Homemade Yogurt

There was a time when I could not tolerate plain yogurt. I thought it tasted awful - sour and pungent.

Subsequently, after changing my way of eating, my tastebuds also changed. It started with me having the courage to taste unflavored milk kefir. I was very surprised that I found it not only pleasant, but delicious.

So I tried plain yogurt. And I did not dislike it. I started out with Farm Fresh plain yogurt. Why Farm Fresh? Because all the other local yogurts on the market are fat-free/low fat.

 It was very frustrating looking for full fat yogurt.

Besides most of them have "too many ingredients" - stabilizers and preservatives.

Then I felt a little bit extravagant. One day I bought imported yogurt because it is full fat and does not contain any other ingredients except for the live cultures.

Bulla cost RM8.20 and oh my it was so creamy and so good!

Brownes cost RM13.90 but at the moment Jaya Grocer is having a promotion so I got it at RM10.99. This yogurt is also creamy and delicious without the overly tart taste.

As you can see, in terms of ingredients, it does not contain stabilizers, emulsifiers or preservatives - only milk, cream and live cultures.

These imported yogurts are pricey due to our weak foreign exchange rate. So I cannot consume these foreign brands regularly. The solution?

Meet my new new toy. Although I already own a yogurt maker, I decided to replace it because the inner pot of the old one was made of plastic (and it was already more than 10 years old).

This new one, the inner pot is made of stainless steel.

I figured that since I consume yogurt on a regular basis, I might as well invest in a yogurt maker. Homemade is better, no?

It is actually very easy to make your own yogurt. Since I enjoyed the Brownes yogurt so much, I figured if I used that yogurt as a starter, I might achieve that taste I so enjoyed.

But first, I needed to look for milk. Full fat milk. I have watched many videos on Youtube where they boil the milk, and cool it down before making yogurt. I tried that and it was so tedious.

So the solution is to use UHT milk since the ultra high heat would have killed off all if not most of the bacteria naturally present in the milk (so it would not compete with the live yogurt culture).

I used this Pauls pure full cream milk. Not because I think imported is better, but sometimes it is hah..hah... This carton cost RM9.29 but I got a discount of RM2.30 at Jaya Grocer. So this cost me RM6.99.

Another reason (besides full cream) why I chose this brand is because there is only one ingredient - whole milk (as it should be).

Let me show you another brand and the reason why I did not choose it.

Look at the ingredients.

It has other stuff (chemical stabilizers and emulsifiers) besides (recombined) milk.

This was my starter, Brownes yogurt.

I poured 800ml of milk into a measuring jug. Why 800ml and not the whole carton? Because the yogurt maker can only accommodate 850 ml (and not 1 liter as advertised >.<)

Then I poured a little bit of the milk into another small container and added 50ml (about two tablespoons, no need to be exact) of the yogurt into the milk.

Then stir to combine evenly.  It is easier (and more effective) to do it like this rather than mixing the starter directly into the big measuring jug.

After that, pour the mixture into the measuring jug and stir some more to evenly distribute the yogurt culture into the milk.

Then pour the mixture into the inner pot of the yogurt maker. Then stir again.

Cover with the lid and place the inner pot into the yogurt maker and switch it on.

Now, about the yogurt maker. As you can see, I had to place it on top of an inverted corningware because the power cord is ridiculously short.

Besides, I had to bring it to the hardware shop to have the two pin plug replaced with a three pin plug. But it was worth it.

At the 6 hour mark, the yogurt had already formed and was thick and creamy. It did not taste tart and was pleasantly mild. 

But I let it go on for another 2 hours so that the sugar (lactose) in the milk is broken down further by the bacteria and also to allow the bacteria to multiply even further. So in total, it took 8 hours.

See, the yogurt is nice, thick and smooth. When I made yogurt previously using the old yogurt maker (boiled the milk etc and used local milk/yogurt) the result was not good - it separated into curds and whey and was lumpy.

Upon tasting, this homemade yogurt was slightly tart and so creamy, just like the Brownes yogurt. Woohoo!!! The next batch of yogurt will be made using this existing yogurt as a starter.

Now, what happened to the excess 200ml of milk that couldn't fit into the yogurt maker?

Well, I poured the milk into a small glasslock container, mixed in one teaspoon of yogurt and stirred to mix.

Then I placed the container into a small rice cooker and poured hot (not boiling) water into the pot (about halfway up the glasslock container) and placed the lid of the rice cooker. No, I did not switch on the rice cooker.

This was left for 8 hours along with the yogurt maker.

Lo and behold! It worked like a charm. Which means that you do not have to use a yogurt maker to make yogurt.

Once the yogurt is set like this, I kept the containers in the fridge. The yogurt tasted even better once chilled.

As I understand it, commercial yogurt is not fermented for too long (only 4-6 hours it seems) and therefore is not as beneficial since the bacterial count is lower and it will still contain a fair amount of lactose.

From now I will make my own make my own yogurt since it is so easy and cost effective.