A homemade yogurt thread

[bleme]

I am also hook on using it for potato salad. My sister is allergic to vinegar so I use lemon juice, garlic, diced red onion, lots of dill and yogurt (sugar or honey optional to take the edge off) - it's so good we prefer it over mayo based potato salad.

Yogurt has been my mom's 'secret ingredient' for potato salad since the 80's. Don't tell her I told...

 

[NSMikeD]

Yogurt has been my mom's 'secret ingredient' for potato salad since the 80's. Don't tell her I told...

It's a game changer. but, mums the word.

I think it's the sour combined with the creamy texture that makes it a better ingredient than mayo for some dishes. I think for potato salad, it has a lot to do with when it's served and with what ... summer and fatty charred meats. Kinda of how the tannins in red whine go well with a rib eye, yogurt in the potato salad tastes brighter and cuts through the grilled meats.

 

[bleme]

It's a game changer. but, mums the word.

She got the idea after a friend invited us over for dinner. Cathy's potato salad was by far the best any of us had ever tasted, but she was tight lipped on the recipe. My mom never did figure out the whole thing, but the yogurt was definitely a key.

 

[beermanpete]

I've heard people argue that, unless you use a saison, belgian, wheat, kvick, or brett yeast, an overwhelming majority of beer yeasts produce the same flavors. I kind of feel like that applies more to yogurt cultures.

My spouse is in the dairy industry and the way she describes it the differences have more to do with the texture (which affects the packaging) of the yogurt than the flavor (not that the flavor can't be affected).

All that said, if I could get some samples of different yogurt cultures I'd love to try them out and see for myself.

Cultures for Health carries several different yogurt cultures. I have tried their heirloom sampler pack which has four types of room temperature cultures. I can tell the difference between them but it is subtle. I like the room temp aspect of it for the convenience but that goes away if I have to control the temp in the summer.

I have also tried the Yogurmet culture and find it to be OK. The flavor improves after a few generations.

I am sensitive to the texture of the store bought yogurt and find it gritty. I suspect this is due to the thickeners used. I had not considered that the culture might affect the texture. I also like to avoid the milk solids used in some brands.

 

[moorejl57]

I have found I like to seed with cheap unflavored yogurt. I tried using the fancy multi culture types and didn't like the taste. Since I am somewhat lactose intolerant, I also drain my yogurt for about 6-8 hours with an overpriced stainless mesh filter to make greek yogurt. It actually comes out very nice.

 

[Kent88]

Gosh, it's been a while...

Neat to see I'm not the only one who adds dry milk powder. Might try the cream substitute.

 

[Rodent]

Just started incubation on my second batch of yogurt utilizing an InstaPot. Once it's cultured and cooled, it'll get strained for a few hours until the consistency is just (IMO) right

Using whole milk so far, but have the option to secure fresh milk from a couple local dairies so I may give that a try and see how it impacts the final product from a taste/texture perspective

I'm in a small town where the local grocery doesn't carry any yogurt offerings with live culture, so ordered the Yogurmet starter packets. I need to remember to reuse a portion for the next couple batches instead of learning too late that the current batch is all gone

 

[Kent88]

I should get started making some yogurt again. My daughter should be old enough for cows milk dairy soon, and my son would benefit from cream fortified yogurt as well.

 

[chthon]

What I do for yoghurt:

• Heat pasteurized, but non UHT milk to above 85° C(185°F)
• Keep it above this temperature, in an open pot, for 30 minutes
• Let cool (or force it to cool) to 45° C (113°F)
• Mix with a couple of teaspoons fresh yoghurt (greek style)
• Add it to the yoghurt maker pots
• Set for 12 hours

We always have nice thick yoghurt without the need for any additions.

And we also add 2 tbsp of syrup for some taste, in this case violets, raspberry and strawberry.

I also propagated some culture from batch to batch, but it doesn't always seem to work.

 

[NeilMac]

so ordered the Yogurmet starter packets. I need to remember to reuse a portion for the next couple batches instead of learning too late that the current batch is all gone

Just get some Astro Origonal for starter, thats what I do.

 

[Kent88]

I'm not going to quote my earlier posts, but I have linked to a delicious ginger frozen yogurt recipe from ATK that I've made once and really enjoyed. I've been wanting to try it with berries, but I didn't know how to handle the extra liquid. I thought ATK would have this behind their paywall, but they don't.

I know what I'm doing with some strawberries this season.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt | America's Test Kitchen Recipe

Edit: so everything between this and their ginger frozen yogurt (I linked to a video of them making it in post seventy-something, on page two of this thread) is almost identical. Same amount of:

• Yogurt
• Sugar
• Lyle's Syrup
• Gelatin
• Salt

The only differences are the whey discarded, the flavor ingredient, and what the gelatin is added to.

A little more than half a cup of flavor or whey&flavor has gelatin added to it. If the flavors are liquidy, more than 0.75c whey is discarded after draining.

Unfortunately their orange froyo is behind the paywall, so I can't compare that. Although I assume it's just 0.5c orange juice and some orange zest instead of strawberry puree.

If I get any kind of raspberry harvest this year, I see no reason not to try to make raspberry froyo.