Homemade yogurt in the crockpot
Hello!! 🙋 It's been a while since I've been here (I know, story of my life and this blog) and I thought it was about time I pop in to say hello.
Life has been a little more busy lately with my work schedule picking up (thank the Lord!), tons of family wedding and birthday celebrations, and activities with friends. I'm not overly busy and would like to continue increasing my work hours, but I'm loving all the activities I've been up to lately and cannot complain. With life getting a little busier, I have to be more conscientious about meal planning. It's important to be able to eat what I want when I want it, but in order to do that I have to have a plan so that there IS food around when I want/need it. Flexible meal planning is the name of the game.
One thing I've been doing recently is making my own yogurt for breakfast bowls or snacks. It's not necessary to make you're own, but it's a lot cheaper than store bought and making it myself makes me enjoy it even more. You appreciate the things you put time into. At first, I was super intimidated, but got the hang of it. Now I make it just about every week! Just an FYI, this is a looong process, so I recommend starting it in the early evening so that it can culture overnight (start around 4 pm).
Basically, you heat milk to a certain temperature, cool it to a certain temperature, add in the culture, and then let it sit for 12 hours at a warm temperature. Then you strain it and are left with yummy, homemade yogurt!
A quick word on probiotics. Gut health is definitely a buzz topic right now. While getting my masters, I did research on gut bacteria as it relates to health and I found it absolutely fascinating! Our gut (intestines) contains millions of little bacteria that play a role in a variety of different processes in our body. They have the potential to benefit our bodies through strengthening our immune system, maintaining intestinal tissue health, digesting food in our colon, producing vitamins, killing off harmful bacteria, and FAR more. Researchers are constantly finding out more about the role of certain bacteria in our gut and how they can help or hinder our health and everyday life. With our very stressful lifestyles, lack of proper self-care, lack of adequate nutrition, illness, and use of antibiotics, the types of bacteria in our gut can change and cause various symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, a weekend immune system, etc. This is why eating cultured foods with beneficial bacteria (probiotics) and foods high in fiber (prebiotics--food for the bacteria) is so important. Hello dairy, fermented foods, whole grains, and veggies! It's another reason why it's super important to get a variety of foods in our diet. A diet high in fat and protein can cause harmful bacteria to overgrow. A diet high in refined carbs can cause harmful bacteria to grow. We need all the food components, people: a balance of protein, carbs, and fat from a variety of food sources.
In the past I have had clients ask me about which probiotic brand I recommend and I wasn't able to really give a recommendation. That's why I thought THIS review was so helpful! It separates fact from fiction and then gives recommendations based on the different criteria that actually matter. I think it does a good job of explaining things in layman's terms, but still uses scientific research to back up their claims. I recommend you check it out!
And now to making your own yogurt. If you've got the time, give it a try and let me know what you think!
Homemade Yogurt in the Crockpot
Ingredients
- 1 gallon 2% or whole milk (yay for creamy yogurt!!)
- 3 Tbsp cultured yogurt (homemade or store bought)
- 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup (optional)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Pour 1 gallon of cow's milk into a crockpot and turn on high for 1-2 hours until it reaches 190 degrees with a food thermometer (I used an instant meat thermometer). This ensures that the proteins denature so that the yogurt can set up.
- Once it reaches 190, turn off the crockpot and leave the lid ajar so that heat can escape until it reaches 110 degrees, the temperature at which the bacteria can grow. (If it’s much hotter than this, it will kill the bacteria.) This will take an hour or two as well.
- Once it cools to 110, remove 1/2 cup of milk and mix in 3 Tbsp cultured yogurt until it is thoroughly combined. Add milk/yogurt mixture back into the crockpot and honey, if using, and lightly stir in zig-zag motions.
- Put the lid back on and wrap a towel around the crockpot (I occasionally turn the crockpot on warm for 5-10 minutes to warm it all back up—but be careful to not let it get too hot). Let it culture for 10-12 hours until it is set and the whey is separated from the yogurt.
- Using a cheesecloth or coffee filter over a strainer, strain the yogurt for about 2 hours so that you are left with a thicker yogurt. I have to divide mine between two strainers. If your yogurt is lumpy after straining, put it in your food processor or blender for a few minutes for a super silky texture!
- PS You can use the whey that separates out in smoothies, muffins, etc. It’s the portion that has a lot of the vitamins and minerals!
- Pour 1 gallon of cow's milk into instapot, press "Yogurt" setting, and adjust pressure to boil.
- Once mixture reaches boiling, put metal insert in a very large bowl with ice and water until milk reaches 110 degrees.
- Remove 1/2 cup of milk and mix in 3 Tbsp cultured yogurt until it is thoroughly combined. Add milk/yogurt mixture back into the crockpot and honey, if using, and lightly stir in zig-zag motions. Put the lid back on and adjust yogurt setting to 8 hours.
- Once yogurt is set, filter yogurt using a cheesecloth or coffee filter over a strainer. Strain the yogurt for about 2 hours so that you are left with a thicker yogurt. I have to divide mine between two strainers. If your yogurt is lumpy after straining, put it in your food processor or blender for a few minutes for a super silky texture!
In case you missed the link above, the probiotic supplement review can be found at http://www.reviews.com/probiotic-supplement/