Yogurta Be Kidding Me!

If you tolerate dairy well, seek to incorporate more calcium and ferments into your diet, this yogurt is for you!

It has two ingredients, milk and sour cream. Compared to grocery store brands, it's inexpensive, creamy, and tastes 100% amazing.

Most of us already have sour cream in the fridge, and in this case, it becomes the starter.

How do we use it? We love to make frozen yogurt, breads, naan, desserts, sauces, buttermilk substitute, salad dressings and breakfast. We love it topped with granola, such as in this Gingerbread Granola recipe.

A little side note here on granola. After testing many many recipes, our favorite everyday granola is here. It also freezes well in batches. We discovered how to add extra crunch by inserting 1/2 cup crushed Rice Chex (subtracted from the oats).

Back to yogurt. This is an ancient Eastern European recipe that has been shared by the Moldovan matriarch, Lucia Ivantchev. Her recipe story is here.

Adaptation

I've adapted this recipe for the Instant Pot (IP), which has the built in yogurt function.

First, you will need to locate the yogurt function button on the front of your IP to ensure your model has this feature.

The recipe is very flexible and you can play around with the fermentation times to acquire your desired consistency.

Sour Cream Yogurt in the IP

1. 4 cups 2% or whole milk (we use lactose free) and 3-4 TBS of sour cream. *pre-soak the inside of the pot in vinegar/water for ten minutes to neutralize odors.

2. Hit the yogurt button and select "boil" to pasteurize milk. The IP will beep when this step is completed.

3. After the IP beeps, open the lid, and submerge in an ice-water bath to cool to 110 degrees. *Note, if you want thick yogurt, let it sit in the pot for five minutes before adding to ice water.

4. Test with a thermometer & gently stir in 3-4 TBS of sour cream.

5. Press the yogurt button again to select the incubation timer. You can select anywhere from 12-24 hours. We typically incubate for 24 hours.

Overall, this yogurt has slightly higher fat content than low fat milk, but we're okay with it in moderation. Fat is a great carrier for calcium, vitamin A, phosphorous and potassium. It lasts about three weeks in a tightly sealed fridge container.

Here is a great step-by-step of instant pot yogurt by my friends Amy & Jack. If you would like to learn about the differences between sour cream and regular yogurt, check that out here.

Enjoy!

The character, Yogurt (Mel Brooks), from the hilarious movie Spaceballs, 1987