Yogurt

I adapted an America's Test Kitchen recipe for homemade yogurt for my sous vide immersion heater.

I use Weck 743 glass canning jars as my yogurt containers, each of which holds about three cups of yogurt. My measurements are based on using four of these jars. Adjust the amount of milk in the recipe according to the capacity of the jars you use.

Ingredients

10	cups whole milk
1	cup heavy cream (if unavailable, substitute whole milk)
½	cup nonfat dry milk powder (optional, for denser yogurt)
1	cup plain yogurt with live, active cultures (Use prior batch as a starter or purchase new from the grocery store.)

Directions

1. Combine the milk, cream, and dry milk powder (if using) in a saucepan. Scald the mixture (bring to 181°F.) Remove from heat and let stand, cooling to 120°F, about 75 minutes. (Do not attempt to accelerate the cooling process by placing in the refrigerator or a cold water bath. This will inhibit yogurt culture development.)
2. Prepare sous vide water bath, with 5 quarts of water in the container. Preheat to 110°F.
3. Whisk yogurt into warm milk until thoroughly mixed and distribute the mixture evenly between 4 Weck canning jars, approximately 3 cups in each jar.
4. Place Weck canning jars into sous vide water bath and cover loosely with lids. Cover water bath to prevent evaporation. Let milk incubate for 12 hours.
5. Remove jars from water bath and let stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
6. Line a large sieve with cheesecloth and strain yogurt. Let yogurt strain for 30 minutes, scraping and stirring in the thickened yogurt from the sides of the strainer once or twice. Yogurt volume will be reduced by roughly 50% at the end of this process, to about 24oz total. Adjust the straining time to get the thickness of yogurt you prefer.
7. Stir yogurt to an even thickness and then ladle into storage container(s) and refrigerate until fully cooled and set, about 8 hours. (Yogurt can be kept refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.)

Source

Cook's Illustrated - March/April 2022