Trying to make yogurt with an Instant Pot

                Apparently there is always more to learn about yogurt. I was recently gifted an exciting kitchen gadget—an instant pot with a yogurt setting! I was so excited to try it, and on that weekend I made a batch of yogurt. Because I had always depended on a thermometer to make yogurt, I tested the temperature of the milk and yogurt throughout the process. After heating the milk, the temperature was only 165⁰ F. I tried to rerun that setting, but it would not heat much further, so I used the regular slow cook function to get the milk to 180⁰ F. Then, I cooled the milk as I usually do, added the starter, and set the machine to the fermenting setting for 14 hours. As soon as it beeped to let me know it was finished, I checked the temperature, and it was below 100⁰ F. The texture was much thinner than I get when the yogurt ferments at 155⁰ F. The yogurt still tasted good, but it was not quite the texture I was hoping for. 

                I contacted the Instant Pot customer support, and their answers were not particularly helpful. I am still unclear if they intended the Instant Pot to ferment yogurt at below 100⁰ F or if the pot does not work as it is supposed to. At one point they offered to send me a new heating element, but I want to see if I can get it to work well enough with the one I have first. I am going to try to ferment it for 18 hours to see if fermenting it for longer can make up for the lower temperature and still result in a thick yogurt.

Instant Pot yogurt

MIlk

        I was never a big milk drinker, but because I now make yogurt, I go through a lot of milk. I use one and a half gallons in a batch of yogurt, and easily a half gallon or more for cereal and such. More than a year ago, I discovered that milk at National Wholesale Liquidators was $2.50. That was pretty awesome because it was around $4.00 in other stores. Last Wednesday, I was in NWL to get milk, but they had none, so I decided I would go back on Saturday night when I actually planned to make yogurt. But alas, it was not meant to be. As I approached the parking lot on Saturday night, things looked unusual. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot. Then I saw a large sign that said, “Everything is 20-60% off.” A bit more unusual and suspicious. I parked and started walking towards the doors, and then I saw the sign that said, “Store Closing.” I ended getting milk from another nearby grocery store, but this, unfortunately, will be the end of cheap milk for me.

Some yogurt troubles

            I have not written in a while, but let’s try to get back into it.

I recently made a failed yogurt. It seemed to be all right when it was done fermenting, but then it unexpectedly spoiled faster than any prior batch. I looked into potential causes of this, and I found that this can be caused by contaminated yogurt starter, improper storage of the finished yogurt, or the yogurt itself getting contaminated. It definitely was a bit discouraging, and I was disappointed to have to throw out about a third of a gallon of yogurt, but I am hoping it was a one-time fluke of the yogurt getting contaminated. Last night I made another batch, and it will be ready in a few hours. I hope I will have better yogurt this time.

I have been mostly using my yogurt in overnight oats that I eat for breakfast. I have also been using it to make a really quick homemade pizza dough that has been a favorite. I have also frozen leftover pizza dough for later use, and it froze, defrosted, and baked really well. I love decorating the pizza with all sorts of vegetables, especially onions, peppers, and mushrooms…yum…

Other exciting uses of yogurt are always fun to discover. It is such a versatile ingredient that can add protein and calcium to your diet.

How to choose a healthy yogurt

Regular yogurt have around 6 grams of protein per serving, but Greek yogurts can have up to 17 grams per serving. This makes it a great source of protein and it can be the protein source for your meal. Protein helps contribute to feelings of satiety after a meal, so it’s important to always have protein at a meal

Some yogurts have a lot of added sugar, often listed as various names such as sugar, cane sugar, fruit juice, juice concentrate, and honey. Plain yogurts, while they do contain the sugar naturally found in milk called lactose, they do not have any added sugars. You can add your own fresh or frozen fruit to yogurt for a sweeter treat.

Yogurts with live and active cultures contain probiotics. These are bacterial species that are good for health and can help promote adequate quantities of good bacteria so bad bacteria can’t flourish too much. Look for a package that says "live and active cultures" or lists the bacterial species in the ingredients. 

Yogurt contains calcium, which we need for our bone health. Regular yogurt actually has more calcium than Greek yogurt, because some calcium is lost when the whey is strained out to turn regular yogurt into Greek yogurt.

