Good Eats S6E4P1: Good Milk Gone Bad
There, back yet? Not bad eh?
Alright there are many different ways to do it, but here's what I do.
What you need:
Milk, powdered milk, a thermometer, one container of UNFLAVORED plain yogurt (you'll only be using a spoonful, and can eat the rest), cleaning supplies, an appropriate sized glass container with lid to incubate and store yogurt, and of course a pot and whisk.
I use 1/4 cup powdered milk for every quart of milk. Make as much or as little as you want. I don't add any extra honey or sugars personally, and it turns out fine. The powdered milk makes the yogurt thick so don't skip it or you'll get runny yogurt. Unless you're into that kind of thing. Runny yogurt is fine for smoothies I guess.
Sterilization: Make sure that everything that touches your milk is sterilized either with heat or chemicals. I like to wash and bleach the whole cooking area just to make sure. Cleanliness is important here.
Heat to 180F: Begin by mixing your powdered milk into your milk in a saucepan and heat to 180-185F degrees. Not boiling. This pasteurizes your milk, which basically means you kill off any bacteria/yeast/germs that might be currently in the milk. We want to grow yogurt cultures, not some random bacteria culture that's lying about the kitchen.
Cool to 110F: Next, cool your milk back down to about 110-120F degrees. I am impatient so I fill my sink up with cold ice water, which drops the temp back down in only a few minutes, but you don't have to do that.
Add Starter Culture: Add a spoonful of yogurt to the cooled milk. If the milk is above 120F the yogurt cultures will die. They like to grow between the 90-115F degree range.
Incubate 8 hours: And finally, find a warm spot in your kitchen to let the yogurt sit for 8 hours. I like to turn my oven on for a minute then off again just to get it slightly warm in there, then I leave my yogurt in there (closed door, the pic above was just to show the yogurt and oven thermometer in there). Actually, I have an oven thermometer and I get the oven up to 120F, turn the oven off, and forget about it for 8 hours.
It will turn into a nice, thick, fresh yogurt!
All done! Enjoy. Fresh made yogurt tastes way better than the store bought stuff. It doesn't have that acidic tang. Old yogurt gets tangy, and the store bought stuff is just old old yogurt. And it's cheaper too.
When I've finished eating the yogurt, I make sure I save at least a spoonful or two so I can use it as a starter for the next batch.
