Saturday, October 21, 2017

Instant Pot Yogurt

I finally made yogurt in the instant pot! It was super easy, but it did require some planning about the different steps.
I followed the method from This Old Gal.

Sterilize (Optional)
  1. Add three cups of water to the Instant Pot cooking pot, lock on lid and close Pressure Valve. Push the Steam button and adjust time to 5 minutes. When Beep is heard, open Pressure Valve (Quick Release). When all pressure has been released, remove lid and dump out the water. Dry and cool off cooking pot.
Make Yogurt (Not Under Pressure)
  1. Pour Milk into cold/cool Pressure Cooker cooking pot. Cover with IP Lid or Glass Lid. Close the Pressure Valve, if desired.
  2. Push Yogurt button and then the Adjust button, until it says "boil."  {For IP Plus, push Yogurt button until it says "boil"}  A few times during boil cycle, remove lid and whisk Milk.
  3. When Beep sounds, open lid, whisk and take temperature. If the temperature is not 180 degrees, repeat last step or use the Sauté/Low function to get it up to temp, whisking continuously.
  4. When 180 degrees is reached, remove cooking pot and place in kitchen sink full of cold water. Cool Milk down to 95-110 degrees, whisking often.
  5. Temper starter - scoop out some Milk and whisk in the Starter. Pour Milk (w/the Starter) back into cooking pot, whisk thoroughly.
  6. Place cooking pot back into the Instant Pot and cover with IP Lid or Glass Lid.  Press Yogurt button.
  7. The display screen will say 8:00 (hit again or Adjust, if necessary). {For IP Plus, press Yogurt button repeatedly until the display says 8:00 Normal}  Make sure display says "Normal." Use the +/- button to adjust time to your desired level of tartness. The program will end after whatever time you have set to incubate.
  8. When Cycle ends, remove cooking pot (covered) to refrigerator, until cool, 6-8 hours (undisturbed).
Make it Greek Yogurt
  1. Use a Yogurt Strainer and strain the yogurt in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Your whey should be translucent/clear. If the whey is cloudy, add another layer of cheesecloth/butter muslin to your straining device. The Euro Strainer should produce clear whey.

    Next time, I will let the yogurt sit for a longer. Probably 10 hours, maybe more, but I thought that after 8 hours it wasn't tart enough. I also didn't strain the yogurt.