Spreading the (yogurt) joy

                I visited my parents for a weekend recently, and I made them a batch of yogurt. I tried out the double boiler method to prevent the the milk from burning and sticking to the bottom of the pot. They have a larger supply of pots than I do, so it was a good place to try this! I did stir the milk occasionally, but I never once began to feel burnt milk building up on the bottom. This definitely is a good idea in order to make yogurt-making a more hands-off project. I left the milk on the stove, and whenever I happened to pass through the kitchen, I stirred it. Once I inoculated it with starter yogurt, I left the milk incubating between two pots of boiling water covered in towels and went back home. I asked my mother to put it in the fridge the next morning. But before she did, she added it to her breakfast smoothie! After the yogurt was transferred to a container, I received a report that there was no burnt milk stuck to the bottom. 

the milk is in the top pot, and water is in the bottom pot

in a container

Salmon burger dinner....of course I got yogurt in there too.

                Usually, Sunday is when I have the most time to prepare more time-consuming dinners. Last week I made turkey burgers, so my mind was still on the burger idea, and I was thinking that I had not made salmon patties in a while. So that became the plan. Make the salmon patties and prepare homemade buns.

                Credits to my mother fot the salmon burger recipe. In a bowl, I mixed together a can of salmon with the bones removed, 2 eggs, ½ cup oats, 1 finely diced carrot, 1 finely diced celery, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, seasoned salt, onion powder, and pepper. I left that in the fridge overnight and then rolled and flattened them into 8 patties the next night. Instead of frying them, I baked them for a total of 30 minutes, turning them over after about 20 minutes.

               

                I wanted to make whole wheat buns, and I found this recipe that used mostly whole wheat flour. I did not fully follow the instructions. I allowed the dough to rise for 1 hour after mixing, and then again for 30 minutes after I shaped them into 12 rolls. Next time I make this recipe, I think I will try to make the rolls more flat/less round, so that they are not as tall when they are finished baking. This is the link to the recipe I used. 

                On Monday night, when the salmon burgers were baking, I decided that I should make a sauce to go on the burgers. And since I love yogurt, I decided to make a yogurt sauce. I combined about 1 cup yogurt with a few small squirts of lemon juice, about ½ tsp salt, and 2 cloves of diced garlic.

                To assemble the sandwiches, layer in this order: bottom bun, salmon burger, spoon of yogurt sauce, slice of tomato, scallions, and top bun. Yummmm….

putting on the "lid" and getting ready to eat!

Yogurt Routine

                I have gotten into a pretty good yogurt-making routine by now. The whole process takes many hours, but it is mostly hands-off. One area I’ve been having trouble with is heating the milk without burning it. If I do not stir the milk often enough while it is heating, it starts to burn to the bottom. Once, the burnt milk pieces come off the bottom of the pot while mixing the milk, and I ended up with little burnt flecks floating around the milk. To solve that problem, I strained the milk through a cloth to remove all of the burnt particles. I was glad that worked and I did not have to waste an entire gallon and a half of milk!

                I have read suggestions of methods to prevent burning the milk. They include heating the milk on a double boiler, stirring frequently, using a low flame, or heating it in a microwave. Until I invest in a very large double boiler, I will just have to be more careful about stirring the milk often, and of course not using a high flame.

                Even though I have made many batches of yogurt since I started making it a few months ago, I always am excited to see the results in the morning. For some reason, I am constantly surprised that the milk has yogurted!

looks like a science experiment...waiting for the milk to cool to 115⁰ F before adding the yogurt starter. 

the milk wrapped with a pot of boiling water on either side to keep it incubated all night 

it yogurted! you can see that it is thick because I am holding the pot tilted and the yogurt is keeping its shape

Another yogurt dilemma, this time it's a pizza solution!

                It was again a moment of too much yogurt in the house. Again a question of how to put it in other dishes. I saw a video about pizza dough made out of yogurt and flour, so I decided to give it a try. The recipe called for equal parts of self-rising flour and yogurt; then, you add flour as needed until you have a dough. I did not have self-rising flour, but quick research showed me that adding 1.5 tsp baking powder and 0.5 tsp salt to 1 cup of all purpose flour will make it into self-rising flour.

                I started with 2 cups of flour, to which I added the baking powder and salt. Then I added the yogurt and started mixing. I had to add a lot more flour because the dough was too sticky. I think that this could be remedied by using Greek rather than regular yogurt, or straining my homemade yogurt to remove more of the whey and make it thicker. I’ll try straining my yogurt next time I make this pizza dough. Anyway, I kneaded my dough until it looked like pizza dough.

