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Our Favorite Yogurt Recipe
This is a thick Icelandic style yogurt. Great for breakfast, a late-night snack, or anytime in between.
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Ingredients:
1 Gallon Six S Dairy Raw Milk
2/3 cup Siggi's plain or vanilla skyr yogurt
4 drops liquid rennet
1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water
Vanilla (optional)
Honey or Maple Syrup
Steps:
Add the milk to a large stainless steel pot. Slowly bring the milk to 180* F, stirring frequently. Or, my preferred method is to place the milk in my Instant Pot and use the yogurt/boil setting to bring the milk up to temp. This allows me to walk away and work on something else and just wait for the beep signaling that the milk has come to temp.
As soon as the milk has reached 185* F, remove it from the heat and place the pan of milk in a sink of cold water. Gently stir until the milk has cooled to 110* F.
In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of your warmed milk and the 2/3 cup of Siggi's yogurt. Whisk until smooth. Pour this mixture into the pot of warm milk and stir until mixed well.
Combine the rennet and cool water in a small bowl, stir lightly. Then pour the rennet mixture into the pot of milk and stir it well, about 1 minute. Place lid on pot.
Now it's time to keep your pot warm for a bit. You can do this by wrapping the pot in a large bath towel and letting it sit in a warm spot in the house or place the covered pot into the oven with just the oven light on for heat, or my favorite way is to use the Instant Pot yogurt incubation setting. Now let your milk sit, all warm and cozy, for about 12 hours. Because I don't like to let my Instant Pot run overnight, I let it incubate for a couple of hours and then I unplug the pot and let it sit overnight.
Line a large colander with a double thickness of cheesecloth or, I prefer to use butter muslin or a flour sack dishtowel as they have a finer mesh. Set the colander over a large bowl.
Gently scoop the yogurt curds into the lined colander, I like to use a 1 cup measure for this process.
Let the filled cheesecloth rest in the colander or suspend and allow it to drip over a bowl. Let rest for 4 to 8 hours.
Gather up the cheesecloth and dump the contents into a large mixing bowl. Be sure to reserve the whey, it’s great to use in baked goods. We especially love it in pancakes!
Using an electric mixer, whip the yogurt until smooth and fluffy. If you think you 'd like it a bit thinner, add back some of the whey that drained off until its the consistency you'd like. Note that it will set up a bit firmer than it is right now.
If you'd like to pre-sweeten your yogurt or add vanilla, do so at this time. We prefer to sweeten it with Maple Syrup right before we eat it. The kids like to stir it in, I like to drizzle it on top like an ice cream topping.
Before you sweeten it or add vanilla, be sure to reserve 2/3 - 1 cup of yogurt to culture your next batch.
Transfer to glass jars or an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Enjoy!