Thursday, July 9, 2009

homemade yogurt using the heating pad method

I made my first-ever batch of homemade yogurt this week. Why? Just for fun. I have nothing against store-bought yogurt (indeed, you have to buy a tub in order to make your own), but I really liked the idea of making yogurt from scratch, and was inspired by lots of posts out there to give it a whirl. And the results are yummy--milder (less sour) than store-bought plain yogurt, which is a big plus in my book.
Inspiring posts are here and here. I ended up going with these instructions because she gives such a nice overview of different ways to incubate your yogurt. I'm one who likes a lot of specific instructions. I opted for the heating pad method because we have a heating pad onhand and because I don't trust my oven to not get too warm (or to stay warmish when turned off). Here's the set-up: heating pad, towel, yogurt in covered jars, heavy pan turned upside down to form a little "oven." I ended up having to turn my heating pad up to medium-high--low was too low. Leave this overnight.
Here are the little yogurt jars in the morning. I have these saved from when I used to buy Spega yogurt from Trader Joe's (can't find it any more though. Love the jars--so glad I saved them!).
This is yummy with the maple-agave syrup from Trader Joe's. Also yummy with the freezer jam I just made. This recipe makes a non-fat yogurt, but I'm very interested in making a full fat yogurt too. I'll be trying the recipe in River Cottage Family Cookbook next and will report back.

11 comments:

ArtsyTeree said...

Hi, that´s interesting way to make homemade yoghurt. I use other way of making it.
I heat the milk until lightly bublles, then let cool until abot 40 degrees Celsia. Then I stir in one small natural yoghurt and one tablespoon of dried milk, to make it thicker.
I store them in little botles from babyfood under the spare bedcloths in our wardrobe until morning.
I love it.
Tereza

ArtsyTeree said...

Wow it is 11.something a.m. there :-)Here it is 20.something p.m :OD
I just put my son in bed :-)

Andrea said...

Yum! Those bottles are so cute! I put my yogurt jar (just a big ol' mason jar that is not cute at all) into a pan of hot tap water and put that in a cooler. Mine usually comes out pretty sour, but I'll chalk that up to forgetting it in the cooler and leaving it there overnight! Oops. Looks yummy with jam and syrup.

Charisse said...

I totally thought that this was going to be a blog on how you ACCIDENTALLY made homemade yogurt by leaving some kind of something on the heating pad somehow.

Anonymous said...

We just started making homemade yogurt last week. Unfortunately the first batch turned out with weird grainy texture. Maybe I didn't stir the dry milk or the starter in well enough? Hopefully the next batch will be smoother. We had to start making our own because my littles were driving our grocery bill up so high with the store-bought! :)

girlwithmoxy said...

I have tried making it before, but it came out too thin and "curdled" but yours looks great. Must be the heating pad because that would keep the temp consistent throughout. Those jars are adorable too!

angie.a said...

Brings back memories...my mom used to make homemade yogurt, butter, and cottage cheese because we had a dairy farm. Yum.

gardenmama said...

Wow, what a nice way to make yogurt! I never would have thought to do it like this and have always wanted to try to make our own. Thanks for the inspiration Mary Beth! : )

Jessica said...

You've persuaded me...I'm going to have to give this a whirl soon.

hanna said...

yay for homemade yoghurt!
My method seems very unscientific after looking at some of the other methods! But I've never had it fail, it always comes out perfect and very thick.
You've reminded me that I should make some more :o)

Rhonda said...

After its done from being on the heating pad how should it look before it goes in the fridge thanks