When you stay at a bed and breakfast, the food should be special.  To that end, at Pinecrest, we serve housemade yogurt.  Firstly start with an Instant Pot and whole milk.  Then you can control the sugars and flavors to suit your taste.  While the process takes all day, most of the time is hands-off.

Ingredients

½ gallon whole milk
2 T plain yogurt
To sweeten:  ½ T vanilla bean paste (or 1 T vanilla extract) plus 2 T honey

Directions

Put ½ gallon of milk in Instant Pot (make sure there is no residue from something savory like chili.)  Put on lid; it doesn’t matter if pressure relief valve is on or off.  

Touch YOGURT button until it says “boil.”  Pot will beep and begin to heat.  When milk reaches 175ish degrees, Instapot will beep again and say YOGURT.  This is about 30 min.  

Take off the lid and wait 5 minutes then remove the inner-liner to cool.  After about 40 minutes, skim off the top with a spoon and take the temperature.  You want it at 120 degrees.  Keep checking the temperature until it’s cooled to 115-120 degrees.

Use a ladle to take out about ½ c milk from Instant Pot.  Whisk in 2 T plain yogurt then pour it all back into the pot.

Put the liner back in the instant pot and put on the lid.

Touch YOGURT button until it says 8:00.  Pot will beep in 8 hours and plain yogurt is ready.  (In the unlikely event that it’s not ready, touch the yogurt button until 24 hours and check it again, about 12 hours later.) Take out 2 T of starter and refrigerate this separately for the next batch.

Make it Greek and More

If you want Greek yogurt, strain the yogurt in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a nut-milk bag overnight in the refrigerator.  The whey will separate into the bowl while the yogurt gets thicker.  Our yogurt at Pinecrest is always Greek-style, worth the extra step for ultimate creaminess.

To sweeten, stir in ½ T vanilla bean paste (or 1 T vanilla extract) and 2 T honey.  Store in refrigerator.

The whey can be saved and used to make homemade bread or biscuits.  Substitute it for water or buttermilk.  More deliciousness!

Stay at Pinecrest

When you want to be pampered, book your stay at our Asheville bed & breakfast.  We’ll make the yogurt and all the rest of a delicious fresh breakfast without ever having to leave the B&B!

Update April 2022: We are no longer serving house-made yogurt.  Health department regulations require a HAACP.  It’s a 17 page document including ph meters, refrigeration logs, flow charts, and other cumbersome procedures.  Sorry, but we hope you can make yogurt at your home.