Yo! Make your own Yogurt!

Making your own yogurt couldn't be easier than this!  I've been making my own homemade yogurt for years now.  One of my best friends in the whole world is from India and always has the best yogurt on hand. I saw her once make a milky concoction one night only to see her sneak off, wrap up the bowl in a blanket and carry it off to bed, literally. Ok, not really, but she did put the incubating yogurt under her bed and when I asked her why, she said it was because it would be warm there and keeping your yogurt warm, wrapped up like a baby is a key to making excellent quality yogurt.

I found that my counter space in the kitchen tends to be fairly warm and is adequate for culturing the yogurt overnight but I got so into making yogurt that I purchased two electric yogurt makers which holds the temperature steady at exactly 110 degrees F, which I later found to be the real key to yogurt success. Yogurt needs about 12-18 hours of incubation or culturing time to allow the yogurt cultures to activate and grow.  Having a unit with very low energy requirements to keep the yogurt at the perfect temperature gives me peace of mind because of where I live. Sometimes, it is a little chilly up here. :)

The family size model I own, the Tribest Yolife Yogurt Maker shown in the picture above, is great for making more than one batch of yogurt at a time.  I like this model a lot because I found that you could use cold milk and it still worked perfectly versus heating the milk to just below 180 degrees on the stove, which activates the yogurt cultures. However, to avoid any texture issues from using a cold starter in a warm maker, I found that warming the milk properly will ensure success every time.

Later, I purchased the Easiyo Yogurt Maker.  I mean, what if you wanted to make yogurt while camping or during a power outage or heck, if you are on a budget and want to cut down on electrical appliances? That is where the EasiYo comes in. Now, it doesn't make better yogurt, it just makes yogurt without using an electric appliance, which speaks to me on an energy conservation level, so I bought this one in the picture and gave it a try.  My purchase included the Easiyo kit, which you can find on Amazon for around $25-30, including shipping.  I eventually splurged on a second set of interior canisters so that I could make one batch of yogurt right after the other without waiting for us to eat and empty the interior canister first before making the next batch.  

You can buy their yogurt packets, too, but I prefer to do it the old fashioned way and use fresh yogurt as a starter instead of the packets. Although for ease and the sake of learning, the packets really are a foolproof introduction.  Should you choose to hybridize the method and use fresh yogurt starter, you can try my method below and see if it works for you.  Full instructions for Easiyo can be found here.

• Get a pint of Dannon plain yogurt (not non-fat or low fat, it has to be full fat lol! trust me) and it HAS to be Dannon or any other plain yogurt that has NOTHING but milk and yogurt cultures. I use Dannon because it doesn't have any other additives or preservatives and the cultures are live, which is important. If you buy Dannon, you will make perfect yogurt.
• Take about a cup of yogurt and put it in the canister that fits inside the pink thermos.  
• Fill the rest of the canister nearly to the top with milk warmed to just hot to the touch (110 degrees F is ideal) but not boiling. Leave a tiny bit of air space, about a 1/2 inch, so you can shake it up without it exploding from the confined steam and heat with the top on the canister, of course. 
• Shake it up to mix it well. 
• Make sure the plastic "riser" is inside the pink thermos. The yogurt canister rests on top of this. 
• Add hot water (hot to the touch) to the thermos. There is a fill line in the thermos that will tell you how high the hot water should be. This creates a thermal water bath for incubating the yogurt and keeping the temperature steady.
• Put the canister in the pink thermos with the hot water and the water should rise to be about halfway up the canister of yogurt, which is enough.
• Put the lid on the pink(or whatever color you have) thermos and leave the whole thing to sit out overnight on the kitchen counter.
• Next day, take the canister out and refrigerate. If you're curious, open it and look at it. Does it look set? If so, refrigerate, if not, leave it on the counter for a few more hours.

I use the large YoLife maker the most because we do eat that much yogurt but for smaller batches, the EasiYo is really super.  By the way, I did test the YoLife temperature over the course of 12 hours recently and found that it did a superb job of keeping the temperature steady at exactly 110 degrees, which is the ideal temperature for setting up yogurt.

If you do want Greek style yogurt, you simply strain the fresh yogurt overnight in a yogurt strainer such as the Donvier one I have. This allows more whey to drain out of the yogurt which creates that classic thick texture. The more you strain, the thicker it gets. 

If you want to flavor your yogurt, always make plain yogurt first and then add your jams, honey or other flavorings after the yogurt has been made and strained. Flavorings are added to yogurt after the process is complete. If you add them in the beginning, the yogurt cultures cannot activate properly which is why flavored yogurt or yogurts that "cheat" by adding pectin and other gelatins to thicken them will NOT work as yogurt starters.

