fundies and yogurt - WTF??

[Ozzie]

I make my own yogurt because it is cheaper and delicious, and so I can have yogurt without sugar or other crap in it. :D I usually make it Greek (letting it hang out in a colander with a paper towel underneath so the whey runs out and yogurt thickifies) and use it in salads, etc.

[Conuly]

What does sheep's milk taste like?

I don't know, but sheep yogurt is a little tarter, I find. Goat yogurt NEVER THICKENS. This is a known thing with goat yogurt, apparently.

[Cheesemaker]

If it is slimy, chances are the milk wasn't heated to a high enough temp. ;).

Sheep milk yogurt is my favorite kind ever! Really thick and rich due to the higher milk solids in the milk. Tastes really good.

Tangy flavors can be modified by different types of starters, depending on the milk used. Goat milk yogurt is possible, but harder, that cheese forum I linked above has a lot of goat yogurt recipes.

[CC3]

I like making bread, but yogurt - yuk. The consistency really grosses me out. My doctor wants me to eat it, but I don't think it's going to happen.

[Sola]

Today I found the third blog with a recent post about yogurt making. The Maxwells made the start, than a few days ago Bethany Beasley had a post on on her blog (bloggingbeth.blogspot.com) and now this SAHM (one of Kendull's readers, but in my opinion less crazy and way more likeable than her; ramblingsofamommy-sahm.blogspot.com/) is also blogging about yogurt.. whats the big thing about yogurt and making it at home? Is it the pure boredom of their SAHM-life (in fact Jessica (ramblings..) has four kids under four so she is probably quite busy) or is yogurt so expensive in the USA that they can't afford to buy it?

It seems that yoghurt making 101 must be in the pack you get when you decide you're going to be fundie! Most of them (Duggars excepted - they seem to just shovel the crap down their throats) seem to do the whole yoghurt making, bread baking, flour grinding, crunchy thing. Possibly some of it is money related, it is cheaper to make your own, plus it is healthier so if you are trying to keep as healthy as possible so as not to have medical bills then this sort of thing makes sense.

It's not rocket science though, I've been doing it for years. But then I'm a crunchy, hairy armpitted, hippy, atheist, librool :lol:

[AtroposHeart]

I wanna make homemade vegan yogurt so bad

[clarinetpower]

I make yogurt because my husband and daughter are lactose intolerant.

When we lived in France, we found that Dr. Clarinetpower could eat cheese/butter if he had some french yogurt every day. Back in the US, commercial yogurts' cultures were not strong enough. Even the new ones on the market will only work for a couple of days, and then stop, but if he eats a few bites of my homemade yogurt, we can indulge in cheese, ice cream, butter, etc. with no worries. Our 4.5 year old daughter became lactose intolerant at 14 months, and she is the same way. She still won't drink milk (neither will he, both prefer soy), but she can have butter, cheese and ice cream. When we are on long trips, I can bring along Culterelle (after having them start it 2 weeks in advance) and it will work for a while, maybe 5 days, and then both have stomach cramps, bloating, etc. Nothing works like Mom's yogurt. ;)

We also prefer yogurt that does not have added gelatin, sugar, fruit, etc. Ours has 3 ingredients: local, whole milk, dry milk (we like it thick like sour cream), and live cultures from the health food store. I use Yogourmet cultures with great results. We use a yogurt maker, just because it's pretty much a no brainer. I don't have to use thermometers, etc. Only problem is that it only makes 7 yogurts (and I have to save 1 for starter) so we go through each batch in 2 meals. I have not found a commercial yogurt (and I have tasted them all, including the greeks, goats, icelandic, organic from a cow named Betsy Lou--you get the idea) that comes close to the flavor and texture. The only one that we liked at all was Mountain High, and it's not available east of Wisconsin. With my yogurt, you can hold it upside down, and it stays put, no gelatin needed. Thick, rich and creamy. :)

Here's how I do it:

Put (3.5) 4 c. whole milk in a Pyrex, microwave 3 minutes (it was 3.5 in our weaker microwave). Add 2 yogurt containers of dry milk (about 1.5 cups) and whisk. Add a starter yogurt (if using, do 3.5 c. milk) or packet of cultures (use 4 c. milk). Whisk to blend well or use an immersion blender. Pour into yogurt jars on maker, cover and let culture for 8 hours. I have a cheapie lamp timer from the hardware store so it shuts off if I'm not around. If you leave it too heating long, it gets really sour.

Cover, refrigerate. Serve with honey, jam, or plain.

[DarkAnts]

OK :).

