You can cook tasty and healthy yogurt at home with or without a yogurt maker. Despite the abundance of dairy products in supermarkets, most people prefer natural products cooked at home. They can be given to children, adding various berries and fruits, used for dressing salads. Natural yogurt contains a huge amount of trace elements and beneficial bacteria that are indispensable for the normal functioning of the digestive system. This diet product is the perfect breakfast option for the whole family.

The principles of cooking homemade yogurt

To make yogurt at home, you don’t need to be a great cook. A small set of products, a little free time and a wonderful salad dressing, a delicious dessert or a light snack will be ready. There are no preservatives, dyes or substances harmful to the body in homemade yogurt. It can be stored in the refrigerator for at least a week, so you can immediately prepare it for future use for a long time.

Basic principles of product preparation:

  1. Ingredients. The main component for making yogurt is natural milk - cow or goat. The second most important is starter culture, which can be cooked or cooked at home.
  2. Proper milk heating. To get the product, milk should be heated no higher than 42 degrees. If there is no confidence in the quality of the product, you can boil it (reduce the benefits) and cool to the desired temperature.
  3. Adding leaven. Ferment in milk is added according to the instructions or in the right proportions.For example, if store yogurt is used as sourdough, it is introduced into the cow product in a proportion of 1/10.
  4. Creating favorable conditions for beneficial microorganisms. In order for the bacteria to begin to act actively, they need to create favorable conditions, namely to maintain heat as long as possible. To do this, a container with warm milk and added sourdough is wrapped for several hours (from 4 to 9).

Other components should be added to yogurt after its preparation, otherwise it may not work out. From the finished product, you can take a couple of spoons of the resulting mass, place in a container and freeze, using the next time as a leaven.

How to choose a starter for yogurt

To prepare yogurt, you can use the following starter cultures:

  1. A finished component that you can buy at a supermarket or pharmacy. Most often, it is sold in powder form and contains live bacteria. Ferments differ, in addition to price and name, with different composition and properties. Some contain probiotics, while others contain bifidobacteria. There are Bulgarian sticks and streptococci, which, when ingested in warm milk, enhance the production of lactic acid. She, in turn, helps to fight against pathogenic flora. There are special starter cultures for the child's body, containing a number of useful substances. In the selection of starter cultures for yogurt is to focus on your taste and a trusted manufacturer.
  2. A ready-made fermented milk product in store may well become a yeast for yogurt. It is added in a ratio of 1:10. However, it is important to remember that the amount of nutrients in the finished product will be much lower.
  3. A good starter for yogurt is the finished product itself. Selecting a little thick drink and placing it in the refrigerator, you can save on store products the next time. You can store the starter in the refrigerator for no more than four days, in the freezer for up to several months.

Living bacteria die at high temperatures, so if the milk is very hot, yogurt will not work. It is best to check the temperature with a special thermometer. Fermenting milk is mandatory in a sterile container.

Classic yogurt in a yogurt maker

After 5-8 hours, the yogurt in the yogurt maker will be ready. The longer it will ferment at the right temperature, the thicker the final product will be. To prepare a fermented milk product in a yogurt maker, you should stock up on milk and ferment.

  1. Milk is poured into a suitable container and boiled on a stove. Then it should be cooled to the desired temperature.
  2. In a small container, dilute a little milk (about 30 ml) with sourdough, and then add the mixture to the bulk of the white liquid. Mix.
  3. The resulting liquid is poured into a bowl or small cups in a yogurt maker, after which they are placed on a tray, and the yogurt maker itself is covered with a lid.
  4. The timer sets the right time.

When the dairy product is cooked, it should be cooled at room temperature, and then sent to the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Before adding them to milk, some starter cultures should be infused in a yogurt maker for 9 hours and only after that they should be used for fermentation.

Cooking in a slow cooker in glasses

A slow cooker is an excellent technique for preparing various dishes, including yogurt. In it you can cook a delicious dietary product without sourdough.

To do this, stock up on:

  • milk - 2.5 l;
  • cream - 700 ml;
  • sugar - 7 tbsp. l .;
  • finished yogurt without additives - 200 g.

