| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 1/26/2008 2:56:07 AM | OK, I thought it's time to revamp this topic into my life. Most people don't realize just how easy it is to make yogurt and save yourself some $$ but also know you are putting the best possible food that can be made into you.
NO ADDITIVES! No sugar! No preservatives! No starch!
Home Made Yogurt - Makes one gallon
What you will need:
A large dutch oven
4 large quart jars that fit in above mentioned dutch oven (mayo jars will work as will canning jars)
A mixing bowl
plain white storebought yogurt as starter culture (you can get dried ones, too, I believe)
Gallon of milk
Wash the jars very well with hot soapy water. Place the jars in the dutch oven and add water around them until its near the top. Now set the jars aside and put the water on the stove on high.
Now in the mixing bowl add 2 T of the storebought yogurt, this is your starting culture. Next time you can use the one you made but for now you need a starter. Whisk in some milk, mixing thoroughly. This is the two most important steps. Mix thoroughly. Add more milk, mix some more. Do that til half the milk is mixed in with the starter then divide it among the 4 quart jars.
Place those in the pan and add the rest of the milk to each. Lightly place the covers on -- DO NOT TIGHTEN
The second crucial thing is not to overheat this. The water temp should not go above 130-150F. I usually tell by touch. it will be very warm and you will see small bubbles start to form but its nowhere near boiling but it is above being bloodwarm. Since the milk is cold there is some leeway for error here.
Shut Off the heat
Cover the pan with a large lid -- often the original lid wont fit on this so a wok lid is handy.
That's it, the next morning you have yogurt. Pour off the clear juice (whey) and since its slightly warm this is an easy time to stir in honey. Otherwise just stick them in your refrig until you use it.
The website below says 26 grams of protein and 98 % of one's calcium. That'd be half the protein a woman needs and more than 1/3 of what a guy needs for the entire day from this one food according to the RDA. It's a very healthy way to start your day off and it can be incorporated into a shake or smoothie with fresh fruits. Goes great with granola mixed in. I give my recipe for that in another thread.
Do this once a week and you have 8 pints -- breakfast all week plus one extra serving. It doesn't get much easier and healthier than that, ladies and gentlemen! So for everyone looking for ways to try to eat healthy give this a shot!
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http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c201i.html
I made yogurt weekly for a long time and it definitely helped me lose weight to the fittest I have ever been. To start with look how much empty carbs are in a yogurt. Usually high fructose corn syrup sugar which has now been proven to make you so hungry you actually overeat. And it's in almost every mainstream product in the grocery store. This is the way to take control! Throw the bad sugar and the additives right out of your diet and best of all this is a 15 minute(if that) proceedure you do only once a week.
Did you know if you can cut out the sugar from 2 pops a day you can lose 21 pounds over the next year? It's been computed, it's fact. That's just from one thing -- cutting out that one source of sugar. | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 1/26/2008 4:40:19 AM | Nice, thanks.
Usually high fructose corn syrup sugar which has now been proven to make you so hungry
This isn't exactly right. What happens is corn fructose doesn't turn off the "I'm hungry" sensor the way real food does. This is a rather simplified explanation of a complex series of biochemical reactions, but this is what happens.
Plus, real sugar ends up in your blood where some of it can actually be used. Fructose goes right to your liver and is converted straight to fat.
It's believed not corn fructose is responsible for the current obesity epidemic - it's in nearly everything. | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 1/26/2008 5:33:32 AM |
This isn't exactly right. What happens is corn fructose doesn't turn off the "I'm hungry" sensor the way real food does. This is a rather simplified explanation of a complex series of biochemical reactions, but this is what happens.
It depends who says it and how they have said it. I have heard it phrased the way I said it on TV on one report where they reported it makes you overeat. They mentioned it next to the whole supersizing trend. Technically it is correct that it doesn't turn off the hunger sensor in the brain but either way it's close enough that one explanation or the other is really just splitting hairs. As long as one understands the value of avoiding it they can see the health value in making their own yogurt.
Yogurt Cheese
I prefer higher fat milk for this. I usually do skim for the above but 1,2, or whole milk makes a much creamier yogurtcheese.
Take a large collander and line it with paper towels or cheesecloth. Place it in the dutch oven pan. Add whatever yogurt will fit in there. I usually do half a gallon, so two quart jars. Now place this in your refrigerator overnight -- up to three days will make it even firmer.
You can put a papertowel on it and a small weight like a plate to help it go faster. Gives the top a nice texture, too, like that of Muenster you get from the store.
The water simply slowly drips out and the remaining milksolids and milkfat form into a pure white creamy soft cheese.
