How to Make Yogurt?

There’s nothing nicer than having homemade yogurt. Yogurt is a kind of versatile food that can be served with any kind of a snack or meal. Yogurt is delicious when sweetened or even plain. It can be used in salad dressing or can be combined with bread or even soups. Use some yogurt atop a delicious sundae or combine it as a dip for any tasty snack.

Well, homemade yogurt does not require you to be a genius in the kitchen. You don’t have to have skills that are equivalent to that great chef at your favorite restaurant. All it needs is a little practice from your side. Within a few days, you will get accustomed to homemade yogurt and would definitely avoid the ones available in the local stores. Often wondered how to make yogurt at home? Well, here are a few steps that can help you enjoy the experience of making yogurt at home.

How to Make Yogurt at Home:

Basic Homemade Yogurt:
What you will need-

• Milk
• Pot or double boiler
• Plain yogurt (pick a simple jar from the store)
• Thermometer
• Jars or containers with lids (Glass)
• A metal spoon

Preparation:
Firstly, you will need to sterilize the 4 8-oz. glass jars along with their lids. For this, you need to boil them in a pot filled with water for at least 10 minutes. Once you finish this process, you can turn off the heat. Now, you can put the lid on and allow them to cool down.

Now, you need to pour the milk into a pot. Heat this milk slowly and ensure you keep stirring it continuously. Use the thermometer to keep a check on the heat. Once the milk reaches 180 degrees F, you need to stop heating the milk and let it cool down to at least 110 degrees F.

Once the milk cools down to the desired temperature, you can now add the yogurt picked from the store, to this milk. Stir it, so that the yogurt dissolves into it. Once done, you need to pour this milk into the jars and also cover them tightly. Now is the most important part; you need to incubate the yogurt. To make this process happen, you need to maintain a constant temperature of 120 degrees F. Therefore, these jars have to be placed in other pots that are filled with warm water. Besides, you will have to keep a check with the thermometer and maintain the temperature of the water by adding warm water at regular intervals. Sometimes, it can take from 4 hours to 9 hours. Once the yogurt has jelled, you can place the jars in the refrigerator.

Homemade Flavored Yogurt:

You can even try variations with the basic yogurt. Here is one such option.
What you will need-

• Milk (1 quart)
• Instant nonfat dry milk (1/3 cup)
• Honey, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, sugar, malt, molasses, or artificial sweetener (1/4 to 1/3 cup)
• Plain yogurt or an optional quantity of powdered culture (1 tablespoon)
• Additional flavorings or fruit

Preparation:
Firstly, you will need to scald 1 quart of milk. Stir this in the 1/4 cup of honey, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, malt, sugar, molasses or an artificial sweetener. You can also add more flavors as per your individual tastes. Now, add the instant nonfat dry milk. You need to cool this mixture to 110 degrees F. Stir in the culture and pour this into some warm containers. Cover it and let it incubate.

There are various ways to obtain the flavors. If you require a particular flavor then put one tablespoon of that flavor into the bottom of the 1-cup containers. You can then pour the warm mixture of yogurt over it. Cover this and let it incubate. If you wish for a fruity flavor, then always add this to the yogurt after it has incubated. This would help you to avoid any reactions of the fruit with the yogurt during the incubation process.

I am hoping you will have lots of fun trying out these procedures at home. It’s a matter of time till you get hooked on to it, because there is nothing better than fresh homemade yogurt.