Yogurt maker

new minor project—making yogurt. Read an article recommending: Euro Cuisine YMX650 Digital Authomatic Yogurt Maker With 7 - 6oz Glass Jars, only $50, so I bought it last night.

Any tips from those who make yogurt?

If you have a sous vide, that works too. Just set it to 109-110.

super interesting - can you please post a handy link?

I think Instant Pots also have a 110 degree function for this too.

ha! i have one and always wondered what yogurt meant. thank you.

I make a batch every week for my daughter.

• Heat milk to 185F (I use an induction hob with a temp probe feedback attachment
  
  
  
• Allow to cool to 115F (I just leave the probe from step one and reset temp so that it will beep again when it reaches temp and hold at temp until I get back to it)
  
  
  
• Inoculate with a bit of yogurt and a bit of agave syrup (to sweeten to taste)
  
  
  
• Strain into glass jars
  
  
  
• Sous vide in glass jars at 110F for 5 hours

Note that it is important to sous vide in something heavy and stable (the glass jars) as the yogurt will not set if it moves during the sous vide step. The yogurt used for inoculation will largely determine flavor of finished product.

I use my InstantPot. The Yogurt button makes it foolproof.

Fascinating. Can you speak to the finished product by comparing it to readily available brands?

Does this produce Dannon, Chobani, or Fage, for example.

And I recognize the outcome can be adjusted based on sugars added (agave above); so this is both a teaxture and flavor profile question

I eat about 2 of the Costco Fage 2% containers a week. Been very helpful in weight loss. I add low glycemic index berries and some Keto granola.

I have an Anova oven, Instapot, and a sous vide supreme so the tools to replicate are available.

TIA!

I don’t add any sweetener to mine.

As far as texture/thickness, I usually do three different things with mine:

1. Make yogurt with whole milk, and leave some of it as is. A lot of the time I will use the thinner yogurt to make dressings and sauces.

2. Take part of that yogurt and hang it in cheesecloth for a couple of hours or so to make a thicker yogurt in more of a Greek style.

3. Hang the third portion for at least overnight, sometimes longer, to make a more cheese-like product. Without any seasoning, it is similar to cream cheese. Alternately, before I hang this portion I often add salt and other seasonings, then when done hanging, keep in a container covered in olive oil, etc. In this way it becomes more like labneh.

Save the whey from the strained versions and use it when cooking rice, add to other things in place of water for added protein and acidic zing.

My posted approach above is also made with whole milk and makes a Dannon-like result in taste and texture (important to note that I use a Dannon-like yogurt as an inoculant). However, reducing the amount of sweetener and/or lengthening the sous vide phase will add tartness making a more Asian-style yogurt.

first batch pretty good. Strawberry w whole milk. I’d like a little more fruit and sweetness. Will try again.

Alan,
What milk are you using? Just regular grocery store UP stuff?

organic whole milk from Trader Joe’s.

second batch much better. Added a little agave and more fruit—mulberry jam and strawberry jam. I’m getting dialed in.

The whey can be used to make fermented lemon, lime, or lemon/limeade.

J

You don’t need a yogurt maker. I’ve been making it for decades in the oven overnight. Just turn the oven on for a few minutes - get it to feel nicely warm. Then put in your milk with a bit of yogurt in it and leave it overnight. You can leave a light on if you want - they used to make yogurt makers that used a light bulb for heat. In the morning, you’re good to go. The Greek restaurant I used to go to in the 1970s made a few dozen bowls every night using exactly that technique. Some things don’t need a dedicated gadget. Just go old-school.

Good luck!

That third version is labneh and every Lebanese household I know makes it. The French and Greeks do too. Sometimes using goat milk yogurt. The lady who showed me how to make that back in the 70s called them “milk balls”. She stored them in olive oil with some herbs and that’s the way I’ve had them in France. Adding some dried herbs to the oil gives them a nice flavor. And if you want, you can add some chopped mint to the milk balls. All you do is take the strained yogurt and shape it into little balls and put them in oil. They last a long time and if you don’t want to do that, they sell them in a number of Middle Eastern shops.