I divided the dough into 3 balls and rolled each one out on a foil-covered toaster tray that I lightly greased with canola oil. Instead of using sauce, I spooned on some canned diced tomatoes (leaving the liquid in the can.) Then I sprinkled on some cheese and topped it with assorted vegetables. My favorite vegetables for decorating pizza are onions, mushrooms, colored peppers, and zucchini. It is a good way to add vegetables to themeal, and of course, they add so much flavor to the pizza. I like to sprinkle the top with oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder for some more yumminess.

After baking the first pizza in the toaster oven at 375⁰ for 20 minutes, the crust looked browned and the vegetables were getting toasted. I cut the pizza and I saw that the dough had gotten soggy from the vegetables, though it was clearly cooked through. For my second pizza, I upped the temperature to 400⁰, and the result was better. The dough was firmer and the vegetables were fully roasted. I will try par-cooking the dough for 10 minutes before adding the toppings next time I make this...I think that might work even better.

Definitely the second pizza tasted better, though they both looked nice. This recipe was a good idea, but I think that with a bit of tweaking for the recipe and cooking, I’ll have a better pizza next try.

it became dough!

all rolled out

got the diced tomatoes and cheese

and some decorations

out of the toaster....(note that the decorations don't match the prior picture...this was the second pizza. that one was the first.)

now I cut it into slices

Yogurt Dilemma, Pancake Solution

                I had a yogurt problem. I had about 4 quarts of yogurt left, and the weekend was approaching. It was my yogurt-making weekend. What do I do with the extra yogurt? Well, I gave about 2 quarts to my grandmother who enjoys yogurt. Then it was time for creativity. I looked online for recipes that called for yogurt. A pancake recipe came up right away. Of course I was going to make pancakes. This was the yummy recipe I found, and I was ready to go!

                I like that the recipe was not super-sweet and did not call for butter. And they were so fluffy! As I was frying them, I realized that I could use less oil than I had originally used...aiming to make them less greasy. I have yet to master the perfectly light brown pancakes—you’ll see the darker color of these—but they were delicious. I wonder how they would have tasted with whole wheat flour.

my first pancakes on the stove while my milk for my new batch of yogurt is heating

some pancakes

some more pancakes

yummmm... yes, I did put some sugar on my pancake...we had no syrup! 

Homemade Applesauce...Yum!

                I enjoy preparing my own food rather than buying things I can make myself. There are a few reasons for this. First, I actually enjoy preparing food. Second, I usually can make a healthier version of common packaged goods. And finally, I can often make the food for a lot cheaper than what it would cost to buy it in a store—though there is the increased cost associated with the time it takes me to make it. But again, usually I am enjoying myself in the kitchen.

                One food that I have been making a lot recently is homemade applesauce. Yes, it does take time to peel a bunch of apples. Yes, it does take time to chop them up. And yes, you have to occasionally mix it while it is simmering to make sure it does not burn. But it comes out so yummy and sweet, and it has no sugar!

                Here is how you do it. This will make a large-ish batch

1. Peel, core, and dice 8 medium or 4 humongous apples.
2. Put the diced apples into a large pot.
3. Add enough water to fill up to half the height of the apples.
4. You can add a cinnamon stick at this point. Then, you will get yummy cinnamon flavor and retain the light color. Or you can skip the cinnamon stick, and it will still taste delicious. 
5. Simmer on a low flame, stirring occasionally until the apples are soft enough that they mush when touched with a spoon and there is barely any water left.
6. Remove from heat and stir well until the apples become applesauce texture.

                One of my favorite ways to eat applesauce is on my oatmeal. It gives it plenty of sweetness without adding extra sugar.

 

you can barely see the oatmeal, but it is under the (homemade) yogurt and applesauce

                

