How to Make Creamy Homemade Yogurt Clay Pot Style: Just 30 Minutes Active Time!
You guys know I love my homemade yogurt, right? I mean, it’s delicious, it’s easy. What’s not to like? I’ll tell you what. Standing around my house waiting for timers to go off. And now I’m making homemade yogurt clay pot style.
That’s what. My girls go through a lot of yogurt. And that’s a good thing! It’s chock full of probiotics, so it’s great for gut health and immunities. But man those tiny girls can take DOWN some yogurt.
So I’m sometimes making a half-gallon batch every other day. And to do that, I have to sit with my good friend Crocky the Crockpot all day. I mean, I can go do stuff, but only in 2.5-hour spans of time. 🙂 I love him, but sometimes I need to go!
So, when I read about using my VitaClay to make homemade yogurt clay pot style. And that I’d only need to heat it up for 12 minutes, let it cool down, stir in the yogurt or yogurt culture and…GASP…walk away for the full 8 hours, I may’ve teared up a little.
I get a little emo about my kitchen appliances, don’t you?
So, while I had the “regular” version of the VitaClay, I promptly upgraded to the yogurt function version. (Yes, I realize I need a kitchen appliance intervention. But what fun is that?)
I whipped up the first batch just as soon as I got it unpacked and I couldn’t be more pleased!
Homemade Yogurt in a Clay Pot
Ingredients
6 to 8 cups whole milk
1/2 cup yogurt (from the store or a previous batch) or 1 packet yogurt culture
Method
Place your milk (really, you can use any milk that has “sugars” in it for the yogurt culture to feed on, but we use whole milk or raw milk) in your VitaClay.
Press the Rice Cooking button until you reach the “Reheat” setting. Reheat for 12 minutes or until your milk reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 Celsius) and is frothy, but not yet boiling.
Take the clay pot out of the cooker, remove the lid and let the milk cool down to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius).
This took about 20-30 minutes for mine, but this will depend a lot on the temperature of your house. If you don’t want to wait that long, you can pour the milk into another bowl and set it in an ice bath to cool it faster.
Once your milk is cool, mix your yogurt starter into the milk. Place the clay pot back in the VitaClay. Add the lid, close up the VitaClay and Press the Slow Cooking button until you reach the yogurt setting.
Press the Hour button until you reach 8 hours (6 if you prefer less potent yogurt, 10 if you like it sour).
I try to time this last bit so I do it either right before bed, so I can wake up to yogurt, or early in the morning so we have yogurt around dinner.
Open up your VitaClay and you’ll have creamy yogurt inside! You can pour the whey (the liquid on top) into a container for use in lacto-fermentation recipes.
Or, you can just mix it in and have more liquidy yogurt. My girls like smoothies, so I alternate between saving the whey and mixing it in, depending on what our intended use is.
IMPORTANT! Save 1/2 cup of your yogurt in a baggie or container to start the next batch.
DO NOT believe that your children (or you, let’s be honest) can hold themselves back from the LAST 1/2 cup of yogurt in the container so you can use it in the next batch. Remove it and store it elsewhere. The freezer is a good place.
Now just pour your fancy schmancy homemade yogurt into a container and use it however you like. My girls and I used this batch to make Blueberry Banana Green (But Really Kinda Purple) Smoothies (recipe to come)!
Love it? PIN it please!
Creamy Homemade Yogurt in a Clay Pot? Yes, Please!
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup yogurt (from the store or a previous batch) or 1 packet yogurt culture
Instructions
- Place your milk (really, you can use any milk that has "sugars" in it for the yogurt culture to feed on, but we use whole milk or raw milk) in your VitaClay.
- Press the Rice Cooking button until you reach the "Reheat" setting. Reheat for 12 minutes or until your milk reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 Celsius) and is frothy, but not yet boiling.
- Take the clay pot out of the cooker, remove the lid and let the milk cool down to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius). This took about 20-30 minutes for mine, but this will depend a lot on the temperature of your house. If you don't want to wait that long, you can pour the milk into another bowl and set it in an ice bath to cool it faster.
- Once your milk is cool, mix your yogurt starter into the milk. Place the clay pot back in the VitaClay. Add the lid, close up the VitaClay and Press the Slow Cooking button until you reach the yogurt setting. Press the Hour button until you reach 8 hours (6 if you prefer less potent yogurt, 10 if you like it sour).
- I try to time this last bit so I do it either right before bed, so I can wake up to yogurt, or early in the morning so we have yogurt around dinner.
- Open up your VitaClay and you'll have creamy yogurt inside! You can pour the whey (the liquid on top) into a container for use in lacto-fermentation recipes. Or, you can just mix it in and have more liquidy yogurt. My girls like smoothies, so I alternate between saving the whey and mixing it in, depending on what our intended use is.
- IMPORTANT! Save 1/2 cup of your yogurt in a baggie or container to start the next batch. DO NOT believe that your children (or you, let's be honest) can hold themselves back from the LAST 1/2 cup of yogurt in the container so you can use it in the next batch. Remove it and store it elsewhere. The freezer is a good place.
- Now just pour your fancy schmancy homemade yogurt into a container and use it however you like. My girls and I used this batch to make Blueberry Banana Green (But Really Kinda Purple) Smoothies (recipe to come)!
