@Bonnielee HOW to make yoghurt from raw organic farm-fresh milk or shop bought

(Zu) #1

@Bonnielee

Using degrees Celsius!

I usually use a heavy based pot half filled with water, with an old re-used 2L yoghurt container from the shops inside the pot on the low hot plate (shouldn’t react at low heats!)

Heat milk to around 41 degrees celsius (it will rise a few degrees more)…
Old school people just use your clean pinkie and it should be a touch more than blood warm but until you get the knack then use a thermometer.

For every cup of milk you use, add one teaspoon of the best yoghurt you can get with high bacteria count or just left over from last batch.

So 2L of milk use 8 teaspoons of yoghurt culture from a store bought yoghurt.
1L = 4 cups so 4 teaspoons. you can buy bacteria sachet but this way is more convenient.
If you are using farm fresh milk then the cream will rise after it sets… no drama all good.

Wisk the daylights out of your inoculated milk making sure not to go over 43 c temp….

After you have wisked it very very well, take your bucket out of the pot, lid it up tightly, and wrap the whole thing in blankets and put in a warm spot free from drafts… you may also use a hot water bottle if its winter… alternatively you can make it in the cooking pot itself but be very careful using direct heat from a hotplate - I find the yoghurt pot more convenient for fridging.

I leave for 6-7 hours for a nice medium sour yoghurt… the longer it sits the thicker - but more sour, the shorter it sits the sweeter but more runny due to the lactose not converting as much… you can leave it all night or longer - depends on the strength of your starter culture.

Don’t think that more culture the thicker - you will overpopulate your bacteria and it will be thin and runny - unless your starter culture is on the older side and a bit weaker… I usually ad lib judging on how my last batch turned out… It will eventually fade out and stop if you leave it too long between batches.

Try not to disturb your fermenting yoghurt or it won’t work and try to maintain the warmth at a constant… too hot can also spoil it - but its all edible just may not be how you prefer it…

After the incubation of say 6-12 hours you may strain it after or retain it in the whey…
Works well with raw organic milk or store bought.

You can also start the whole thing by doing a pasteurise at about 150 degrees celsius first for 10 mins, then inoculate when it is cooled down to 42 c… do not add the bacteria yoghurt culture starter at over 43 as the bacteria die at over this temp.

Hope this helps

Click like as I’m nnnnnewwww here

(Bonnie) #2

Ever use bovine (grass fed) gelatine to make it thicker?
And, is it true that the whey or the liquid drained off (if you strain through cheesecloth) is where the carbs are?

(Jason Fletcher) #3

I do wonder if this is what is happening and if so i would think the conversion of lactose would be highest with more bacteria?

I just use a thicker cheese cloth myself 90# and layer it works well have even been able to make good yogurt with even skin milk myself without having to ad thickeners.

yeah the more you drain it it takes out most of the left over lactose. Plus if you ferment it for about 48 hours you also lower it more. Can’t tell you much more since i have no way to test it.
I ferment right in the gallon jugs i do 4 at a time and then drain using a cheese cloth pinned over a 5 gallon pail. I just start cold and put the yogurt in in 24 to 48 hours i drain it. I use my dehydrator to keep them in fits all 4 gallons.

(Bonnie) #4

Thanks!

(Zu) #5

I haven’t used gelatine, no… but I have tried liquid non-animal rennet - which can either turn out amazing or disastrously depending on when you put it, its temp, and how much you put.
But for myself straining the yoghurt middle-eastern style to make what people call Labna or yoghurt dip is my preferred - then sprinkle paprika/cayenne and drench in olive oil. I don’t think all of the carbs are gone but I would say a good fair few! in 45g of labna there are around 42 cals, 3g fat and 2g carbs - very satisfying I wouldn’t be surprised if there is actually way more fat in it then those macros depict.

What one may also do is make yoghurt cheese balls (traditionally called shankleesh) where by one heats the yoghurt moderately, then splits it with an acid (lemon juice, citric acid, acv, or vinegar) then drains the crumbly curd, mix it with sweet paprika and cayenne, roll it into balls (which some like to age and mould - I just dry for a day or two) then roll the balls into zaatar spice mix… store the balls in a big jar of olive oil.

When I had my own dairy cow this was my yoghurt delicacy. shankleesh

It can be addictive…

(Zu) #6

Well, Its a similar thing with sourdough bread culture. When you throw out all but a wee tiny bit of your soughdough culture, and then refreshen or feed it with new flour, you have less bacteria to feed, and thus, the bacteria you do have is therefore of a stronger calibre - the bacteria eats the lactose in the case of yoghurt. you sacrifice some to make a select chosen few strong and robust… what good is a huge weak, tired army compared to a smaller team of highly trained special forces?

Imagine if you are a wealthy parent and have only one child to spoil and provide for… as opposed to a wealthy parent who has 90 children to provide for? but what if you got rid almost all of those 90 kids somehow (??) and only had one to provide for one or two… they would be better accommodated, no? well that’s my random analogy. So in other strange words, only inoculate your milk with as just as much you can provide food for to have a hearty amount of lactose per organism. The ratio of one tsp to one cup milk is generally good - maybe slightly more if your culture is old. Too much bacteria and its like gate crashers at a wedding and the catering is short and you have to all share the food around to make it go further leaving a weaker and hungrier bacteria which equals floppy yoghurt…

But store bought yoghurts use nasty thickeners and milk solids (aka powdered milk AKA MSG!)
so theirs is always firmer… unless you strain

(Bonnie) #7

This sounds really interesting. Certainly a new food for me. Excuse my ignorance but what is Zaatar spice? There is a market close to with all kinds of interesting foods that I have no idea what they are. I think I’m going to see if they have Shanklesh or yogurt cheese balls. I love yogurt and look forward to expanding my knowledge base. I’ve been making yogurt since the 70s but really just simple stuff, playing around with types of milk or cream used, straining, etc. Thank you!

(Zu) #8

Zaatar is lebanese oregano mix, with thyme and sesame seeds… or you can just use plain oregano with pretty much the same effect

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(Zu) #9

and no need to excuse, its lovely that people are interested in all different flavours the world has to offer

(Jason Fletcher) #10

I tried to look up the science on this and i have not had any luck. I have noticed a difference in the consistence depending on the amount of starter used. But it does not tell me what the final lactose conversion rate is. The only thing i have to compare it to is the yeast used in beer. In that case you would want a good size starter. For a quick start to the fermentation in this case to make sure the bacteria would not infect the beer. Once the alcohol get high the yeast stop eating the sugar and go dormant. Now in this case there are different strands that can handle higher alcohol and eat more sugar. Now with yogurt the lactose converts to lactic acid i don’t know if the high acid stops the conversion of lactose until it is all gone or why there is different consistences of the yogurt when larger or smaller starters are made. In yogurt the bacteria reproduce until all the lactose is gone or acid is to high? It could possibly be the final number of bacteria in the end that makes the difference in the consistence? Then when it comes to the number of live bacteria in the end would a small or large starter create more? I guess i will keep looking to understand more of what the science is on this.