Home Made Yogurt

[dado potato]

My first 2 15oz jars (reused Marzetti salad dressing jars) turned out quite tasty. The color is slightly beige due to the psyllium fiber I added to make it more gelatinous.

My method was to make it overnight in a picnic cooler, the two jars of yogurt and milk kept warm with a plastic milk bottle filled with warm tap water. Using nonfat dry milk, the cost is much less than store-bought.

[razz]

I make a fresh batch every week. Using 1qt of 1% milk, I add 6 heaping TBSP of skim milk powder and heat the milk to 180degrees in the microwave stirring halfway through to bring the milk powder into circulation or it will stay settled at the bottom. I pour it into a clean thermos and let cool to around 120-130 degrees, add 1/4 cup of Astro plain store-bought yogurt, cover and place in an insulated lunch bag. I wrap the thermos with a folded very bathmat and cover the whole thing, lunch bag and all in a ta cozy. It turns out beautifully each time after 8-10 hours. Been doing this way for about 10 years and enjoy 3/4 cup every morning with my hot oat cereal and fruit.
This way I buy one fresh yogurt every 5-6 weeks.

[dado potato]

I am more than half-way through my first batch of yogurt.

I made some flatbread today on an electric pizzelle iron (which I bought at a garage sale a few years back).
Yield 8 round waffle-imprinted flatbreads 4.5 inches in diameter, which I will call pizzelles.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sprouted hull-less barley
1/3 cup plain yogurt
approx. 1/3 cup self-rising flour
pinch of salt.

I used a hand-held blender to mince and blend the grain and yogurt in a tall metal cup,
Transferred mixture into a small mixing bowl,
Added salt,
Stirred in flour to make a thick batter.

I sprayed cooking oil on the surfaces of the electric pizzelle iron,
Spooned on batter for 2 pizzelles at a time.

The pizzelles were good plain, and excellent with butter and maple syrup. Now I am starting Kamut sprouts for another batch of pizzelles in 3-4 days.

[Tybee]

Do you have a recipe for yogurt-- I'd like totry this.

[razz]

Sounds wonderful, Dado. I learned something new to day. Pizzelle is a new word for me. What made you aware of the pizzelle iron so that you knew to buy it? Are they like a pancake or waffle in a way? Could I use my frying pan to make one?
QUOTE=dado potato;280723]I am more than half-way through my first batch of yogurt.

I made some flatbread today on an electric pizzelle iron (which I bought at a garage sale a few years back).
Yield 8 round waffle-imprinted flatbreads 4.5 inches in diameter, which I will call pizzelles.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sprouted hull-less barley
1/3 cup plain yogurt
approx. 1/3 cup self-rising flour
pinch of salt.

I used a hand-held blender to mince and blend the grain and yogurt in a tall metal cup,
Transferred mixture into a small mixing bowl,
Added salt,
Stirred in flour to make a thick batter.

I sprayed cooking oil on the surfaces of the electric pizzelle iron,
Spooned on batter for 2 pizzelles at a time.

The pizzelles were good plain, and excellent with butter and maple syrup. Now I am starting Kamut sprouts for another batch of pizzelles in 3-4 days.[/QUOTE]

[dado potato]

Sometimes when I am at a garage sale, something beckons me. This small electric appliance was calling to me! As I recall, I saw the word "Pizzelle" on the topside of the iron. I did not know what a pizzelle was. So I asked the lady who was taking the money. She said it was an Italian waffle. So then I definitely needed to have one!

It works like an electric waffle iron.

Yes, razz, you can make flatbread in a nonstick skillet, but I think you might want to roll it first. And so your dough would need to be firmer than the recipe I wrote above. A waffle iron (or Pizzelle iron) works with a thin batter.

[dado potato]

Tybee,

The measures would depend on the volume of yogurt you want to make. The recipe that follows is for 30 fluid ounces (in two 15 ounce jars).

In a blender I mix 1 cup powdered nonfat milk with 1 cup warm water. I use filtered water, and I warm it in a microwave. I blend in 1/4 cup of plain yogurt, a teaspoon of psyllium husks (to make the yogurt gelatinous) and 2 TBS honey.

