Made yogurt

[darxus]

1. Heat Milk to 85°C (185°F) for 30 minutes to prepare it for fermentation.
2. Cool milk to 43°C (110°F) (optimal for fermentation).
3. Add a few spoons of Stonyfield plain yogurt.
4. Keep roughly around 43°C (110°F) for 7 hours.
5. Refrigerate.

I'm very happy with the results.

Of course, you can add fruit or sugar if you're into that kind of thing. I've been enthusiastically enjoying it plain.

I just did the initial heating slowly in a pot on my stove. Then I ended up pouring the milk in a ziplock and putting it in 43°C (110°F) water in my cooler. I made no attempt to maintain the temperature. The website I followed recommended using a heating pad (like you might use for cramps).

I used whole fat plain yogurt, and whole fat organic milk, Hannaford store brand I think.

My plan is to reduce / cut out dairy, as my cravings for sugar fade. But fermented foods with live cultures are generally supposed to be good, so I don't think this should be too bad. Although it's kind of scary easy for me to consume lots of calories of it, even plain.

Of course, you can use any plain yogurt with live cultures to seed, Stonyfield was just one I was familiar with.

I'm curious about yogurts that can be cultured at room temperature.

Comments

[feng-huang.livejournal.com]

Huh. I've tried some commercial kefir, and it wasn't really for me, although it was intriguiging. It was that it tasted a little too much like runny sour cream to me. Perhaps I should give it another shot, or try one of the flavored varieties.

Anyway, that "kefir cheese" you mention, lebni, is awesome. Mainly for darxus' benefit (since I'm sure that you already know this), I'll add that it becomes much tangier, and it's awesome cold, with a little olive oil drizzled on it, with warm pita dipped into it. Mmm... I really need to go back to one of the local Middle Eastern or Turkish places soon. :-)