Yogurt is not only delicious, it is also a nutritious food, which is why many people love it. In fact, it is as one of the most popular dairy products. While many people prefer buying mass produced yogurt, there are some who would like to make at their home. If you want to learn how to make homemade yogurt, here are the procedures.
Gather your yogurt making
Before you begin with the process, what you need to do first is to gather all the equipment that you’ll need. Don’t worry, this list of equipment is not like that of the dairy processing equipment used by large manufacturers.
For making your homemade yogurt, the following:
Large heavy pot with lid
Cooler
4-litre jugs (2 pieces)
1 litre containers (4 pieces)
1 cup container
Egg beater
Measuring tools
Cooking thermometer
Measuring cups
Ladle
Gather your ingredients
4 litres Milk
1 cup store-bought yogurt
Preparation:
- Fill the 4 litre jugs with half of cool water and half of boiling water.
- Place the 4 litre jugs inside your large cooler and close the lid of the cooler to help maintain the temperature.
- If your yogurt is in the fridge, take it out and allow it to warm to room temperature. Store bought yogurt contains live and active cultures, thus it is a great seed for your homemade yogurt. Note: you only need to buy store bought yogurt once. After which, you can use your homemade yogurt as your seed yogurt for your next batch.
Procedure:
- Put the milk in your pot and place it on high heat. Then stir it continuously until the temperature reaches to about 85°C.
- Maintain the heat for about 15 to 30 minutes. Bear in mind that the longer you cook the milk, the firmer your yogurt will become.
- Shut off the stove and allow the milk to cool off at 43°C.
- When the temperature cools down at 43°C add one cup of store-bought yogurt into your heated milk. Then stir thoroughly.
- After which, start transferring the mixture into your 1 litre jugs and 1 cup container.
- Put the jars/jugs and container into your cooler. Incubate for about 9 hours or overnight. Note that the longer you allow it to incubate, the thicker and more tart it will become.
- After incubation, let it sit at room temperature and check if there is a water whey on the surface of your homemade yogurt. If you find watery whey, you can whisk it out or mix it with the yogurt.
After these procedures, you can store the yogurt in your refrigerator.