Home-Made yogurt in a GreenPan Crock-Pot…

Our search…

Wanting to make some Good ‘ol Home-Made Yogurt we recently bought a new Crock-Pot, after over 10 years of a good run with our old one, it finally decided to kick the bucket. Which led us to search for a good fit for our needs, we landed on this one, the GreenPan Elite Crock-Pot! We have a membership to COSTCO, and they had a great deal at the time, along with all of its other Great features!

With 8 different settings, a healthy non-stick coating called Thermolon Volt made without harmful chemicals that leach into food, and a baby on the way I wanted to get into making Home-made yogurt again for the family. It has not been something I have been able to do over the last year working and being so non stop busy! But now that things have slowed way down… : ) I have the free time to dig into all sorts of Goodness!

Having never made yogurt in a Crock-Pot before, I always used a Dutch oven which is sort of the same idea but I can cook at higher temps, quicker etc… Unfortunately my beloved Dutchy is gone, Husband said it was to heavy and worried about me lifting it all the time especially being pregnant, so fair well… lol… But anyways I wanted to test it out to make sure it would work just as well. It did not disappoint!

Cheaper & healthier!

I have used this GreenPan Elite Crock-Pot all week, making some of the great things we love about Fall with this cool down the Good Lord has Blessed us with! Today I will give you my recipe for my Home-made yogurt. When I first had the desire to make Home-made yogurt it was for a few reasons. It would be cheaper than buying store bought, healthier, made with out all of the sugar, extras and unnecessary ingredients and it would be something new that I could get into and see if I could actually make it.

Invest into You & your Family!

With a lot of video watching and reading I got confident enough to try it on my own. My Husband was definitely skeptical, lol… Worried I would botch it and get us sick and we would die. lol.. Thankfully it went very well and it is sooo easy!! I purchased all my ingredients, I really prefer to get Organic/Non GMO as much as possible. I know the price of these things is outrageous now, but I feel it is worth it when you can to invest in the things that will help you in the long run. I got a game plan together and went for it! In the end the results were better than store bought! Really something I was very pleased with, and able to share with the ones I love!

What you need…

The process is quit simple, but I do recommend having EVERYTHING you need before you start. The way I know and use works for the Crock-Pot or a Dutch oven. You will need one of those, a food thermometer, preferably a programmable one like this Here. A whisk, a larger strainer, cheese cloth, bowels for straining, towels and a Thermal food bag for fermentation, make sure you have your milk, I use whole milk, but you can use 2%, I have never used skim milk or alternatives like soy or almond. So I cannot speak to how that will turn out unfortunately. You will need a starter, that has all the goodness in it to get things going, which if I do not have a reserve from a previous batch, I just use Sigi’s Plain Greek yogurt about a cup. And for all recipe’s Vanilla bean paste, the better the quality the better the taste.

What to do…

We want to get the Crock-Pot set up and ready I put it to simmer/buffet and set my thermometer to 180 degrees F. This kills off any bacteria that may be present, and it also gets the milk proteins moving.Your Crock-Pot might not have this setting the goal is 180 Degrees F. Pour in the milk and you can set the thermometer floating in the milk and put lid on to hold it in place, or leave it out set and check periodically, with either option I would still check and stir gently every once in a while. When the thermometer goes off at 180 Degrees F or you check and are at this temp. turn off the heat and take off the heat, remove lid and allow to cool. While that is cooling take out your starter to allow to get to room temp. We want to reach 115-110 Degrees F.cool down temp. and gently whisk in our starter. I try not to disturb to much but make sure you whisk in completely, if not it might effect the final result. Get your towels and thermal bag ready, place a towel in the bag with it draping out of the sides, place the lid on the Crock-Pot and gently place inside the bag, taking the towels draped on the sides and wrap them around the Crock-Pot like a baby… lol… zip up the bag and leave in a safe place to ferment, the longer the tangier. 8-12 hours.

If You want, you can completely skip this step if you prefer your yogurt more on the creamy side. I like to strain for at least 8 hours. All up to You! Make sure you reserve a cup of this yogurt unstrained for your next starter, stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Take your bowls, place a strainer in them use your cheese cloth/cloth’s to put yogurt in and set inside the strainer. Place in the fridge to remove as much of they Whey as you like, the longer the thicker and more Greek your yogurt will be. The picture above I didn’t have a cheese cloth, so I improvised and used paper towels, which I have done before, but only recommend if you have thick good quality or it could get into your yogurt, and you will need to strain that out. I simply gently flip the strained yogurt upside down into a mixing bowl and gently remove the paper towel. Easy Peezy…

Don’t toss that Whey!!

You can definitely use this in all sorts of things, I use in my smoothies, but you can use in recipes like this for pancakes, or check these out too… So many wonderful uses for left over whey, and sooo good for you too! After you have completed straining to your liking, pour the whey into mason jars with lids sealed tightly, I use the plastic mason jar lids, or whatever air tight container you have handy. Store in the fridge and use within a couple weeks. Your Yogurt is now ready to flavor, yumm almost time to get a taste of this Home-Made deliciousness! I use Agave to sweeten, and Vanilla bean Paste for flavor! But I also cook down fruit into a strained puree to make a separate Wild berry flavor too. Everything about this takes some Time and Love, but it is not overwhelming and You can do it! If it doesn’t turn out the first time, try again, I sure have… When you add your sweetener and Vanilla Bean Paste, I do mine a little at a time, to ensure I am not over sweetening or flavoring. Get that whisk, give a few TBSP squirts into the yogurt about 3 TBSP Agave and 2 TBSP Vanilla Bean Paste. Whisk it up and give a taste, adjust to your liking! : ) I might add a bit more or think its good, depends how I’m feeling that day, lol…

Psalms 34:8

“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
King James Version (KJV)

Home-Made Yogurt:

Ingredients:

• 1 Gallon of milk
• 1 cup of a good starter
• Vanilla Bean Paste
• Agave

What to do:

• Pour milk into Crock-Pot, set Crock-Pot to desired setting for heating milk to 180 Degrees F. set thermometer to 180 Degrees F. place insert inside of milk floating with tip in towards the middle, set lid on thermometer to hold in place,
• We DO NOT want to scorch the milk, heating to quick, to hot will ruin your milk.
• Check temp. intermittently and stir gently occasionally, replacing thermometer,
• Once 180 Degrees F. is reached remove from heat and remove lid to cool to 115-110 Degrees F.
• Take your starter out of the fridge and allow to come to room temp while the milk is cooling, using the thermometer check temp. intermittingly until we have reached 115-110 Degrees F.
• Once we are at the cool down temp we can gently whisk in our starter, making sure to thoroughly mix in,
• Once mixed in we can put the lid back on and place inside of thermal bag for fermentation, (please read above for a guide to all processes included in this recipe)
• After the fermentation process, take a cup reserve for starter for next batch, now we can strain our yogurt and keep the whey for later,
• Once you have reached desired thickness, flavor with Agave and Vanilla Bean Paste to taste, starting with a couple TBSP of each, then mixing and tasting to desired sweetness and flavor,
• Once you have Seasoned with Love store inside air tight containers inside the fridge
• & Good Job, You did it! Enjoy!