BRATTLEBORO — Would you like to make your own yogurt? It's easy!
You'll need a little plain whole-milk yogurt and milk, a spoon, an instant-read food thermometer or candy thermometer, enough containers to hold 1 quart of yogurt, a stove, a heavy-bottom stock pot, and a refrigerator.
First, sterilize the spoon, thermometer, and containers by completely submerging in boiling water for five minutes.
Slowly heat in the pot until it reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit:
¶1 quart of milk (can be of any fat content, or even soy or rice beverage, as long as it's unsweetened)
Remove from heat, but don't remove the thermometer.
When the milk cools to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, add:
¶{1/4} cup plain whole-milk yogurt
and stir until it's completely mixed in.
Pour the milk-yogurt blend into your sterilized storage containers. Seal the lids, then put them in a warm place. Leave them alone for 12 hours.
Refrigerate the yogurt for a few hours, then eat.
“I make my own yogurt because it tastes better and costs less,” said Paula Melton of Brattleboro, who has done so for years. “I also like that I can make it in glass jars instead of plastic.”
In lieu of the plain yogurt - “results are less predictable, and it gets more sour the more times you do it,” she said -Melton uses culture powders that can be purchased online from New England Cheesemaking Supply, not that far away in Ashfield, Mass. She's also invested in a “good cheese thermometer.”
Melton makes her own Greek-style yogurt by straining it. She uses the whey, and sometimes the yogurt itself, as the liquid in bread.
Melton makes the yogurt in mason jars in a proofing box, available from King Arthur Flour of Norwich.
“This allows for very fine control of temperature, which is important in my house in winter,” Melton said. “I wouldn't have invested if I didn't also have the same issue with bread, however. In general, I recommend electricity for culturing your yogurt for a few hours rather than hit-or-miss because it will save you milk money in the long run.”
For “predictable results that give me mild, thick yogurt,” Melton recommends this method:
“Bring your milk up to 190 degrees, stirring constantly, and hold it at this temp (but below boiling point) for 10 minutes,” she said. “Allow to cool to 112 degrees, and then add the culture and move to its incubation container. If you have controlled conditions between 110 and 115 degrees, incubation will take four or five hours, max.”
Laura Austan of West Brattleboro, a retired chef and butcher, advises: “The biggest trick to making yogurt is keeping it warm during the incubation period. Think of keeping yeast bread warm to proof, but for a few hours.
“Usually warming an oven slightly will do it, but you don't want it above 115 degrees.
“And use a candy thermometer! Don't guess!”
For Carolyn Conrad of Brattleboro, her “biggest yogurt tip is to whisk in some dry milk powder before bringing your milk to temperature,” she said. “It makes for a thicker and higher-quality end product without thickeners.”
And, in the don't-try-this-at-home category, Michael Auerbach of Putney, a science teacher at Brattleboro Union High School, recounted a memorable yogurt-making moment in the classroom.
“I was doing a standard yogurt-making intro to cells biology lab, and I told students that there are many, many bacteria that ferment lactose into lactic acid that can do what lactobacillus does.
“To prove my point, instead of adding a spoonful of yogurt to my warmed milk as a starter, I took a dirty Band-Aid off of my finger and threw it in, sealed it up and put it in the incubator with the other samples.
“Mine had the consistency of yogurt, but it was gray and smelled like bad feet. The student relayed the story to me just the other day, 10 years later.
“Lesson learned!”