But make sure it’s really strained - they can actually ferment. Not bad if they do, but kind of strange. I’ve had that happen a few times.

I almost always have labneh in the fridge. I eat so much of it. I make it with Fage or other greek yogurt and add salt.
I need to try making my own yogurt.

4th rendition the best yet: used Strauss Family farm organic milk (non-homogenized), strawberry jam from Harry’s Berries, a touch of agave, Nusso vanilla yogurt . . . and it was a runny clumpy delicious yogurt.

This is what Alan is referring to for those who don’t know:

This is essentially an incubator which gently heats the yogurt the same way an Instant Pot with a Yogurt function would nowadays. I used to own a similar one and loved it. Some tips:

• If using raw active yogurt culture, you might be surprising at how much more tart the fresh yogurt is, especially if you’re used to store bought yogurt. That’s because they use “added milk solids” – i.e. lactose and proteins – and “stabilizers” – i.e. gelatin, cornstarch, carageenan, etc. – to sweeten and smooth it out, respectively. If this is a concern, follow the tip already posted about adding some agave syrup to sweeten it. I also recommend adding a touch of stevia or monkfruit. If you want to “smooth” out the yogurt, replace some of the milk with half and half or whipping cream.
  
  
  
• The longer you let the yogurt inoculate, the tarter it’s going to get. So if you want a less tart yogurt, stop the inoculation sooner. You can always taste as you go. I usually set mine for 8 hours using my Crock Pot pressure cooker which works just like an Instant Pot.
  
  
  
• Store yogurt also has preservatives that your homemade yogurt won’t have. So bear in mind that your yogurt will go bad at about the same rate that milk goes bad. So before making massive quantities, consider how much you’ll eat first and how often you’ll eat it. I once made two Instant Pots full of yogurt and happily stored them away in the fridge only to find out the hard way that the stuff goes bad way quicker than I realized when I had to throw out the entire second batch. Sadness.
  
  
  
• I strongly recommend using high protein UHT ultra-pasteurized milk as the final yogurt comes out thicker and richer in texture and flavor and it makes far less of a mess when strained. Using regular milk is fine, just be aware that you will have a very thin consistency to your yogurt.
  
  
  
• Uh, why would you strain your yogurt? To make Greek yogurt of course! Put the finished yogurt in a strainer or colander lined with cheesecloth and set that over a bowl to strain in the fridge. A few hours later, you’ll have a thick rich Greek yogurt you can simply spoon out and into clean containers. Leave it overnight and you’ll have a fresh cheese. Linda already mentioned these tips above but I thought I’d mention this again.
  
  
  
• If you want to make fruit flavored yogurt cups like the kind you get in the store, simply chill the finished yogurt and then top each cup with a Tablespoon of fruit jam or preserves of your desired flavor. You can also add mix-ins as well such as nuts, granola, fresh fruit, dried coconut, dried fruits, etc.
  
  
  
• You can also use syrups, extracts, spirits and liqueurs to make flavored yogurt as well. Some of my personal favorites include making Amaretto yogurt with pure almond extract; vanilla yogurt with my own homemade vanilla extract; lemon yogurt with pure lemon extract; orange yogurt with pure orange extract; chocolate covered strawberry yogurt using either Nesquik or Hershey’s chocolate and strawberry syrups.
  
  
  
• You can also mix and match all of the above along with the previously mentioned fruit jams and preserves. The possibilities are endless. You can create new flavors or recreate your favorite store-bought yogurt. Want a White Chocolate Raspberry yogurt just like the kind Yoplait used to make? Mix melted white chocolate and raspberry jam into your yogurt. Need some ideas? Just Google your favorite brand of yogurt and find all the available flavors they already make and sell in their product list. Then recreate them on your own.