Yogurt

Equipment: Spatula; Digital instant-read thermometer; Sous vide setup; Canning jars. Timing: 12 hr total; 30 min active. Yield: 840 g yogurt, about 5 servings.

1. Preheat sous vide to 109 °F / 43 °C. ChefSteps cooks sous vide with Joule, the sous vide tool created by our in-house team of chefs, designers, and engineers. Compact and gorgeous, Joule is a WiFi-connected device you control easily with your smartphone.

2. Heat milk (800 g whole milk). In a pot over low heat, warm milk to 180 °F / 82 °C. As it heats, run a spatula along the bottom of the pot to ensure there's no scalding on the bottom, but don't worry too much about overheating. OPTIONAL: Before you begin, prepare an ice bath. Filling a bowl with ice or very cold water will help your milk cool down quickly after you remove it from the heat. But you can let it cool down at room temp too. It'll just take a while longer.

3. Cool it down. Remove milk from the stove and transfer to ice bath or leave at room temp to cool. You want it to wind up at or below 110 °F / 43 °C.

4. Add that 'gurt! (40 g live-culture yogurt). Spoon yogurt into a bowl or pitcher. Add some of the milk to the yogurt and mix until smooth. Add the rest of the milk to the mixture and continue stirring until combined.

5. Transfer to jars. Carefully pour mixture into a large (1 L) canning jar or a bunch of small ones. Screw on lids. NOTE: If you've made our sous vide crème brûlée, you'll remember screwing the lids on "fingertip tight" so they won't crack in the water. Because the water is much cooler for sous vide yogurt, this doesn't matter. You can just screw the lids on as tightly as you normally would.

6. Incubate. Transfer jars to preheated water. Allow to incubate for at least five hours. You can leave the jars there for a little longer if you get busy. Nothing bad will happen.

7. Chill. Transfer yogurt to the fridge and leave overnight to set.

8. Eat it! Serve it with granola and fruit. Mix equal parts yogurt and mango purée for a yummy, Creamsicle-colored lassi. Add cucumber, lemon, spices, and salt for a savory raita.

Level Up: Make it Your-Gurt Strain: Straining the whey from your yogurt will result in a firmer, less acidic product. Transfer yogurt to a container covered with a coffee filter, cheesecloth, or towel. Gently stir from time to time to help things along. Allow to strain at least one to two hours and as long as overnight. After a couple hours, the yogurt should have the thickness of your typical store-bought stuff. Leave it overnight, and it will have an even thicker texture similar to that of mascarpone. Keep in mind that with straining, you will end up with about 40–50 percent of your starting volume.

Play With Temperatures: In order for the bacteria to ferment the milk, we need to set the temperature no higher than 113 °F / 45 °C. Incubate at this temperature for about three hours, and you'll wind up with a delicious but coarser yogurt that has a tendency to leak whey. If you can't deal with liquidy 'gurt, go for a lower temp. You can go as low as 86 °F / 30 °C, though you'll need to leave your yogurt in the water for about 18 hours; you'll wind up with a delicate texture and a product that's far less likely to leak whey. We ran a bunch of trials in the kitchen and found our favorite result—thick but not too thick—at 109 °F / 43 °C.

Make Yogurty Treats RAITA: Combine yogurt, shaved cucumber, lemon, garlic, cumin, salt, and black pepper (amounts as needed) for a flavorful, cool raita you can pour over curry, lamb, and other rich or spicy dishes. MANGO LASSI: For four tall glasses of mango lassi, use 32 fl oz yogurt and 32 fl oz mango purée or equal parts in any amount.

From https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/easy-delicious-sous-vide-yogurt