I pour the blended product into two jars, and put the lids on loosely so gas can escape.

I put the two jars of yogurt-to-be in an insulated picnic cooler (mine is a Coleman "Oscar" with a green lid) along with a reused milk jug full of warm tap water, with the cap screwed on tight. I put newspapers inside the cooler to displace much of the air. Then I put the lid on the cooler and leave it undisturbed for 8-10 hours, while the yogurt congeals.

I chill the jars of yogurt 5-7 hours before eating any.

After a spoon has taken some yogurt out of a jar, I find that water (or maybe it's whey) separates from the yogurt solids. So to have a product that is less watery, I used a paper coffee filter to strain yogurt. I improvised a cone by punching some holes in the bottom of a plastic cottage cheese container... partly stuffed with twisted polyethylene shopping bags... and I set this up in a large carafe in the refrigerator to catch the water that drains out of the yogurt. After 12-24 hours the yogurt is firmer. It is so Greek at this point, it yells "OPA!" when I open the fridge door.

And I spoon the thick drained yogurt back into the 15 oz jars again.

BTW (By The Whey), this yogurt is not as white as the driven snow. The honey and psyllium fiber cause the color to be more beige, I would say.

[Tybee]

Thanks, Dado! I will yell Opa! and feel like I am back at Diana's in Greektown.

[flowerseverywhere]

My yogurt is similar, but I've never tried the flatbread. Anyone make Naan? I'd love to try to make it.

[KayLR]

I don't add anything but the dry nonfat milk to my milk and make yogurt weekly.

I use a double boiler, bring the milk (with 2 T. whisked in nonfat dry milk) up to 195 deg. Take it off the heat, and cool it to 95 deg. Then I add the 2 T. starter yogurt and jar it up.
I used to do the same routine as razz with a thermal bag and towels around a quart jar. But I found a yogurt incubator for $3 in a thrift store. Best $3 I ever spent.

Once in a while I love to splurge on a quart of Siggi's Icelandic-style plain yogurt and use it for starter. But mainly it's my "ice cream" I add fresh fruit to.

[dado potato]

I made my second batch, using the last of the first batch as a starter for 2 new jars. After sitting in the insulated cooler for about 15 hours, I got more yogurt. In one jar it is a frothy consistency (and it passes the taste test!) In the other jar it also is frothy... whey sank to the bottom of the jar, and I drained it out.

Do any of you good people know a good use for lukewarm whey? I was thinking of making butter scones with it. ("Scones", as in Wisconsin!) Go Badgers, beat Huskers!

By the way, my second batch of Pizzelle flatbread was outstanding. I used sprouted Kamut grain instead of hulled barley sprouts.

LOL, I might need a grammar class. In the second sentence above, I made a boo-boo, and I hope no one took me too literally. It was not I sitting in the insulated cooler! It was the blended milk and yogurt starter.

[frugal-one]

I made my second batch, using the last of the first batch as a starter for 2 new jars. After sitting in the insulated cooler for about 15 hours, I got more yogurt. In one jar it is a frothy consistency (and it passes the taste test!) In the other jar it also is frothy... whey sank to the bottom of the jar, and I drained it out.

Do any of you good people know a good use for lukewarm whey? I was thinking of making butter scones with it. ("Scones", as in Wisconsin!) Go Badgers, beat Huskers!

By the way, my second batch of Pizzelle flatbread was outstanding. I used sprouted Kamut grain instead of hulled barley sprouts.

LOL, I might need a grammar class. In the second sentence above, I made a boo-boo, and I hope no one took me too literally. It was not I sitting in the insulated cooler! It was the blended milk and yogurt starter.

Use whey instead of or in addition to salt in lacto-fermentation of vegetables.

[dado potato]

Overnight I made batch #3. I restarted the culture with a couple teaspoons of store-bought yogurt that was in the fridge.

The result looks good in the clear glass jars. It is chilling in the fridge with the lids on loosely. There is a thick white tasty-looking yogurt filling the jars, with a beige liquid about three-quarters of an inch deep on top. After the yogurt has chilled, I will use a baster to suction most of the liquid off the top.