A high-fat cow product along with cream is poured into a bowl and boiled for 7 minutes in the “Baking” mode. After, when it cools down to the desired temperature, yogurt is introduced and the mixture is prepared in the “Heating” mode for 120 minutes. After infusion for 4 hours, the product is poured into a sterile container and sent to the refrigerator. Yogurt in a slow cooker has a good density and taste. If desired, you can add any natural fillers.

A simple way to cook yogurt in a thermos

A great recipe without a yogurt maker is to make a fermented milk drink in a regular thermos. The recipe includes milk and sourdough.

Next, you should perform several steps in stages:

  1. Boil and cool the cow product to 39 degrees.
  2. Stir the sourdough with a small amount of milk, introduce into the bulk.
  3. Pour liquid into a thermos and leave for 5 hours.

For reliability, the container can be wrapped. Before using a thermos, it must be rinsed with boiling water. Ready drink to use as intended.

Home recipe in the oven

To prepare a dairy product, you should stock up:

  • milk - 3 l;
  • sourdough or a jar of finished yogurt;
  • granulated sugar (optional).

The liquid boils and cools to 39 degrees. While it is getting cold, you should heat the oven to 45 degrees. Sugar product is introduced into the cooled milk, and it is sent in a sterile container of a suitable volume to a bowl of water, and then into the oven with it. There the product must be at least 4 hours. Every 60 minutes, the oven must be heated to 45 degrees for several minutes.

How to Cook Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is low in calories and density. It does not fold, it is rich in magnesium, riboflavin and beneficial bacteria. Yogurt is prepared from a standard set of products - milk and bacterial culture for sourdough.

The first stages of cooking are no different. First, the liquid boils, then cools to 41 degrees. The right amount of leaven is introduced into it, everything is mixed. Further, the container with the product is wrapped up and left for at least 10 hours.

When the milk becomes thick, it should be poured into cheesecloth folded 4 times, lowered into a saucepan and sent to the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The resulting thick yogurt is poured into jars and used for nutrition, cooking various dishes.

Thick fermented milk product for children

To strengthen the immune system, the good work of the digestive tract, children should definitely use fermented milk products.

Making yogurt at home for babies is easy. To do this:

  1. Buy a good, not very fatty milk (you can goat), boil it and cool to the desired temperature.
  2. A little white mushroom, sourdough or yogurt should be mixed with warm milk, pour it into a sterile container, wrap and leave for 6 hours.
  3. You can add a little grated berries, fruits and sugar to the finished product.

Children are allowed to give a product from a year. Home-made yogurt will be an excellent alternative to store products. It is natural, safe and will cost several times cheaper.

Chocolate drink at home

Delicious and delicate chocolate dessert will appeal to adults and children.

It is prepared very simply:

  1. first, yogurt is prepared on any sourdough and milk, cooled;
  2. chocolate is heated in a water bath (several types can be used);
  3. with the help of a blender, the sour-milk mass is whipped into which chocolate is introduced in a thin stream. Stir until smooth.

The finished product is bottled in small containers and sent to the cold. Serve dessert with garnish with mint leaves, chocolate chips or berries.

Drinking milk yogurt

To prepare drinking yogurt, you should stock up:

  • milk - 2 l;
  • finished yogurt - 4 tbsp. l

Boil milk, cool to 45 degrees. Add the right amount of fermented milk product, pour into a sterile container, wrap. Insist for 8 hours, cool. Drink adding muesli, vanillin, sauces.

What can be added to homemade yogurt: berries, fruits, dried fruits

You can improve the taste of a regular dairy product with:

  • orange slices. They need to be milled, boiled, adding granulated sugar. Ready fruits are laid out at the bottom of the container and poured with a milk drink;
  • dried fruits. A little raisins, prunes and dried apricots need to be washed, cut into small pieces.After they are filled with sugar, filled with water and boiled for 1-2 minutes. The finished mass is poured into jars, which are then filled with yogurt;
  • berries. Strawberries (raspberries, blackberries, black currants) are whipped with a blender and then mixed with ready-made yogurt.

In winter, it is good to add berry or fruit jams to yogurt. Improve the taste will also help nuts, cereals, rosehip syrup.