Last night, I decided to make some yogurt to see if I could do it. This is how I did it. I am cheap so I wanted to see if I could do it without a bunch of fancy gadgets and keep it as close to the old time ways as possible. The tool I used were as follows, a stainless steel mixing bowl, a huge stock pot I got at a discount store, which cost about $5 a few years ago, a candy thermometer, and a wire whisk. I found some half gallon jars at OSH, 6 for $9, the most expensive of all the items. I had an old 10 gallon aquarium with a heater on the bottom glass. That's it, no fancy gadgets.
I took a little less than a gallon of just expired store bought whole milk, I figured since we're souring the milk anyway, a day off the expiration wouldn't make much of a difference, and would probably help the whole process. I added enough half and half to make a gallon, three quarts of whipping cream, and an 8 oz cup of yogurt. I heated all, except the yogurt, in what could pass as a poor man's double boiler (a stainless steel mixing bowl set inside a huge stock pot full of water.) The bowl just floated in the water perfectly, it didn't quite sit, but wasn't going to tip either. One of my back country cookbooks said to heat it just to boiling, so as soon as I saw bubbles along the sides of the bowl, the fire went off. Just to check and see if I was within parameters, I checked the temp. It heated it all up to about 160* F, before cutting off the heat. I let it sit for a while, it gradually heated up a bit more. With all the cream in the milk, it had a lovely buttery smell as it started to heat up. I noticed, if I quit stirring, for any length of time, it would get a film on the top, so I quickly stirred that back into the milk mixture.
I took the bowl out of the boiling water, and placed it in a bowl of cold water, I did this about four times before the temp got to about 105* which was when I added the yogurt and mixed it all in. I then dipped into the milk mixture and filled three of the half gallon jars, which I had washed well. The directions called for complete sanitation, but I know that a lot of old timers do not bleach their utensils, so I just made sure everything was clean and since everything was new, I just washed everything well. I wanted to try to make it as close to the old way as possible. Here is where I deviated from the old cook stove method, I had put them on the heat register, but I wasn't sure if it would be too hot, so, I placed the jars in the aquarium full of warm water and plugged in the heater. The temp did not go below 86*F as far as I can tell all night. This morning, I had what looked like a creamy sludge which smelled somewhat like yogurt. My daughter played guinea pig, I put a bit in a bowl and put a bit of jelly in it and honey for a sweetener, she gave it a thumbs up. It's not as sour as yogurt should be, I think this may be because of all the cream I added. DH said it's not thick enough, so I put it on the heat register for a few hours to sour up some and hopefully thicken a little more.
*UPDATE: I think I may have put it on the heater for too long, because it started to separate. I stirred it back together and it's now cooling in the fridge.*
Now yogurt cheese is supposed to be easy, which since I have a gallon and a half of yogurt to experiment with, I'm going to try. I have a colander used to make jellies and juices, so I'm going to line it with coffee filters and let it drain. The outcome should be something close to cream cheese. From what I've read, the procedure is to just pour the yogurt in the lined colander and let it sit in the fridge over a bowl over night, the whey will drip out making a very soft cheese.
January, 6th: The picture is of what cheese from half a gallon of yogurt looks like. It was drained for 24 hours in some flower sack towels. The cheesecloth, even when quadrupled, wasn't thick enough. Even with doubling of the flower sack I lost a lot of cheese into the whey, until I lined the colander with coffee filters also. It made about 3/4 of the weight, by what the books say it should. Next time I make cheese, it won't have so much cream in it. It probably could have drained for a lot longer, because the sides of the cloth had cheese, the middle of the glob was still runny. I think there is way too much fat in it since the top of my mouth is slimy. My neighbor's boy liked it and said it tasted like cream cheese mixed with sour cream. I am going to try it again with another half gallon of yogurt, this time I'll take photos.On a side note, the whey was too rich for my cats, they liked it a little, but not enough to scarf it. Ed, however, gave it two paws up, and Handful decided to investigate what was under the cloth, Tommy and Stubby both ran from invading feet, so something must of been worth having, just not the whey. I am now baking a cheesecake with the cheese. I hope it's ok, it seemed a bit runny when I poured it in the pan.
I found this recipe for yogurt cheese cheesecake, so we'll try it also, the original recipe did not call for any sort of crust, but I like graham cracker crust, so I'm going to add it to the recipe. If you're a purist, don't put it in a crust.
LEMON CHEESECAKE
8 servings
2 cups nonfat yogurt cheese
7 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 egg whites, lightly beaten (or 1 egg and 2 whites)
1 lemon, juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel, or 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 7-inch spring form or 8-inch pie pan. (here is where you make the crust)
- Combine yogurt cheese, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing gently with a fork or wire whisk until well bended.
- Stir in the eggs.
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake until the center is set, 20 to 25 minutes (pie pan) or 55 minutes (spring form).
- Cool slightly and refrigerate, uncovered, for 24 hours.