I am not promoting Amazon, but I do price comparison shopping there and have a shipping account with a Prime membership which saves me a lot on shipping and usually provides 2 day shipping for free.  If I can find these items locally, I will usually make the effort to buy them locally but it's not always feasible. That is what Amazon is for!  It should be noted that Target now carries the Tribest Yogurt Maker, which is awesome.

Vermont Cheddar Bread

Another awesome recipe from the local bakers who wrote Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day!  This is a variation on the master boule recipe that incorporates Vermont cheddar. Now, I happen to love Vermont cheddar and my sister has to have it over-nighted to get her aged cheddar fix; who can really blame her?  We love Tillamook, so we used Tillamook, but being a Midwesterner, we can really dig into some local Wisconsin cheddar, too. It's all about what you have around or what lengths you will go for something you really cherish. Cheese, in my family, is one such staple that falls into the true love category. Try to take a piece of cheese from a child in this family and you will witness some tantrum activity, no lie.

Let's proceed.

The recipe:

• 1 cup of your favorite cheddar, preferably without the Orange Glow of unnaturalness (no color added)
• 3 cups of lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

A Rant About Orange Cheese:
I like my cheese natural. Un-oranged, if you will. Most people don't realize that cheese isn't and shouldn't, be orange in color.  To get the orange cheddar most Americans are familiar with, food coloring is usually added to the cheese.  I don't like it, doesn't make sense (must investigate) and more importantly, it doesn't add anything to the flavor or appearance. Having said that, because of that, you should feel free to use it if you like it. If you like orange cheese, use it! And yes, I know Tillamook has orange cheddar, but we prefer their Black Label Aged Reserve White Cheddar and this is what needs to be sent priority mail to my sister from time to time because she can't get it where she lives and my Costco carries it year round. So we've struck a deal: I will mail her cheese and she will mail me lemons from her coveted and worshiped lemon tree.

General Dough-Dos:
I just put everything in the Kitchenaid and pulsed slowly until it was incorporated. I then put the whole mass in a 6 quart storage container and let it rise on the counter for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. I punched the dough down (for me this step is a must or it will explode in the fridge as it continues to rise, but see for yourself ;) and then put it in the fridge until I was ready to use it.  My dough for this recipe was 2 days old and made 10 huge rolls.

General Baking Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for about 30 minutes, depending on the shape of your bread and oven temperature. You should also have a baking stone or cookie sheet preheating on the middle shelf, with another baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch the water you will add to create steam when baking the bread.  This step is pretty important and I know because I've tried it with and without. With steam, creates the right result. Without, it is still good, but the crust will be missing that crackle pop that makes this bread oh so good!

This bread can be baked like a loaf but I chose to tear off chunks, roll palm size balls and let them rest for about an hour or so before baking to let them rise.  I rest the dough on a pizza peel heavily dusted with flour, but cornmeal is probably better to make it easier to slide them off onto the baking stone at bake-time.

Some Tricks to Employ, a Pep Talk:
When your oven is ready, prepare yourself by getting a cup of hot tap water ready to pour onto the bottom tray. This piece will take a bit of practice, so go slow and don't worry if you make a mess the first time.  I have a trick of making sure that the bottom cookie sheet is pulled slightly to one side of the oven so that you can dump your water in the edge of the "steam pan" without freaking yourself out, but as long as you get the bread on the stone, the water in the steam pan and shut the door without burning yourself, you are in business.

You will want to a) slide the rolls into the oven on the hot baking stone or middle cookie sheet and b) as quickly and safely as you can, dump the hot water onto the bottom cookie sheet and quickly close the door to capture the steam. "Quickly" is a relative term and safety should always come first, but the idea is to capture as much steam as possible before shutting the oven door. Do it in two steps if you must, closing the oven door, gathering muster, what have you... opening the door and dumping the water the last thing before setting your timer for 30 minutes. And of course, goes without saying, but your cookie sheet should have edges, right?  Otherwise, you're a right goof!

**It may not be so easy to "slide" the rolls and if they stick, help them off the pizza peel and arrange them on the stone. Mine didn't slide so well so I'll use cornmeal next time to make it easier to get them off, but no worries, if yours stick to your peel like mine did, just push them off with your fingers and arrange them as best you can for baking.  Mine became a little misshapen, but who cares? They were still perfect and yummy to me.  Don't forget to dump the water into the bottom pan to create steam before shutting the door and setting the timer!**

This recipe is indeed, a keeper. Seems to be a theme, huh?

Cookbook Recommendation and Credits:
Seriously, buy the cookbook by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg, MD. (I will add a link to the Amazon book as a sidebar; note to self. :)