Author Topic: 1st homemade yogurt ...success!  (Read 3257 times)

bbracken677

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1st homemade yogurt ...success!
« on: October 26, 2012, 06:16:24 PM »
I used Sailor's methodology (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,5165.0.html) for making mother cultures to duplicate a wonderful Bulgarian Yogurt I found in Whole Foods.

Yesterday morning I heated, in a water bath, an unopened quart of whole milk to 190F, held it between 188 and 195F for 30 minutes. Cooled in cold water bath to 110F.
I "innoculated" the prepared milk (pouring out 1/2 cup of milk) with 1/2 cup of the bulgarian yogurt and re-closed the half-gallon container. I used some of the milk to thin out the yogurt sample, and then gently shook the container to make sure it was mixed well.
Placed the container in our microwave (just used the microwave as a closed environment) with a bowl of near boiling water (had to open the door occasionally) and maintained the heat between 102 and 110F for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Closed the door and left it overnight without adding more boiling water. Temp in the morning was 88F still, at which point I placed the container in a hot water bath at 108F for 4 more hours and then refrigerated.

Once the container had cooled sufficiently I poured the contents into a mixing bowl and mixed so that the "texture" was consistent throughout. The top of the half gallon was a bit thinner than the bottom.
Poured into jars for storage and back into the fridge. Once chilled I taste tested the "new" yogurt vs the original, and they were identical in flavor as well as thickness. Am really happy with this result, and was a bit surprised at how easy it was to totally duplicate an expensive probiotic yogurt using nothing but milk and the original yogurt as culture.

MrsKK

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Re: 1st homemade yogurt ...success!
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2012, 01:22:04 PM »
I use Greek Gods as my culture, as I really enjoy that yogurt.  It is pretty awesome to get such results, isn't it?

bbracken677

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Re: 1st homemade yogurt ...success!
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2012, 07:32:41 PM »
Yes! I was pretty blown away (and probably shouldn't have been) by the reproduction of the taste exactly...and was a bit surprised that the texture turned out virtually exactly the same also.

Made a fruit smoothie with it last night...yum!

Mighty Mouse

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Re: 1st homemade yogurt ...success!
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2012, 07:54:34 PM »
Home made yogurt is fun. I made a coffee yogurt one time using some of that via from Starbucks. It was not bad. I did not know about some better coffee making techniques at the time, via would not be my first choice approach these days. Still though, coffee yogurt... yum!