Yogurt

[lillibet]

I've been making yogurt regularly in my slow-cooker and it's working very well. I've been using the temperature probe and failing to note the exact times, until last night. Mainly for my own reference, here are the instructions for making a half-gallon in my 6-qt. cooker.

• Pour a half gallon of milk into the cooker.
• Cook on HIGH for 2.25 hrs.
• Unplug and cool for 3.25 hrs.
• Whisk together 1/2 cup of yogurt and 2 cups of warm milk.
• Pour mixture into cooker and stir.
• Wrap unplugged cooker in a beach towel overnight.
• Put in containers and refrigerate.


Next up: honey-walnut frozen yogurt.

Comments

[starphire.livejournal.com]

One container yogurt - neat.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Yeah--that's what attracted me to this process. All the other ones have seemed like too much pouring hot milk around.

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

I don't own a slow cooker, but this might be a good reason to get one. My usual yogurt method involves heating a half-gallon of milk on the stove in a large pot to 185 degrees then letting it cool to 115 degrees. While it is heating I clean the kitchen and stir. While it is cooling I go do something else. Then the inoculating of the yogurt and I pour it into 1 quart jar and four 8 oz jars. Mostly because I leave half plain and flavor the other half. Then the jars go onto a heating pad set to low, wrapped in a towel and under a large pot for 8 to 12 hours. I don't mind pouring the hot milk, but invariably the milk sticks a bit to my large pot and I have to scrub it out. Your method eliminates the stirring and upfront waiting. Also I bet the scrubbing isn't as bad. Can you remove the crock from the cooker and just put that in your fridge? Does the milk ever boil in the crock pot method?

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's one of the methods I saw online. There was also putting it in a cooler during the keep-warm phase and a microwave-and-heating-pad version that was recommended to bookly.

The milk never boils in the slow-cooker method and I could put the container in the fridge, but it's bigger than I usually have room for. Cleanup is pretty easy--there's a little bit of scrubbing, but it's minimal.

The one thing is that you need either to get a slow-cooker with a temperature-control, or to check it with a manual thermometer the first time, until you know the timing of your particular model. The first time I tried this, I was working from a recipe used by someone with a 4-qt. slow-cooker and the timing was way off. Now that I've worked out the timing, it's very easy. We go through yogurt fast enough that I'm doing a half-gallon almost every weekend (having also gotten into making frozen yogurt might have something to do with this) and it's a breeze.

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

I haven't owned a crock pot since the early 90's. It is good to know that they come with temperature control now. Mine didn't even come with a removable crock so it could go in the dishwasher. My Elder Son and I are currently the only yogurt eaters in the house. I like that home made yogurt has texture and isn't goopy. Younger Son wants his yogurt texture free and goopy. ES and I take about a week to finish off two quarts of yogurt. It would take less time if I sent him to school with lunch.

[bookly.livejournal.com]

Actually, the microwave method was on some website. JL heats his water on the stove just till it foams (he says he boils it, but mine foamed in the slow cooker well before it boiled), then uses the heating pad method. I'll ask him about clean-up and what kind of pots he uses. (Knowing him, expensive ones. :)

On another note, do you ever get a skin on your milk when it's cooling? I did, and I'm wondering if it's because I took the lid off to help the milk cool faster.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I haven't gotten a skin on the milk. I'd worry about other bacteria getting into the milk if it were open.