Valerie's Yoghurt & Yoghurt Cheese

[kylie]

After spending quite a while reading through all of the very helpful comments... I have just made my first batch of yoghurt and it worked fantastically!
It's beautiful and thick and tastes like a perfect natural yoghurt.
Of course, my kids won't eat natural yoghurt.
So... was wondering about sweetening it. I know there have been a few suggestions regarding fruit, honey, etc, which we've experimented with today (fairly successfully).
I wondered about the type of yoghurt you get at those fruit salad bars, basically a plain yoghurt which has a fruit sauce on top, or is added to fruit salad. That yoghurt is fairly sweet. Am I right in assuming it just has sugar added to it?
So... if I were to add sugar, do you add it after it has set and chilled? And I was thinking I'd need to blitz it first into icing sugar so it's fine.

[jkmt]

Well done, Kylie. You can add sugar/honey before or after incubation. About 40 to 80 grams per litre of milk - I add sugar to my milk when I heat it to 90 degrees, so it dissolves.  It won't affect the incubation, whereas the acidity of fruit will. I now use a 'mild' culture from www.cheeselinks.com.au and it's not as tart as other yoghurts I've tried, but the kids still won't eat it without something to sweeten it.

[andiesenji]

The gritty texture could be the thin skin that develops while the milk cools.  Early in my yoghurt making I didn't remove it, thinking it would blend through, but it definitely needs to be lifted off.

Just clarifying - does everyone get a skin on their milk then?  I thought it was just me.  Do you just let it form and then lift it off at the end?

I allow it to form and only remove it just prior to adding the culture - when the milk has cooled to the correct temp.  I have found that the easiest way is to use a whisk as that picks up all of it with no broken bits to be fished out. 

Like this:

[kylie]

Thanks JKMT,

I'm almost ready to make a second batch, so I'll try sweetening it first and see how they like it.

[andiesenji]

You can use sugar or syrup but don't use raw honey if you have very young children. 
Processed or pasteurized honey is okay. 

I've always had better results adding sweet stuff after the incubation and just before chilling.   I have in the past tried adding cooked fruit purees to the milk, after adding the culture and on at least two occasions had some fermentation occur.  Foam on top of the yogurt and a distinct smell of alcohol - similar to what one gets with sourdough fermentation.

Just a thought...

[kylie]

that makes sense, andiesenji. So if adding fruit puree or something similar, do it after the cooking part.

[andiesenji]

that makes sense, andiesenji. So if adding fruit puree or something similar, do it after the cooking part.

Add it after the cooking, the cooling, and certainly after the incubation period when it has "finished" and just before putting it in the fridge to chill.  The yogurt culture should have only the milk proteins on which to work, additives can cause problems.

In commercial yogurt production, the mixing of other ingredients into yogurt is done after it has been incubated and chilled. 

There are some yeasts that are not destroyed by high temps - such as brewer's yeast - and which often are present on fruits, even those that have been cooked and frozen. 
If you give them a good environment in which to grow (as in yogurt incubation) they will and will cause fermentation. 
That is why, if you take a package of frozen fruit out of the freezer and leave it at room temp for a prolonged period, it will swell up because of gas produced by the yeasts that have begun to grow.

If you don't mind a little fermentation in your yogurt, by all means mix the fruit in before you incubate.  I prefer to keep mine as pure as possible so I mix cold fruit into chilled yogurt. 

I also use my yogurt for savory as well as sweet applications so I want plain yogurt, to which I can add anything.  I am not constrained because it has been pre-sweetened. 

[nola276]

I made my first batch of Yoghurt yesterday using the following recipe which I got from an earlier post.  I changed the sugar to Equal, as hubby is a diabetic.  This is a nuisance as you use equal on a cup for cup basis, but it doesn't weigh the same as sugar, so I had to weigh 50g of sugar and eyeball it, so that I could pour the same quantity of equal into the mix.

800g full cream or light milk (I used HiLo)
50g Milk powder (have always got this on hand for when we are caravaning)
50g White Sugar (I used Equal but not 50g worth)
5g Vanilla Extract (not essence)
3 tablespoons Pot set Yoghurt (I used Pauls All Natural Yoghurt set in the tub 99.8% fat free)

Place milk, powdered milk, sugar(equal) and vanilla into TMX bowl.  Blend 10 sec speed 7.  Cook 30 min, 90c, speed 1.  Allow to cool to 37c.  Add starter yoghurt.  Blend gently 4 seconds speed 4.  Cook 10 min, 37c, speed 1.  Boil kettle to fill Eazyo Thermos.  When cooked, pour yoghurt into container, seal and place into thermos.  Leave at least 8 hours or overnight to set.  (I put mine in about 8pm and left it until 7am)  Do not disturb at this time.  Place in fridge, reserving 3 tabs for the next batch.

This turned out beautifully, producing a lovely thick yoghurt, sweetened just enough, but with a lovely tang to it.  

I have spent so much time reading the last 20 pages that I can't remember who posted this recipe, but you can be sure I am very grateful.  Thank you.  Cheers, Nola.

Just a little edit to this.  I severely burnt the bottom of my bowl with this recipe, so that was a bit of a bummer.  Took ages to clean it with vinegar and water and a lot of scrubbing.  I think I might use the microwave to heat my milk next time.

[jkmt]

Nola, nice tip on the Equal. Maybe the burning was the 30 minutes at 90 degrees? I usually go 20 minutes, with the speed closer to 2 than 1. Have had a bit of burning (not too bad) when I've just used 1.

[nola276]

Thanks for that Jenny, I will try your suggested 20 min, 90c, speed 2 and see if it makes a difference.  If not, then it is definitely going to be the microwave.  The cleanup yesterday was not nice.  Cheers, Nola.

[andiesenji]

In a 1000 watt microwave it only takes 15 minutes to heat 2 liters of milk and about 8-9 minutes to heat one liter, in a Pyrex measure.

[nola276]

Thanks for that andiesenji

[CreamPuff63]

I changed the sugar to Equal, as hubby is a diabetic.  This is a nuisance as you use equal on a cup for cup basis, but it doesn't weigh the same as sugar, so I had to weigh 50g of sugar and eyeball it, so that I could pour the same quantity of equal into the mix.

  perhaps eyeball all your sugar cup measures, and then write down the g for Equal so that it will be easier in future recipes to substitute?

[nola276]

Thank you Creampuff,  I think that will be the way to go.

PS  I love this A balanced diet is a biscuit in each hand  I've been doing a bit of that lately

[ladybird]

does anyone know if i wanted to make this and include some of my milk kefir whether i just put it in at the start? any other thoughts on it? thanks