Instant Pot Yogurt Pure and Simple
French yogurt is one marked by its purity and simplicity: the ingredients are whole milk and yogurt cultures. Now with help of the Instant Pot, this sublime texture and taste of French yogurt is made each week here in my Midwestern kitchen. While true French yogurt is made in small jars, the Instant Pot allows a method for making one generous batch which can be stored in one large glass jar with a clamp lid. This is handy for using yogurt in cooking like in dressing, sauce or even cake. The ingredients: grass fed, organic, antibiotic and GMO free whole milk and two tablespoons of plain yogurt containing active yogurt cultures.
One helpful tool when making yogurt the first few times is a thermometer. I use a heat proof vintage glass thermometer with a side clip. An instant read thermometer is ideal, but in the long run not necessary. After several batches, one knows by observation and instinct the ideal heating and cooling moments. A couple rules of thumb are letting the milk come to a full boil on the stove top and then cooling until gently warm. This can be described as the temperature you want when you test a drop on one’s wrist to give a baby a bottle. or holding a pinky in the milk for 3 seconds and seeing if it is pleasantly warm.
The best tool in the kitchen is one’s instincts. Be mindful in the process and be guided by your senses. Never hurry. Enjoy the simple steps and take it all in with your senses. Scorched milk can be prevented simply through scent. If a failure results, be curious. We are working with a living culture and hence it can be finicky. It will tell you what works. So learn from a failure, doing something a bit different the next time. In the end, we each will have our own technique. About scorched milk, read on here on a solution to prevent this.
My husband and I once sat at a delightful breakfast table with cheery mustard print oil cloth covering. Served tea, coffee, croissants and a silky plain yogurt in individual pots. This yogurt was not tart, nor sweet and not gelatinous. The texture was creamy and rich not like any yogurt I had tasted. We drizzled a small bit of honey in and added some fresh fruit. We were in the south of France and this was my introduction to French yogurt. Making your own yogurt in the French tradition of pure and simple is beguiling and doable. How lucky we are to have a vast array of milks available and the modern invention of the Instant Pot to keep the savior faire of classic French yogurt alive.
1/2 gallon whole milk
2 Tbsp plain yogurt, unsweetened with active yogurt cultures. Purchase or use yogurt from a prior batch.
Place 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt in a small bowl and allow to come to room temperature as you proceed.
On the stovetop, bring to a boil 1/2 gallon of whole milk. Remove the pan from the heat and let it stand until the milk cools to 115- 120 degrees F. Transfer the milk to a bowl and place the bowl of milk over a larger bowl with a bed of ice. This method of cooling will take just about 20 minutes. Cooling may otherwise take 2 hours. Once cooled, measure out 1/2 cup of milk and gently whisk into 2 Tbsp. of plain yogurt. Pour the large bowl of warm milk into the inner container of the Instant Pot. Whisk in the milk/yogurt mixture. Clamp on the lid and press ‘yogurt.’ This setting automatically heats the yogurt for 8 hours. You can increase the time to 24 hours, which I recommend for thicker yogurt. Once complete, remove the inner pot to a rack and cool about 10 minutes. Place the inner pot in the refrigerator overnight or for several hours.
Once well-chilled, spoon your creamy yogurt into a large glass jar.
Notes:
Bringing pasteurized milk to a boil is not needed to kill bacteria but this does change the structure of the milk protein casein producing a creamy yogurt.
