Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Slacker Yogurt

Ah, making yogurt. The idea has a certain wheat-between-the-teeth je ne sais quoi to it. An act of love and labor that folks chained to their computers for 10 or more hours a day have been known to fantasize about... Well, I did, at least. I admit it. Sheesh. So I figured a little reseach was in order. How hard could it be? Some milk, some starter, a little mixy-mixy, some heat -- and voila! Yogurt! Right? Right?

A quick search on the Web turned up far more scientific hoo-ha than I was interested in. After assembling enough information to write a microbiology primer, I began to wear down. Sterilized canning jars with tight fitting lids and candy thermometers, foamy scalded milk (oof, think of the pot scrubbing) and constant vigilance over curd-forming temperatures achieved in hot water filled coolers or carefully monitored ovens (yes, Dad, it sounds like math to me), lactobacillus, streptococcus (hey, is that last one correct?) and other dangerous sounding microorganisms capable of multiplying ad infinitum behind your back... argh. Noooo. If there's anything I abhor, it's, errr - it's a pain in the ass.

When I saw the Amazon.com link to the sassy little Salton yogurt maker, I clicked it, albeit sheepishly, and chop-chop. $13.79 for a little pot-n-lid-consistent-temperature thingy that would make a quart of 'gurt. Hey, now that's more like it! But, gee, I wanted to do it the pioneer way, and my conscience got the better of me even as I read the rave reviews from yogurt makers from Michigan to California.

Then, out of the haze, the following recipe appeared, instantly piqueing my slacker interest and conjuring visions of mellow, sweet yogurt made from organic milk and daintily topped with errr, wild blueberries gathered by flower children and ahhhm, honey from free range bees. Yeah. (C'mon, I live in Berkeley, and about 300 yards from Berkeley Bowl at that.)

So without further ado, I present to you this recipe, from a fellow self-confessed lazy arse from San Francisco:

"Making yogurt basically involves mixing milk with a "starter" (usually plain, unpasteurized yogurt) and keeping it at a temperature where the "good" bacteria will multiply and turn the rest of the milk into yogurt. Everything needs to be really clean so you don't introduce "bad" bacteria into the mix. Other methods I had heard about involved scalding the milk and sterilizing the containers and everything else -- sounded like a pain. But I found a method that works really well for lazy people like me, with no scalding and no sterilization, and no special equipment: Get a quart-size carton of milk and some yogurt, both at room temperature. Open the milk carton, pour some out to make room in the carton, and add 1/2 c. of plain yogurt with live cultures (like Straus Creamery or Dannon plain yogurt). Close up the carton again, clip shut, and shake it gently to mix up the milk and yogurt. As for the milk you poured out (you saved it right?), that's going to be your starter for the next batch, so add a couple teaspoons of yogurt to that, give it a good stir, and cover tightly. Get an old (but clean!) bath towel and wrap both in it. Place on a cookie sheet and place in 110 degree F oven. "Bake" at 110 degrees overnight - around 12 hours - remove from oven and refrigerate. Perfect European-style yogurt! (For the thicker American style, add powdered milk along with your yogurt "starter.") Best of all, there's no need to pre-heat/scald the milk (not necessary if you use pasteurized milk) and no cleaning (since you make the yogurt right in the paper milk carton straight from the store). Any size milk carton will work -- just adjust the amount of starter accordingly. "

Now *that*, kids, is EXACTLY my style. I will report back soon on the efficacy and truthfulness of the above Slacker Yogurt recipe. Let the fermentation begin....

1 Comments:

Blogger Garlynn Woodsong said...

Did you ever follow through on this and make yogurt?

One of the things that I want to try once we get around to making beer is to use the yeast that settles to the bottom of good, unpasteurized microbrewed beer (like Hair of the Dog) as a starter for a batch of home-brew. Seems like that yeast will probably turn out to be better than the generic ones available at home-brew-supply stores, like the Red Star brand.

Hmm...... beer..... mmmmmmmmmmmmm. :-)

5:59 PM  

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