What to do With Yogurt

• Mix in some frozen fruit (they get nice and juicy as they defrost)
• Spoon over oatmeal instead of adding milk
• Chop in your favorite fresh fruit or add fresh berries (mango, banana, strawberries, blueberries…)
• Add in ¼ cup nuts or seeds
• Use as base for a creamy salad dressing or dip
• Mix in fruit and freeze for a yummy cold treat
• Add to mac and cheese instead of adding extra cheese to add creaminess
• Use thick yogurt instead of cream cheese in frosting
• Add to a smoothie
• Swirl in a spoonful of nut butter
• Use instead of mayonnaise in egg salad or tuna fish
• Add ¼ cup raisins, dried cranberries, or your favorite dried fruit
• Sprinkle with some cinnamon or coconut flakes
• Serve with dry cereal such as Cheerios, Chex, or Grapenuts
• Add ½ cup dry oats and 1 cup milk and leave in fridge overnight for overnight oats
• Stir in some jelly or jam
• Drizzle with honey, syrup, or some sugar
• Add some applesauce or fruit compote
• Serve over warm pureed butternut squash
• Use as a spread on toast
• Eat it plain

Lots of Yogurt

                Because my small batch of yogurt was fairly successful, I was ready to try a larger run. I bought a gallon of 1% milk from my favorite National Wholesale Liquidators that sells milk for $3.00 usually. I had in the fridge Stop and Shop brand low fat yogurt that contained live and active bacterial cultures. And I was ready!

                This time, I heated my milk up in a crockpot. It took close to 4 hours for the milk to reach 185⁰F. Then, somewhat foolishly, I attempted to cool the milk by immersing it into a sink filled with cold water. Big mistake! Immediately, the crock developed a hairline crack. I quickly, (with the help of SP,) transferred the milk into 2 cooking dishes, and then let them cool on their own. Unfortunately, I let them cool to lower than 115⁰F, so I put them into the oven to warm them back to that temperature. In the meantime, I put about ½ cup of the yogurt to be used as the starter into a bowl. As soon as the milk was 115⁰F, I mixed about 1 cup milk into the yogurt, and then poured half the starter into each of the 2 cooking dished. I covered the dishes, then draped them with a blanket, and put 2 pots of boiling water on top to help maintain the warm temperature. I let the yogurt incubate for 8 hours. Then, I strained the yogurt for about 2 hours.

                I was intrigued that the yogurt from each of the dishes came out different than each other. The one in the shallow pan incubated at a lower temperature (likely due to the increased surface area it had to let heat escape.) That yogurt was a bit thinner, maybe a tad thinner than typical yogurt, but still definitely a yogurt consistency. The other one was much thicker, closer to Greek yogurt consistency. And both of the yogurts tasted like…yogurt! It was not too tart. It just tasted like plain yogurt. And none of the slightly grainy texture I had in my first one. It made about 4 quarts of yogurt, which means that it costed about $0.75 to make 1 quart of yogurt. I was pleased.  

Now, I have to find another method of heating my milk. I might get a large pot to be used for just this purpose. 

thicker yogurt before straining

thinner yogurt before straining

the yogurts straining!

thick yogurt after straining...it looks like yogurt, right?

My Yogurt Adventure

                I did it! I successfully prepared homemade yogurt. (See my post from last wee about my yogurt plan.) Props to my parents for allowing this adventure to happen in their home with their milk. They did not have yogurt to use as a starter, so shout out to YT and family for sharing with me a spoonful of Stonyfield Organic plain yogurt.

                This is what I did:

1. Find a thermometer. I had one, and then discovered that the battery was dead. Replaced the battery.
2. Pour 12oz Pride of the Farm lowfat milk into top of double boiler.
   
3. Heat milk to 180⁰F. Keep checking temperature with thermometer until it is just right.
4. Keep milk on lowest flame to maintain the milk at that temperature for about 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let set milk pot in ice bath until temperature is 115⁰F. Keep checking temperature with thermometer until it is just right.
   
6. Add a bit of the milk to the spoonful of yogurt that is in a bowl at room temperature.
   
   
7. Transfer warm milk to insulated hot cup.
   
8. Pour the milk-yogurt starter mixture in.
9. Seal cup and put it in hot water bath. The water was about 125⁰F.
   
10. Wrap in towels to keep it insulated. 
    
11. Over the next 3 hours, I checked the temperature of the water bath twice and added more hot water to bring the temperature back up to 125⁰F. After that, I just let it sit undisturbed overnight.
12. After a total of 16 hours, I opened up the incubated milk.
    
13. I secured a thin rag over the top of a container and strained the yogurt through it for about 1 hour. I was left with some whey in the container. 
    

                I would definitely call this a success! The flavor was not too tart as I feared it would be after reading so much ahead of time. It did not taste like any yogurt I had eaten before, but it definitely tasted like yogurt! There was a slightly grainy texture to it, which from my reading may have to do with heating the milk too rapidly or moving the yogurt too much while it incubates. I will try to heat it slower next time and then leave it to peacefully incubate.

