How to Make Icelandic Yogurt with Goat's Milk

How to Make Icelandic Yogurt with Goat's Milk

Y'all, I make our yogurt now. We are finally getting enough milk that we aren't consuming it all fresh (and actually, I used a gallon to make yogurt and another gallon to make into cheese today because we have so much!) so I've been experimenting. My next project will be soap. But for today, I want to share how we make our yogurt.

Now, I have to admit something first. I don't like yogurt. I have trouble with the texture. Then about a year ago, we found a new kind of yogurt at our grocery store called Siggi's. It's Icelandic, or Skyrr, yogurt. It's thick, almost like whipped cream cheese. It's tangy, and not too sweet. We all love it, so of course, I wanted to make our yogurt like Siggi's.

I found this tutorial from Jule's Food, and our yogurt actually turned out! Surprise, surprise I can do something. Want to see how?

I used our fresh goat milk and brought a gallon up to 195 degrees on the stove top. It has to be stirred pretty often so that it won't scorch.

When it gets to 195 degrees, I pour it into my crock pot. It has to cool to 110 degrees, but then it's best if it stays relatively warm afterward. Warming up the crock pot works very well.

After it's cooled to about 110 degrees, I measure about 1/4 cup of Siggi's plain yogurt. I keep a quart of it in the freezer and just get it out when I'm making it. It's worked well. I stir in some of the warm milk, a little at a time until the yogurt is pretty liquified. It's easy to then stir it into the rest of the milk.

Now for the rennet. (I use this liquid rennet.) I pour a few drops onto a teaspoon. It's not much at all, maybe 6-8 drops, and then stir that into about 1 cup of water. Then that mixture is slowly and thoroughly stirred into the warm milk.

Now the crock pot is covered in three towels; one wrapped around the back, one wrapped around the front, and one across the top. I push it into a corner so that it will stay nice and warm for a good long while. It needs to set for 10-14 hours. And it's very flexible, so don't worry about extra hours.

After it's incubation, it's time to cut the curds. They are so shiny and slick. And it smells so good!

I put some muslin in a colander in the sink to wrap the yogurt it while it drains. You can collect all the whey if you'd like, but I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet. I'll get there one day, but, for now, I let the first of the whey drain down the sink. Then I collect the rest by moving the colander to sit on top of the crock pot. (Still not sure what to do with it, but I do collect it. I think the chickens like it, but I'm not sure.) I gather the corners of the muslin after it's drained a bit, and kind of wring the whey out a bit. It speeds up the process, and it feels pretty cool.

As the whey drains out, the batch of yogurt gets smaller. It needs to sit tied up in the muslin and draining for a while, but how long depends on you. If you let it drain long enough, you'll get a yogurt cheese with a cream cheese texture. (I'd put it in the fridge to drain for that long.) I usually only drain it for an hour or two. It's a creamy, thick texture, but not as thick as cream cheese.

What does it taste like? Well, it's tangy, and tart. It's not slimy like regular yogurt, and won't drip off your spoon. The texture is more like a custard pie. We really love it. The kids love it with some honey and vanilla, or maple syrup, or sugar and blueberries. We don't use too much sweet because the tangy is so nice.

And that's how I make our yogurt now! I can make yogurt, and I can make our bread, but apparently I can't do both at the same time. So while we've had yogurt for a few weeks now, we have not had any bread. One step at a time, and I'll get where I'm going. That may be my goal for next week. Make yogurt and bread....it sounds like a lot, so we'll see.

this post shared with:

Good Morning Monday | The Art of Homemaking Mondays | Modern Homesteading | Hearth and Soul | The Homesteader Hop | Simple Homestead | Friday Favorites | Simply Natural Saturday | Simple Saturdays |

Original article and pictures take www.homesteadingongrace.com site