There are A LOT of recipes out there on crock potting it and such, but those have always given me sort of meh results.

I ended up using this method now: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/ ... 292.0.html

Instead of the oven, though, I pre-warm my crockpot to low, then pour it in there, turn it off, then cover with a big blanket for the night and let it sit.

I also add my yogurt starter to the milk at about 112F instead of 100F. Oh, and I omit the powdered milk, haven't noticed a difference.

The difference is in the high heating of the milk at the start, the crock pot recipes, it is too variable for that, also, you might add your cultures too early/late without using a thermometer.

The only specialized equipment you'll need is a cheapie dairy thermometer, which you can buy at http://www.cheesemaking.com fairly cheap. One batch and you'll make up the cost.

My kids and us eat so much yogurt that I make a 1 gal batch every week and it is gone :).

I use a dollar store candy thermometer for mine. The heating to a higher then 100-150 temp at the start will produce a thicker yogurt. But, there are many many ways to make it.

[DarkAnts]

Or http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/

for the heating pad method.

I have wormed up clean bricks in the oven and then wrapped them in towells so they slowly release the heat. That worked ok. One day, I decided to experiment with leaving my oven light on. I put a thermometer in there and watched the temp. My oven stayed relatively warm (around 100) but I like to keep the inoculated milk at around 110 for yogurt. I may try a mix of bricks and oven light this week and see how worm the oven stays.

[Little Miss Alien]

I'd love to make my own yoghurt, as I am also lactose intolerant. I can't have any cows milk products though. I do better with greek yoghurt, because of the lower lactose content due to the process of making it (letting all the whey out generally reduces the lactose content of dairy products eg. hard cheeses like parmesan and greek yoghurt, but products that remove the fat and leave much of the whey in eg. skimmed milk and low fat yoghurt, generally have a higher total lactose content because the lactose is disolved in the whey), but generally I have goat's milk and goat's yoghurt. I'm now tempted to see what the price of goat's milk is from our local farms, and whether they also do sheep's milk, so I can have a go myself.

ETA: Interestingly, I've been more lactose tolerant (or perhaps my insides are just less inflamed) since I've been on steroids for the past month (as I've just had a cornea transplant).

[DarkAnts]

I make yogurt because my husband and daughter are lactose intolerant.

When we lived in France, we found that Dr. Clarinetpower could eat cheese/butter if he had some french yogurt every day. Back in the US, commercial yogurts' cultures were not strong enough. Even the new ones on the market will only work for a couple of days, and then stop, but if he eats a few bites of my homemade yogurt, we can indulge in cheese, ice cream, butter, etc. with no worries. Our 4.5 year old daughter became lactose intolerant at 14 months, and she is the same way. She still won't drink milk (neither will he, both prefer soy), but she can have butter, cheese and ice cream. When we are on long trips, I can bring along Culterelle (after having them start it 2 weeks in advance) and it will work for a while, maybe 5 days, and then both have stomach cramps, bloating, etc. Nothing works like Mom's yogurt. ;)

We also prefer yogurt that does not have added gelatin, sugar, fruit, etc. Ours has 3 ingredients: local, whole milk, dry milk (we like it thick like sour cream), and live cultures from the health food store. I use Yogourmet cultures with great results. We use a yogurt maker, just because it's pretty much a no brainer. I don't have to use thermometers, etc. Only problem is that it only makes 7 yogurts (and I have to save 1 for starter) so we go through each batch in 2 meals. I have not found a commercial yogurt (and I have tasted them all, including the greeks, goats, icelandic, organic from a cow named Betsy Lou--you get the idea) that comes close to the flavor and texture. The only one that we liked at all was Mountain High, and it's not available east of Wisconsin. With my yogurt, you can hold it upside down, and it stays put, no gelatin needed. Thick, rich and creamy. :)

Here's how I do it:

Put (3.5) 4 c. whole milk in a Pyrex, microwave 3 minutes (it was 3.5 in our weaker microwave). Add 2 yogurt containers of dry milk (about 1.5 cups) and whisk. Add a starter yogurt (if using, do 3.5 c. milk) or packet of cultures (use 4 c. milk). Whisk to blend well or use an immersion blender. Pour into yogurt jars on maker, cover and let culture for 8 hours. I have a cheapie lamp timer from the hardware store so it shuts off if I'm not around. If you leave it too heating long, it gets really sour.

Cover, refrigerate. Serve with honey, jam, or plain.

For thicker yogurt without powdered milk, try heating it up to 185 to 190 for 30 min. The heating denatures the proteins and causes them to clump together better.