posted with love. and bacon.

Yogurt making 2.4 didn’t go so well

I did everything I said I would at the bottom of my previous post, but the yogurt still didn’t turn out right. It tastes great but is really runny. It started out looking pretty good — thicking up nicely around the two-hour mark — but it never got any thicker. Plus, I think blending it to smooth it out ruined what little resemblance to yogurt it had.

Oh well. It still tastes great, I’ll just have to mix in a bunch of fruit or drink it with a straw. I really hope that it works out the next time I try. Yes, I’m going to keep trying until I get it right!

Making homemade yogurt in the slow cooker

Here is what I did to make my own yogurt in a slow cooker. This is my first attempt at this process, so I’ll have to refine it. Keep this in mind when you read this — I am not an expert! I probably cannot answer any questions that you have.

Ingredients:

• 4 C skim milk [I used Oberweis brand fat-free milk — you can use any type of milk but you don’t want anything that has been ultra-paturized (Oberweis says that they pasteurize their milk at a maximum temperature of 173°, so I cooked it more than they did).]
• 1/3 C dry milk powder
• 3/4 C starter yogurt (I used Fage 0%)

Method:

1. Turn the slow cooker on the lowest setting. Mine has a Warm setting which keeps food approximately 120° (from what I measured). I also filled the slow cooker partially with water; not sure if this does anything but I had learned never to heat an empty container.
   
   Note: Our slow cooker has a removable pot. This really helps and I recommend it if you are shopping for a new slow cooker. Clean up is a snap.
2. Pour milk in clean pot. A double boiler is best so you don’t scorch the milk, but I don’t have one and didn’t want to be arsed to fashion one. A regular pot works fine; just be careful not to stir up the bottom and dislodge any burned bits.
3. Heat milk to 185° over low heat. This kills any of the bad bacteria that may be in the milk. This step takes a while. I have a digital thermometer that will alarm if the temperature reaches what I set, so I set it and walked away until it went off. I don’t recommend this if you have a manual thermometer, so keep an eye on the temperature so it doesn’t burn.
4. Once the milk reached 185°, remove from heat to cool. You can just set it aside, but I immersed the pot in a sink full of cold water.
5. Add the dry milk powder.
6. Cool the milk to 115°. This doesn’t take long if you cool the pot in ice water, but may take some time if you let it cool on its own.
7. Dump out the water in the slow cooker (if applicable).
8. Add some of the milk (about 2 C) to the slow cooker and dump in your starter yogurt. Whisk vigorously to mix well. Add the rest of the milk to the slow cooker.
9. Warm the milk on Low until it reaches 115° again (if it cooled off too much). Turn off the slow cooker and cover , then wrap up with a bunch of thick towels for insulation.

10. Wait. The temperature needs to stay around 110° the entire time.

This is where my digital thermometer came in handy. The probe is on a long cable, so I was able to leave it in the slow cooker and monitor the temperature without disturbing or uncovering the yogurt. I’d check it every so often and if it started to cool off too much (~102°), I’d turn the slow cooker back on for a few minutes to bring the yogurt temperature back up. You probably can do this manually, but I’d be afraid that constantly uncovering the slow cooker would allow too much heat to escape.

On the other hand, you do not want the temperature to get too high (over 115°) or else it will kill off the good bacteria and you’ll just be left with cooked milk.
11. After about 8 hours, check the yogurt. It should be thick, and probably have a yellow/green watery layer on top. You can give it a generous stir as is, or if you want a slightly thicker yogurt you can drain off the liquid, then stir it up. You can also strain the yogurt (using a coffee filter) to thicken even more.
12. Transfer to covered containers and place in fridge. The yogurt will thicken a bit more once it’s cool.
13. Voila! Homemade yogurt! My favorite way to eat it is to add a spoonful of ground flaxseed and some fresh fruit — banana and nectarines being my favorites.

Notes:

I started step 10 around 5pm. I checked the yogurt throughout the evening, and didn’t need to mess with it much at all (just to heat it up a bit one time). The slow cooker and towels as insulation kept the temperature pretty consistent.

I put it in the fridge around 11pm, so it spent about six hours in the slow cooker. I was afraid an additional 6-7 hours overnight would be too long. It was somewhat thin but thought it might thicken after cooling.

In the morning I realized that I really should have kept it in the slow cooker overnight — even after spending time in the fridge it was still too thin. So I stuck it back in the slow cooker the next evening and cooked it some more — I left it overnight. In the morning I strained off some of the liquid and mixed it up. It was a lot thicker than before and a bit … grainy, and still not the creamy yogurt I was hoping for. Oh well, it still tastes good though!

So for next time I will:

• Try 2% milk – I hear this gives better results than skim.
• Double boiler to heat milk – I didn’t have any burned bits but it wouldn’t hurt.
• Keep it longer in the slow cooker initially – it did thicken some more after re-cooking, but I’m sure cooling the yogurt down did affect it.
• Blend the finished product to smooth it out
— it’s a bit chunky. Not large chunks, but it’s not smooth.

Has anyone else made their own yogurt in a slow cooker? Any tips?