight, usually 10-12 hours and it seems thick enough. My picky kids don't complain at least.

Z.

jcdillin · 05-05-2010, 04:15 PM

We use 1 gallon whole non homogenized milk which gets heated to 180F and then cooled back to 90F then is inoculated with 2tbs Fage total yogurt. Place that in the oven with the light on and leave for 24 hours, always comes out great.

It's even better if you add a pint of cream to it.

**eljefebrewing** · 05-09-2010, 08:34 PM

How much dry milk powder would you add to a half gallon of liquid milk?