Do You Make Yogurt with your Oven

aloha2009

12 years ago

When my 4 children were young I used to make homemade yogurt all the time. They'd gobble it up so fast I ended up getting a second one. It got to be such a chore though after several years, I quite making it.

We're remodeling the kitchen and will be purchasing a new oven. I noticed that a person can use ovens to develop yogurt culture thus not needing a special yogurt maker.

Has anyone done this and how has it worked for you? How has the bread proofing worked for you too? Anything I need to be aware of?

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Comments (10)

macybaby
12 years ago
My elux has a dehydrating cycle, and that has temps that work for yogurt. I've never used the oven to make yogurt because I use the dehydrator for that. The culture I have now takes about 8 hours to work, way too long for me to have my oven tied up. Some culture sets up in about 4 hours.

The main thing is to not let it get too hot, as that kills the culture. Cold temps makes it go dormant.

I make two gallons at a time. The pint jar is used as starter for the next batch - I can go about three batches before using fresh starter.
breezygirl
12 years ago
Hi Aloha. If you do a search over in Kitchens, you'll find a discussion started by Rhome, I think, on yogurt making. Lots of great tips from a few who regularly make their own. You might also checking out the cooking forum. I hear good things about that one but haven't visited yet.
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Yes it can be much cheaper to make this yourself than buy. Especially if you like flavored yogurt. You may add jam or fruit yourself. It's easy to take the quantity you like for lunch. It can be even more advantageous if dry milk is less expensive than regular milk in the area you live. If your milk has gone sour, you can use this and not waste (which is also a frugal thing!) Homemade yogurt is also a substitute for sour cream in your recipes. Yogurt is a healthy way to encourage "good" bacteria in your digestive system--in other words an inexpensive way to stay healthy. Here is my recipe: I don't use measurements so sorry. My recipe is from an Indian friend and it is very easy and practical. I usually start the yogurt after dinner is over and have yogurt for breakfast the next day. Heat one litre of milk to almost boiling (scalding). Let milk cool until it a drop is comfortably warm on the inside of your wrist (like checking for a baby's bottle). Mix in a couple tblsp of active plain yogurt (can be from a previous batch or store bought--note, not all yogurts contain active culture) with a whisk until smooth. Pour in a glass container and put the container in the microwave oven overnight (this keeps the temperature from fluctuating)without turning it on. In the morning you will have yogurt. Whole milk makes thicker yogurt than skim. The consistency is usually not gel-like as the store bought yogurt is. But it tastes MUCH better. Hope that helps.
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I make yogurt using my Excaliber dehydrator. A gallon of milk gets me 4 quarts of really thick yogurt. I don't eat yogurt, Greek or otherwise, the texture is too off-putting, but I use it a lot in cooking and baking. Anyway, I keep mine at 115F for about 8 hours. The "recipe" is use says that it will get no thicker after 10 hours, it'll only get more sour. I do use the last of my current batch to make the next batch, I do not buy starter. It's cost effective here too. A quart of plain yogurt is about $3 here for the store brand, more if I get a brand like Fage or Dannon. I can get a gallon of milk for about $2, and get 4 quarts of yogurt. Annie
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breezygirl
12 years ago
See, there's Macybaby with help! She was one that contributed to the thread I mentioned.
dodge59
12 years ago
Yep those Elux ovens do it all.

In fact Elux, and SZ too, (when they had the copper problem SZ) had great big yogurt makers---commonly called "Refrigerators".

I suspects most of those have been converted back to "Normal Refrigerators" now.

Gary
aloha2009
Original Author
12 years ago
Macybaby, that was a concern of mine regarding the amount of time it takes and needing the oven. We got rid of our dehydrator years ago. Never realized it could double as a yogurt maker, but it makes sense. I noticed your dehydrator opens left to right. I've never seen a MW that does that. Don't need one now but it would come in handy for some.

Breezygirl. Thanks for the tip. I think instead of searching in specific segments in GW, I'm going to google things instead. This site pretty much has it all. I think I speak for most everyone in the kitchen forum, we're anxiously awaiting your complete reveal. Moving coupled with the holidays has a way of making more chaos :) Your cabinets and counters are beyond beautiful! I keep checking to see if you have posted the pics.
asolo
12 years ago
FWIW....my ovens at two locations have lowest-possible temp setting of 170. Not bad for keeping food warm but too hot for this purpose.

Many ovens have "proof" cycle for raising bread dough....believe that's more like 90-100F. If it's OK for raising bread, maybe OK for yogurt?

Just noodling.
rhome410
12 years ago
I made yogurt with my rangetop and my Wolf oven. I don't think the discussion was on the forum, but in my blog instead, but I referenced discussions that had been on the cooking forum. I used the Proof mode of my oven, and adjusted the temp to 110 degrees, after heating it initially on the stove to 200 degrees, then letting it cool to 110.

--Fridges aren't yogurt makers, Gary, they're yogurt storers.. ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: My yogurt making experience in the blog
lawjedi
12 years ago
My oven doesn't go low enough (no proof mode)

But.... I just put the yogurt in there overnight with the lightbulb on.

the heat of the lightbulb is enough to get the yogurt done by morning.

Couldn't be simpler.
cj47
12 years ago
I've made yogurt using the proof mode in my E'lux oven. I've also done it by warming it up and then turning it off. I keep a pizza stone in the oven and after that's warmed up it keeps the heat even. Works great for yogurt.

Cj
a2gemini
12 years ago
I heat up the milk on the stove, allow it to cool to ~110, add the culture from the last batch (I just feel the vessel), wrap it up in a towel and have yogurt the next day.
In the winter, I sometimes will toss the vessel in the oven after dinner (power off) and allow it to yogurt in a nice warm spot. I also have a pizza stone in the oven which keeps it just right for many hours.

Do You Make Yogurt with your Oven

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Do You Make Yogurt with your Oven

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