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.

 

[TexasTea]

I just made my first batch of yogurt. Heated 1 qt. of milk to 180 F, then let cool to 115 F. Mixed in 3 tbs of store bought yogurt. Loaded jars and put them in a yogurt maker (water batch) set at 115F overnight. It came out really good. It was really easy and much cheaper (about 1/4 the price) of store bought. I used whole milk and set the time on the yogurt maker to 13 hours because I like it a little thick. I'm going to sweeten it with stevia and mix in some fruit. Those yogurt maker machines from China have really come down a lot. I got this one on sale for 20 some bucks.

 

[Rodent]

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.

If you want to quickly/easily make seedless raspberry puree, get yourself one of these and add the 1.0mm optional screen disc. I picked 4.5# of raspberries yesterday morning and processed all of them into a seedless puree by mashing and then pressing that mash thru the food mill. 20 minutes total time from berries to seedless puree.

https://gourmetkitchenworks.com/products/food-mill

Amazon links for quick reference (I have no connection to these sellers)

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-FLOTTE-LOTTE-GEFU/dp/B00008WVB8

https://www.amazon.com/24210-Insert-Flotte-Lotte-Silver/dp/B00008WVG3

I bought my Gefu mill and accessory discs last year and consider it one of the best kitchen purchases I've made in the past many years. I use it all season long for processing fruits for jam making (I made +220ea 1/2 pint jars of jam in 2023), making puree of fruits/veggies (tomato sauce is sooo easy to make now), etc. I suspect my strainer/pestle that I used to struggle with will soon find itself permanently out in the garage storage area.

 

[Kent88]

I wonder how that compares to the attachment we have for our KitchenAid that we use to juice tomatoes...

 

[Rodent]

I wonder how that compares to the attachment we have for our KitchenAid that we use to juice tomatoes...

I saw several different options on a quick internet search. which one you got? Several were unclear on what mesh size(s) was (were) offered.

I found that the 2mm screen works good for larger seeds, but raspberries/blackberries/etc required the smaller 1mm size screen else a good amount of seeds would pass thru the screen

 

[ChristyPM]

I made yogurt in an Instant Pot with raw milk, adding some gelatin before the culture. It was still runny, and I need to strain it. Is the whey good for anything? I'm not sure what the gelatin does to it.

 

[tracer bullet]

I've always stirred the whey back in. But I also tend to let it go a long time (overnight) and it tends to be pretty thick to begin with. On the odd case it's a little runny I kind of like that as well and don't mind.

I always throw some store-bought yogurt in first, have never used gelatin. That doesn't mean you can't, maybe I'm just not up to date on methods. What was your recipe?

 

[Kent88]

First of all, I hope you're being dang careful with your raw milk. I'm familiar with some horror stories of people getting dang sick from it.

What do you do to prepare your milk for yogurt making? I've tried pasteurizing raw milk at 165°F, cooling, and inoculating to make yogurt, but I ended up with a strange texture that was really runny. Apparently there are some real benefits to getting milk to 180°F besides food safety.

Whey can be used in different... ways

New England cheesemaking has a recipe for feather bread that uses whey. People have used it to make extract and partial-extract beer. You can even add it to smoothies.

 

[tracer bullet]

I take my store bought (pasteurized) whole milk to the 165-170F range before cooling and using, if that matters at all. I'd say thickness is time dependent for me, but it's really never solid like some store bought stuff tends to be. I should probably have clarified that.

 

[ChristyPM]

I made yogurt in an Instant Pot with raw milk, adding some gelatin before the culture. It was still runny, and I need to strain it. Is the whey good for anything? I'm not sure what the gelatin does to it.

I'm new to this site so I'm not sure how to work the thread. I use raw milk for all the nutrition in it. I get it from a farm and know the source. They have cows with the A2 milk protein. I fermented for 24 hours and chilled for 24 hours. Then I strain any whey out, but it is still runny. BUT, I'm not sure if the whey can be used for anything if it has the gelatin in it. I won't use it in regular fermenting for vegies, etc.
This is the second time ever making yogurt. It's still edible and tasty.
I put in some milk in the Instant Pot and sprinkle the gelatin in while it starts to warm up. Before it boils, I change it to a medium heat and ferment 24 hours, then chill 24 hours. I think many people run into this issue of needing to strain at the end. Thinking this is just normal.

 

[Kent88]

I use raw milk for all the nutrition in it. I get it from a farm and know the source. They have cows with the A2 milk protein.

My wife and I grew up on farms. She went on to get degrees specifically in dairy science. Before we had kids she drank raw milk. She also believes there are some benefits to raw milk. But she doesn't advocate for anyone else to drink raw milk, because there are risks associated with it. I take my cues on raw milk from her. I'm not chastising you for wanting to use raw milk, I just want to make sure that anyone who comes along and reads this thread later knows that there are some serious risks involved with raw milk.

I put in some milk in the Instant Pot and sprinkle the gelatin in while it starts to warm up. Before it boils, I change it to a medium heat and ferment 24 hours, then chill 24 hours.

It sounds like you might be bringing the milk to 180°F, which does affect the protein in a way that should lead to yogurt with a normal texture.

You said this is your second time making yogurt. Have you made yogurt without gelatin?

I gave you a few ideas for how the whey can be used. If your yogurt is consistently runny even with gelatin, I suggest you try something else, like dry milk powder, and then strain it through cheesecloth. That should make for a firmer, Greek yogurt, and the whey would be free of gelatin.