                 Anyone else want to try this? 

My Yogurt Plan

I have been reading up on yogurt. That is, making yogurt at home. I enjoy yogurt as part of my breakfast every day, and I was wondering if there was a cheaper way to have yogurt. I saw an advertisement for a yogurt maker, and a whole new world that I never knew existed was opened to me! My first though was to purchase a yogurt maker. Many different companies make them, and they are at a few different price points. Then, as my research progressed, I discovered that yogurt makers do not actually make your yogurt for you. Most of them are merely a warming device. They maintain the yogurt at a constant temperature to promote the growth of the bacteria that have been added to the previously heated milk. My further reading led me to discover that there are other methods of incubating yogurt that do not involve a special device. And besides, where would I store it??

Disclaimer: I have not made yogurt yet. It is on my agenda though. Perhaps it will work. Perhaps it will require some tweaking before I get it right. This is my plan: I will use my second, not yet used, crockpot to incubate my yogurt. I might have to try it a few times until I can get the temperature settings correct. But I am getting ahead of myself. Do you want to know how it is done? Well, I will tell you.

1. Heat 2 quarts milk to 180⁰ F and maintain milk at this temperature for about 5 minutes (I plan to use a thermometer)
2. Cool milk to 110-115⁰ F (again, I’ll need the thermometer)
3. Pour about 1 cup of milk into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of yogurt that contain live active cultures, and gently mix
4. Pour yogurt-milk mixture back into milk
5. Incubate milk at 110-115 ⁰ F for 8-24 hours (I think this might be the hardest part) Once this time is up, the milk should have thickened into yogurt
6. Now put in in the fridge to cool
7. Eat!! (the best part hopefully)

From my extensive reading, there are some issues that can come up. Sometimes, the milk does not thicken into yogurt. This can happen if the yogurt with the bacteria is added before the milk cools to 110-115⁰ F, because the bacteria will be killed from heat at higher temperatures. It can also remain liquidy if the yogurt cools below temperature while incubating, because the bacteria need that warm temperature to multiply. It also seems that homemade yogurt is typically thinner than the store bought varieties, as sometimes companies add thickeners. This can be remedied by straining the yogurt through a cheese cloth or stirring in powdered milk to the milk while heating.

So this is my proposal to myself: Brendel, make some yogurt! It might take some experimenting until I get good yogurt. I will keep you updated. Also, I still owe you my margarine-less sugar cookie recipe…I haven’t forgotten!

If any of you have made yogurt before, please let me know your experiences and any tips you have.

Is breakfast really that important?

                Maybe it is. Is it the most important meal of the day? I’d say not. I think that any time we eat is important in some sense. There is research that shows that people who eat breakfast weigh less. That is not to say that breakfast will make you lose weight—perhaps eating breakfast is a behavior that people who weigh less tend to do. It is also not clear that breakfast “jumpstarts” your metabolism, as many believe. It does take energy to digest your food, but a lot less energy than is actually in the food. I have not found any studies that show that people who eat breakfast have faster metabolisms. I definitely encourage my patients to eat breakfast. The main reason is that it gives us energy to start the day. And you can eat such yummy foods for breakfast…such as oatmeal.

                On that note, here are my favorite ways to eat oatmeal. Please post additional oatmeal suggestions in the comments below!

• ½ cup oats + 1 cup water, cook on stove top. Pour into bowl. Add 1 Tbsp natural peanut butter (that is peanut butter that has only peanuts OR peanuts and salt as the ingredients.) Stir the peanut butter in.
• ½ cup oats + 1 cup water, cook on stove top. Pour oatmeal into bowl. Add to pot ¼ cup of applesauce; when warmed, pour over oats. Add ¼ cup cottage cheese.
• ½ cup oats + 1 cup water, cook on stove top. Pour into bowl. Add ½ cup yogurt. (Greek yogurt will provide more protein and regular yogurt will provide more calcium)
• Put ½ cup oats, 1 cup soy milk, ¼ cup water, and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon into a container. Leave in refrigerator overnight. (You can also use regular milk. I happen to not prefer the flavor of regular milk.) This is best eaten on the NYC subway, especially on the uptown A train.
• Other options are to combine a few of the toppings listed in the different recipes here onto one bowl of oatmeal. It will probably also taste delish!