Life, with Clotted Cream
An ordinary life with a dusting of luxury.
Homemade Instant Pot Yogurt
Ever since I could remember I dreamt of making my own yogurt and when I saw Instant Pot had a function to make yogurt, I was totally set on buying one of these miracle pots. I therefore was totally over the moon when my hubby surprised me with a Instant Pot!
As easy as 1…2…3…!
The first thing I do is sterilise my equipment. I don’t know if it does help to make the yogurt last longer, but I’d rather be safe than sorry! It just brings me a bit of peace of mind. It also ensures that the inner pot of my IP is free of any oil that I may have missed.
Place a clean fork (my whisk doesn’t fit!), tablespoon, teaspoon and the cup that you’re going to make the starter yogurt in on a trivet into your Instant Pot’s inner pot. Pour 1 cup of water at the bottom before setting the IP to 3 minutes on high pressure. Then do a quick release once the time is up.
Please ensure that you use some tongs to take out the equipment as it is very hot. Pour the water out and dry the pot thoroughly with a paper towel just to make sure there is no unnecessary water mixing with the milk.
The next thing is to take out the silicon seal as this is not needed to make yogurt and I really don’t want my yogurt to taste of last night’s garlic!
Standard Coldstart Method
The milk I’m using is only UHT (Ultra High Temperature Pasteurised) and not Ultra Filtered as well. Here in the UK, I have not yet come across milk that have both been Ultra-Filtered and UHT at the same time (if you do know, please let me know in the comments below!). I can find one or the other but not both in the same bottle. I’ve learnt that using UHT milk is by far safer to use if you don’t want to go through all the effort of pasteurising the milk or if you don’t own a thermometer.
The process is very simple: pour the milk into your Instant Pot liner, reserve about 1/2 cup of the milk and mix that with your yogurt before stirring it into the milk. The milk I use at room temperature and therefore I take the yogurt out of the fridge at least 15-20 minutes before I start.
Once the 8 hours is up, cover the inner pot and place in the fridge for 4 hours to firm up and stop the incubation process. You don’t have to stop the incubation at 8 hours, but I don’t like my yogurt too tart. If you like it a bit more like sour cream, then feel free to add another hour or two to your incubation time before putting in the fridge.
After 4 hours in the fridge, I strain my yogurt in two parts: One part (about half of the yogurt) I strain for 3-4 hours and I use this as eating yogurt paired with honey and fruit. The other half I strain overnight. I use this (much thicker!) yogurt for cooking and making savoury dips like Tzatziki or my Minty Yogurt Dip with Feta.
Flavours
Blueberry: Mix 150 grams of blueberries with 4 tablespoons of sugar. Cook on a medium to low heat on the stove until the berries are soft and you can break them gently with the back of a spoon. Spoon into sterilised glass jars before topping with yogurt.
Cherry: Blend 150 grams of frozen cherries in a food processor until it is coarsely chopped. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Cook on a medium to low heat until syrupy and cooked through. Spoon into sterilised glass jars before topping with yogurt.
Cherry and Apple: Place 150 grams of frozen black cherries in a pan along with 1 finely chopped apple and 4 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Cook on a medium to low heat until the berries are soft and you can break them down with the back of a spoon. Once the cherries are broken up, boil until syrupy. Spoon into sterilised glass jars before topping with yogurt.
Blackberry: Place 150 grams of fresh blackberries in a pan along with 4 tablespoons of sugar, a squeeze of honey and 4 tablespoons of water. Cook on a medium to low heat until you can break the berries with the back of a spoon. Cook until syrupy and spoon into sterilised glass jars before topping with yogurt.
Raspberry: Place 150 grams of fresh raspberries, a squeeze of honey and 3 tablespoons of sugar into a pan. Cook on a medium to low heat until the berries have cooked into a jam. You can either strain the jam through a sieve if you don’t like the pips or you can use as is by spooning into sterilised glass jars before topping with yogurt.
For all the fruit jams above I spooned a heaped tablespoon into each of my jars. Each recipe yields about 4 servings.
Vanilla: Before spooning strained yogurt into sterilised glass jars, mix one tablespoon of vanilla bean paste and two tablespoons of honey for every two cups of yogurt.
Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients
- 2 litres UHT milk (I use Candia semi-skimmed)
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt with live, active bacteria (I use Fage or Yeo Valley)
Directions
- Sterilise all utensils that you are going to use (any forks, spoons and the cup you are using to make yogurt starter) by setting your IP for 3 minutes on high pressure with one cup of water. Do a quick release. Once you’ve taken out the equipment, dry the liner thoroughly.
- Pour the milk into the Instant Pot liner, reserve about 1/2 cup.
- Mix the yogurt with the reserved milk and then whisk the starter into the milk.
- Take the silicone ring out of the IP lid and set the vent to ‘venting’.
- Press the yogurt button and ensure the timer is set for 8 hours.
- Once 8 hours is up, take the inner pot out of the IP and cover (I use clingfilm, but you can buy a lid for the liner). Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
- Once the yogurt sat for 4 hours in the fridge you can either use as is, or you can strain it to make the yogurt thicker.
- The yogurt keeps for about a week in the fridge. If you flavour it, it may be less.
Life, with Clotted Cream 
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