Yogurt

[lisaann]

We make yogurt all the time. I even made a batch yesterday and used my oven for the first time to incubate it. It worked really well so I am not going to worry about using a cooler anymore. I add unflavored gelatin to the milk to make it nice and thick as well as a little sweetener (sugar or honey) to take the tartness away. This morning we had crepes with homemade yogurt and fresh cut strawberries and blueberries from the yard. It was soooo yummy!! I would never go back to buying store bought yogurt after making it myself.

Have you ever tried freezing some of your starter?

[lisaann]

I just had a thought about the Stonyfield yogurt. :thinking I wonder if they use a thinner milk yogurt on the bottom and after that sets add a layer of the cream rich yogurt on top. :idunno

[icebear]

yeah... it might be a two part packaging process... some products are allowed to do their thing inside the market container, some things are completed in a batch and then the containers are just filled and sealed...

if they incubate the yogurt in a huge vat, then fill the containers and then top it off with the cream (apparently 'yogurtized' heavy cream is Creme Fraiche (sp?) ) then i won't ever be able to recreate cream-on-top yogurt without meddling with it after it has incubated. Which is fine i guess, i just want the taste and texture, i can make a batch of creme fraiche in one jar and whole milk yogurt in the others...

i might make hubby get me an extra gallon of milk and a quart of heavy cream tomorrow ... :thumb

[HSmomto4]

Have you ever tried freezing some of your starter?

No I haven't, but everything I have ever read about making yogurt said to use a fresh store bought starter every 3 or 4 batches. I keep mine in mason jars in the fridge and I know that I can use a cup of my own yogurt up to a month after making it for my next starter, but I don't know about freezing it.

Just some info for those starting out, yogurt will keep in the fridge for about a month. After that, you can still cook with it, it is just more tart. Even if you get a fine layer of mold on top, just scrape it off and use it to cook with.

[icebear]

this is one of my favorite websites:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/cheese.html

it has good yogurt info :)

[HSmomto4]

this is one of my favorite websites:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/cheese.html

it has good yogurt info :)

:thumb This is the one we use as well!!

[lisaann]

this is one of my favorite websites:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/cheese.html

it has good yogurt info :)

:thumb thanks!


So last night I was supposed to take my yogurt out and put it in the fridge at midnight (I know, I got a late start :heh). Well, I fell asleep and forgot about it until 9am this morning. :gaah :doh

I suppose it will be ok.........just more tart than I'm used to. :hide

[lisaann]

I added some of my strawberry freezer jelly and it's awsome! :yay

My ds said "boy Mom, that's almost as good as store-bought!" :tsk

[metroames]

I just use a cooler and warm water. :lol2 Every hour or two I check the temp (should be 90-100). My oven doesent do "warm" and the light bulb is burnt out. :ohno

I would love to find a recipe for Stonyfield. :drool

:whisper Wrap the jars with a large heating pad and a bunch of towels. It's the perfect temperature for yogurt incubating.

[icebear]

i may try the heating pad trick if the oven bulb decides to croak, its been threatening to....


one thing i remember from the first time i tried the yogurt, was that inside the jars, on the side was this white skin of some sort, it was like the rubbery white bit on the inside of an egg shell. from reading, i had expected that maybe on the top as i have seen described... but not along one of the sides... :idunno were the sides of my jars not as clean as they should have been? i boiled the daylights out of them...

i have hubby ready to get me the stuff i need to make it tonight... but since he's grabbing it on the way home from work, he might not find what i have instructed him to find for the starter. i asked for Dannon plain- like the Frankhauser instructions, but if he can't find that do you think Stonyfield will work? it has pectin in it... but i know our stores carry it.