Adventures in yogurt making

I used to think, back when I was young and arrogant, that cooking was a pretty lame pasttime, a drudgery to be endured by downtrodden housewives. And sometimes it is a chore to throw together one more dinner on a tight budget. But, while I like a good greasy fast-food meal as much as my kids do, I hate the average store-bought prepared entree and frozen vegetables (except corn and peas) and most canned goods and even store-bought staples like bread and tortillas.

After I went to Europe I had another prepared food to sneer at: yogurt, or what goes by the name of yogurt in most American grocery stores. Could there be any yuckier, low- or non-fat, too sweet awfulness?

(Now obviously, if I had the budget to buy gourmet brands, I’m sure the wonders of the American supermarket would be more appealing. But I digress.)

I’ve learned to make bread and tortillas (flour not corn), and noodles, and freezer jam. I haven’t found a noodle recipe that’s worth the effort, but the others are. In Cairo I made spaghetti sauce from actual tomatoes and cottage cheese from actual milk. And since my favorite restaurant right now is Bombay House, I make a mean saag shorba.

We’ve been staying with (“staying” sounds better than “living;” I think it sounds slightly less moocher-like) Marcy now for a couple months, and it’s been good for my culinary pretensions. Marcy’s a good audience; Dick likes and eats anything I make (he better!), which unfortunately means I don’t always know if something is really good or if he is just really hungry. Marcy is more critical (in a good way), and she appreciates, better than a man (besides all those Emeril-wannabes) how much work goes into a meal.

Marcy’s kids have to drink special milk and have butter slathered on every piece of toast because they’re weight-ally challenged. We don’t have that problem in our family, but I was happy to figure out how to make high-fat yogurt, with, incidentally, less sugar.

Jane’s Yogurt

Ingredients

1 quart milk (skim-whole; some people actually use water and powdered milk–what’s the point? Whole tastes best, obviously)

1/4-1/2 cup sugar (1/4 cup for plain yogurt to be used in savory dishes; 1/2 for just-right eating yogurt)

1/2-1 cup heavy whipping cream (I figure if you’re going to the trouble of making something, you might as well make it super-yummy, but, you can leave this out altogether without endangering anything).

1/4 cup plain yogurt or yogurt starter (can be purchased in healthfood store, I assume; we just use regular plain yogurt)

flavorings, as desired

Directions

Bring milk almost to a boil (one website said 185 degrees; I think boiling is like 212, but I don’t have a thermometer and don’t really care to get one at this point, so “almost to a boil” works for me) and then take off heat. Stir in sugar and cream. Allow to cool to almost room temperature (this takes about an hour or so. The same website said 110 degrees here, but I just stick my finger in periodically ’til it’s the same “warm” as the water I use to proof yeast). Stir in plain yogurt and pour into two mason jars (a 1 qt and a 1 pt jar work perfectly) and seal with some of those cool white plastic mason jar lids they sell now (how great is it too throw out all those rusty metal ones? You can store it in any glass container, and plastic might work too). Incubate overnight in an oven with the oven light on (just like you would sourdough starter). Add any pureed fruit or vanilla extract or other flavorings; I think it’s pretty perfect just as it is, even before it’s been chilled. Keep refrigerated.