Greek Yogurt
Several years ago I had decided that my evening snack was going to be something healthy, that I could cut the sugar intake before bed and provide my body with something healthier than cookies or ice cream. Naturally I thought yogurt! To my surprise, when I actually looked a the nutrition facts store bought yogurts have a ton of sugar in them.
Then I bought an Instant Pot - that baby has a yogurt button! So I pulled the first recipe I found on pinterest and made a batch of yogurt with an entire gallon of milk. Guess what? It wasn’t great. I dedicated my Instant Pot to cooking my rice and my chicken breasts and never tried again.
Recently, I have been wanting yogurt, but struggle to find a store bought brand that provides the probiotics, is low in and also tastes satisfying to be an evening snack. After spending too much time in the dairy isle reading yogurt labels, I decided it was time to revisit making yogurt.
This time I read several different recipes and methods. All in all I did decide to make my yogurt with the Instant Pot because I do have that at my disposal. But it’s not the only method. So if you don’t have already, don’t go invest in an Instant Pot just for yogurt - although, I will tell you that if you DO purchase an instant pot, you will find a lot of great ways to use it. I’ve chucked my crock pot and regularly use it to cook frozen chicken breasts to perfection without having to thaw them first. (It also makes rice perfectly without any hassle).
Just like most things, there is more than one way to make yogurt. My way is just one way, I encourage you to read several methods and recipes before deciding which way is going to be right for your kitchen.
METHODS
I personally have never used a yogurt maker so I can’t really give you a solid review. I know people who have them and use them regularly. Most of the machines come with the jars and lids that fit perfectly
If you read my commentary above, you know I love my Instant Pot for many reasons, but one of them is making yogurt. The Instant Pot keeps the yogurt incubated at the perfect temp without worry. I start it in the morning and let just do its thing all day.
If you don’t want to invest in a machine to automatically incubate your yogurt, you can use a dutch oven. I tried this and it was very difficult to keep my yogurt at a constant temperature in my oven. This method is going to cost you a lot of time monitoring and adjusting the temp - but it’s not impossible.
GETTING STARTED
No matter which way you decide you are going to make the yogurt, the same principles apply.
Step 1 - Scald the milk. Scalding means that you bring the yogurt up to a temperature of 180F. If you use the instant pot, you’ll pour the milk in, and use the Yogurt Button, choosing “Yogurt More” and close the lid. If you want to do this part on the stove top: Pour the milk into a pot, and slowly bring the milk to temp. I use a thermometer spatula to monitor.
Step 2 - Cool the milk to 130F. Simply remove from the heat. Instant Pot: take the inner pot out of the unit and set it on a trivet to cool. monitor the temp with a thermometer. Stove Top: remove it from the hot burner and monitor the temp.
Step 3 - Temper the yogurt starter. When the milk has cooled to 130 degrees, it’s time to add the yogurt culture starter. If you simply dump it into the hot milk, the live cultures will die and you won’t be happy with your yogurt. Instead, have your live culture in a glass bowl or measuring cup, Slowly stir small amounts of the hot milk into the yogurt culture. I do a 1/4 cup at a time, 4-6 times depending on the size of cup I’m using. Then pour the starter into the milk, stirring well.
YOGURT CULTURE - You have three options for your starter culture.
1 - Go to the store and buy a plain yogurt. Use that to start your own batch
2 - Use a yogurt starter tablet, follow the instructions to activate.
3 - Grow your own culture with just milk and a lemon! That’s what I did and you can read about it here!
Step 4 - Incubate. Now you just let it turn into yogurt! Incubate the yogurt between 110F and 115F for 5-12 hours. The longer you let it incubate the tangier it will be! This is where the yogurt maker or the instant pot come in handy. You can set it and forget it. If you are doing this with your dutch oven, you have to monitor the internal temp of you oven at all times. I had a hard time keeping my oven warm enough without being too hot. I ended up using the dehydrator function of my air fryer with all of the shelves removed. My dutch oven barely fit, but it got the job done.
Step 5 - Strain - If you prefer creamy yogurt, you can skip this step and move on to flavoring your yogurt. If you like greek yogurt style, you’ll need to strain the whey out of the yogurt. There are a couple of methods here. You can use a cheesecloth with a strainer basket set in a bowl to catch the whey. Or you can buy a strainer . I use the strainer because it fits nicely in my refrigerator. Let it strain 12-24 hours
Step 6 - Flavor your yogurt! It’s finally time to make the yogurt the way you like! I personally like to make vanilla bean and add fruit or granola each day depending on what I’m feeling. You can make it however you want - this is just how I do it
Remove the greek yogurt from the strainer, and put in a glass bowl. Mix well. I usually had about a quarter cup of whey back into the yogurt - a personal preference. *Before adding any flavoring, scoop some of the yogurt into a jar. This will be the starter culture for your next batch. It will live in your refrigerator for a week before the cultures start to die. I do a batch of yogurt each week so I keep my culture alive and I also have a constant supply of fresh yogurt!
When I’ve mixed it smooth I’ll add a quarter cup of raw, local honey and a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. You can store it in individual glass jars for easy access, or in an air tight container.
Step 7 - ENJOY YOUR HOMEMADE YOGURT!!!
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