Gut-Health Yogurt

Ingredients:

½ gallon of organic grass-fed whole milk

½ cup of probiotic-rich organic yogurt (*with little to no sugar)

Preheat oven to 110F

1. Heat the milk. Pour the milk into a pot and set the stove to medium to medium-high heat. Gently stir the milk while heating it to prevent the bottom from scorching. Don’t let the milk boil over. Just warm it up to about 180-200 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Let the milk cool. Let it cool until it is warm to the touch, about 105-115 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. In a bowl, add one cup of warm milk to the yogurt mixture, and mix thoroughly. Whisk the mixture until the yogurt is fully dissolved in the milk and the mixture gets smooth.

4. Pour the yogurt/milk mixture back into the remaining milk in the (cooled) pot. Continue gently whisking the mixture.

5. Put a lid on the pot and place it in the oven. Put the pot into the preheated oven (110F) just to warm it.

6. Let the yogurt set. Four hours would be enough to let your yogurt set, though you can also let it set overnight. This will depend on your desired consistency. The longer it sets, the thicker and tarter it will be.  Just be sure to keep on checking the yogurt every four or so hours.

-You can keep on whisking your homemade yogurt if you want it to be a more consistent creamy mixture. If you notice any liquid formation on the surface, you can also whisk it back into the yogurt.

-The Instant Pot automates a lot of this process, so if you don’t think you have the time to put into making yogurt, I highly recommend that you try it the Instant Pot way!

It’s normal for the milk to develop a “skin” on top of it as it sits and cools… yes, it’s gross.  No, it’s not ruined.  Just leave it, and you can toss it when it’s done cooling.

Choosing to use raw milk will yield you a much more nutrient-dense yogurt but will be less thick than the ultra-pasteurized milk you can get in stores.  It’s still delicious, though!

The yogurt will often thicken to a cream-cheese consistency with lumps. These stir out very easily and are completely normal.

You can use probiotics instead of a yogurt starter, but how much you need will depend on the probiotic. Starting with four capsules per 1/2 gallon of milk is a good place to start, and you can adjust for future batches.

*If the yogurt is still really liquidy after the 12-24 hour setting process, there’s a good chance that the probiotics were bad. (This happened to me once before).  Since the milk still smelled fresh (not spoiled), I simply started the process over again and added a different probiotic when it was time.  The yogurt turned out fine the second time around! I promise it is worth making!