It works best as a cream cheese replacement since it's a soft cheese like that. Fantastic for dips. Mix up some herbs n garlic in it. I haven't tried melting it yet or using it in recipes like cheesecake -- since it has a live culture in it I tend to like not to cook it to keep that alive. But it should work, I don't think it'd break.
If you want to keep it any longer soak cheesecloth in strong saltwater and wrap it up. You can do this with storebought yogurt, too. Mind you this cheese has no salt in it so if you want a more traditional product you should mix 1 tsp salt into the yogurt before it is poured into the strainer or collander. | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 1/27/2008 10:01:51 AM | Another way to make an incubator for yogurt is putting a 75 or 100W light bulb in the oven, where the little 40W bulb usually goes. Leaving that on will keep the oven at around 115F. You have to experiment to get the right temp.
I stopped drinking soft drinks when they switched from cane sugar to corn syrup, since it just didn't taste good anymore. | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 1/27/2008 11:33:57 AM | Great topic - always wondered how to make yogurt cheese - i love using yogurt when I make bread - I usually cut my liquid by 1/2 and then add 1.5 times that of yogurt - that is if 2 cups liquid - 1 cup liquid & 1 1/2 cup yogurt. I also make a no kneed bread by mixing all the ingredients together - stopping as soon as they are mixed - allowing to rise once then storing covered in the fridge for one week - I cut off a grapefruit sized chunk - dust with flour to make handling easy - fold in into itself once or twice til it forms a ball - let rise 40 mon - cook at 350 for 15-25 min and enjoy - you can start baking from this after the 3rd day but is best after a week and can keep up to 3 - you can even restart out of a leftover ball - just add water - disolve old ball - add new ingredients (but no more yeast) and repeat - this is similar but not exactly like sour dough - I like to all 10 grain cereal to mine as it give an interesting texture and you can use low or no gluten products with this recipe as well -
can't wait to try the yogurt/yogurt cheese making - been using Renet for about a year to make farmer cheese so this should be very similar | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 1/30/2008 1:43:26 PM | | Wonderful recipes - thank-you! I remember my parents fussing with some weird yogurt making contraption years ago - this sounds quick and easy. Buttermilk making is similar - you need buttermilk (your culture) for the first go round, after that you just keep making off what you've already made. I take a quart jar, pour in about a cup of buttermilk and fill to 80% with milk. You need to punch a hole in the lid - just one ice pick size will do. I set this next to my always on coffee maker and the heat from that is perfect! I usually have great buttermilk in 24 hours. | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 3/2/2008 12:13:06 AM | Hi Random
re: "It works best as a cream cheese replacement ... I haven't tried melting it yet or using it in recipes like cheesecake -- since it has a live culture in it I tend to like not to cook it to keep that alive. But it should work, I don't think it'd break."
Last week one of the episodes of America's Test Kitchen used yogurt cheese in a low fat cheesecake recipe (along with other ingredients of course. I think it was cream cheese, homemade yogurt cheese and cottage cheese that had been processed to smoothness.).
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 3/29/2008 1:17:08 PM | How to Make Ricotta Cheese
1 gallon of whole milk
1 quart of buttermilk
cheesecloth
a rubberband
- Fold rinsed cheesecloth into layers and use it to line a colander or sieve in the sink.
- Pour the milks into a large Stainless Steel, Glass, or Ceramic saucepan. Don't use aluminium or copper which will react to the acids in the milk.
- At this point I like to attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, it will come in handy later in the proceedings.
- Put the pan over high heat and stir with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure the milk doesn't burn.
- Once is the milk is warm, stop stirring and continue to heat.
- You will start to see lumps forming in the milk - these are the curds. Once the temperature reaches between 175 and 180 F, the curds and whey will separate. At that point remove your pan from the heat.
- Using an Asian Skimmer or other large flat ladle with holes, very gently transfer the curds to the lined sieve and leave them to drain.
- Once the draining has slowed to a drip, carefully gather the edges of the cloth around the cheese and secure with a rubberband, into a bag shape which can be hung from your faucet or tap.
- Drain further until the cheese cools down and dripping completely comes to a halt.
- Remove from the cheese from the cloth and refrigerate. For absolute freshness, consume as quickly as possible. | |
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| How to make homemade yogurt and yogurtcheese
Posted: 3/29/2008 6:10:44 PM | My mom use to make yogert just by heating the milk to semi boil for about 3 min and then let cool to the touch....Then add the yogert culture, and stir...
put a lid on it loosely and kept it in a warm place.. till done.
usually overnight
Almost any warm place will do..
and it really dont have to be real warm, just a little | |
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