At our favorite accommodation during our trip to France, our hostess served us homemade yogurt (yaourt en français). It had never occurred to me to attempt my own. We asked her how she made the yogurt, and she explained it. She was kind enough not only to write down her recipe, but also to give me one of her last yogurt culture starter packs!
When we got home, I started researching how to make your own, and thought I should definitely give it a try. We used a combination of methods; I microwaved the milk until it hit 180ºF, then I incubated it in a cooler with a heating pad and towels on top. It's truly delicious, creamy, and has a great texture. It was quite mild, as well. Still delicious with a dollop of jam on top!
When we got home, I started researching how to make your own, and thought I should definitely give it a try. We used a combination of methods; I microwaved the milk until it hit 180ºF, then I incubated it in a cooler with a heating pad and towels on top. It's truly delicious, creamy, and has a great texture. It was quite mild, as well. Still delicious with a dollop of jam on top!
Homemade Yogurt
- 1 liter of whole milk
- 1 packet of starter --or-- 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt with live, active cultures
- just under 1/2 cup of dried milk powder
Heat milk to 180º F. Cool to 110º F, then stir in yogurt (or yogurt starter) and dried milk powder.
Place in cooler warmed with heating pad. I kept my heating pad on medium-low most of the time.
My first batch took about 7 hours before it was set. My second batch, incubating now, was already starting to set at only 3 hours (possibly a result of using yogurt itself as a starter?? Not sure).
Soon I'll experiment with 2% milk and maybe heating the milk in a crockpot over a period of time. I purchased these containers to store individual servings in.
The yield was roughly 7 8oz. servings.