Now it’s not like I have a lot of time on my hands, but making yogurt at home is not as hard as it sounds. All you need is a food thermometer, milk, a single serving of yogurt and someplace to keep milk warm and clean for 6 – 12 hours. The dusty old rice cooker is perfect for the job, especially since crock pots/large ovens/bread machines are not commonplace in Korea. I like controlling the sugar content since it’s impossible to find unsweetened yogurt at the market.
Homemade Yogurt
1000 mL milk
100 g plain yogurt
optional: sugar, jam, vanilla, honey, and so on.
Take the milk to 118*F in the rice cooker (unplug) and then thoroughly stir in yogurt. Check the temperature every few hours (do not stir!), the ideal temperature for yogurt is 100*F (plug it in for a few minutes if needed). Anywhere from 6 – 12 hours later the milk will transform into yogurt, even if completely unattended. The longer it sits at 100*F the thicker and tangier it will taste. Transfer into container for the fridge, add your optional flavoring. Let cool the yogurt cool overnight before eating. It will keep for about a week.
October 25, 2010 at 2:07 am
Brilliant — using the rice cooker to keep the yogurt warm. When I made yogurt I placed them in sterilized jars and kept them covered under a heating pad with some bath towels. Your method seems much easier. Too bad I no longer have time to make yogurt or bake bread
November 29, 2010 at 12:04 am
genius idea. and it works great! made two batches already and they turned out perfectly. thank you!!
December 1, 2010 at 3:05 pm
somehow when i made it this time it turned out like ras malai (which in itself is not a bad thing)– think i overheated it.
December 2, 2010 at 7:21 pm
when that happens i turn it into rice pudding ~ just throw in some cooked rice, sugar, cinnamon and raisins if you like them. it’s a yummy mistake.