My homemade greek yogurt in the instant pot is good, but not great. Looking for subtle creamy flavor, not just the tang. I had homemade yogurt at a small greek restaurant and it was so good. Any secrets such as possibly adding condensed milk or subtle flavoring?

What’s a good organic yogurt to start with?
Can I do this with cashew yogurt?

Anonymous wrote:I tried making yogurt in the IP a few times and always followed instructions. Always ended up more creamy than thick. How do you make it properly thick like Skyr?

It might be your starter yogurt. I use Blue Ridge Dairy greek yogurt. List page list what farmer’s market they attend.
http://www.blueridgedairy.com/

Boil the milk to 190, let cool to 105, mix in yogurt and place in machine for 8-12 hours. It comes out really really thick.

Anonymous wrote:I tried making yogurt in the IP a few times and always followed instructions. Always ended up more creamy than thick. How do you make it properly thick like Skyr?

I think you have to strain it.

Have been doing this for a few years - imo the longer it takes to heat up, the creamier it is.

I tried making yogurt in the IP a few times and always followed instructions. Always ended up more creamy than thick. How do you make it properly thick like Skyr?

I've been making yogurt for years in instapot, about a gallon of milk per week. Pour milk in, click on yogurt setting until it says boil. IP will beep when it is done. Remove the milk and let it cool until the milk is between 100-110. I usually stir it a few times to mix any separation and to help it cool. If I'm in a hurry, I'll put the pot in a sink full of cold water and it will cool down really fast (stir and make sure you check the temperature so it doesn't cool down too much). Then you mix in 1 and 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (if making 1 gallon of milk). Put it back in the instapot and click yogurt setting for amount of time (I've tried anywhere from 10 to 13 hours, depends on how tart you want it).

Obviously your yogurt starter needs to have live bacteria. And I usually leave it out while heating/cooling the milk so that it is not too cold when mixing into the milk. You can use your own yogurt for the next batch, but I only do that a few times and then I will go back to a store bought yogurt for a fresh starter (it changes over time if you keep reusing your own yogurt to start the next batch, and not always for the better).

Definitely use a thermometer until you get to know your IP. For whatever reason, the yogurt setting on mine doesn't heat the milk hot enough. I put it on sautee for the lat 5 minutes to boost it up to 180.

Anonymous wrote:Let us know how it goes, op! My IP's yogurt button is just one setting, so I have no clue what temp it goes to.

GL!

It worked! It's creamy and thick and a little tangy! I was thinking I'd have it for lunch but forgot that it would be warm and probably not at its best at 110 degrees right out of the pot lol.

I’m a Fairlife convert. The cold start couldn’t be simpler. Just mix a little yogurt into the milk, put the milk into cute littl jars, put the jars in the IP, and voila! 8 hours later, you have perfect, creamy little yogurts.

Let us know how it goes, op! My IP's yogurt button is just one setting, so I have no clue what temp it goes to.

GL!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boil til it’s foaming on the sides - about 180. Then cool down to 80 (need to cool down bc if you put yogurt in milk that’s too hot, it will kill bacteria). We always make maple - just add 4-5 tbsp of pure maple syrup. SO GOOD. Commercial yogurt will seem much too sweet after making homemade.
Hope you love it!

Milk is now 171 on yogurt setting after 1 hour. It seemed like a long time so I checked it and it has a skin on top and is sticking a little at the bottom. Is that okay to leave in it?

I'm using this recipe and sanitized in three instant pot first. I won't if that's why the milk is sticking to the bottom, because it was hot when I poured in milk from the fridge? I'm not sure if I should stir it up.

Skin on top is normal. It'll dissolve when you stir the mixture to mix in the culture. Mine also sticks on the bottom sometimes, I don't know why, but the yogurt always turns out fine. I'd say you're fine to leave it. I don't think it would cause any problems to stir it at this stage, but it's not necessary.

Thanks! I ended up removing the skin at the top but didn't scrape up the stuck milk solids at the bottom

The instant pot function never reached boil so I had to use "Saute" to get above 180. Mixed in a little over two tablespoons Stoneyfield plain whole milk yogurt after it cooled to 110 (mixed with a little of the heated milk first then added to the whole pot. I never noticed before that Stoneyfield contained pectin. I hope that's not a problem.

My instant pot yogurt setting only has low, medium, high, or custom, so I choose custom and manually set the temp at 110 and the time for 12 hours. I hope that's right!

We'll see tomorrow, lunch break!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boil til it’s foaming on the sides - about 180. Then cool down to 80 (need to cool down bc if you put yogurt in milk that’s too hot, it will kill bacteria). We always make maple - just add 4-5 tbsp of pure maple syrup. SO GOOD. Commercial yogurt will seem much too sweet after making homemade.
Hope you love it!

Milk is now 171 on yogurt setting after 1 hour. It seemed like a long time so I checked it and it has a skin on top and is sticking a little at the bottom. Is that okay to leave in it?

I'm using this recipe and sanitized in three instant pot first. I won't if that's why the milk is sticking to the bottom, because it was hot when I poured in milk from the fridge? I'm not sure if I should stir it up.

Skin on top is normal. It'll dissolve when you stir the mixture to mix in the culture. Mine also sticks on the bottom sometimes, I don't know why, but the yogurt always turns out fine. I'd say you're fine to leave it. I don't think it would cause any problems to stir it at this stage, but it's not necessary.

I make a half-gallon of yogurt in the IP about every 3-4 weeks. My family loves it.

I use South Mountain Creamery milk, but any milk will do. I've heard that non-UHT milks work better than UHT, but haven't tried a UHT milk to verify. I prefer whole milk for the creamier taste.

I like the cultures from New England Cheesemaking if I don't have an existing yogurt to start from:
https://cheesemaking.com/collections/starter-cultures-for-cheese-making?_=pf&pf_t_culture_type=yogurt

Hit the yogurt button until you get to the boil option. Let it cook until it beeps, then open the lid and let it cool to 115. Then add the cultures and hit the yogurt button. I let mine go anywhere from 8 hours to 16 hours, depending on what's convenient for me. The longer culture times make a yogurt that's a little thicker and tangier.

If you want it really thick, chill it and then strain through a double layer of cheesecloth to drain off some of the whey. Save the whey - it's delicious in place of water in baked goods, oatmeal, or smoothies. I freeze extra in an ice cube tray for smoothies.

I love to strain out the whey through a double cheese cloth. Losing about 40% of the volume it seems but so thick and delicious. Set in fridge to slowly strain overnight