Homemade Yogurt & Kefir: 71 Recipes for Making & Using Probiotic-Rich Ferments

This book is a fantastic source for all sorts of dairy ferments. It provides recipes for different varieties of yogurt, kefir, cultured dairy such as crème fraîche, and how to make dishes with them -- it even features recipes for several varieties of cheese. Gianaclis Caldwell provides clear and beginner-friendly explanations on how to complete each recipe while also offering information on history, technique, and scientific aspects of the process for further depth.I initially checked this book out as a digital loan from my library, curious about how yogurt, kefir, and cheese are made. After reading a few chapters, I knew that this book was something special that I would return to time and time again, so I promptly bought a copy.I was really impressed by the broad range of recipes. Instead of covering just one type of yogurt recipe and then a variety of flavoring and foods to make with it, this book covers how to make most of the products that can be made by fermenting milk.In addition to the range, I was excited by the options the author provides for making each recipe -- many of the recipes can be made either using yogurt or kefir. This makes sense to me in a way that reminds me of sourdough baking: You can find a culture that you really enjoy/that works well for you (such as a yogurt culture or kefir grains) and then make the recipes you are interested in with that, rather than having to do both or write off half the book if you only make one or the other.Another example of how the author gives you options is in how to incubate the yogurt. It can be deterring to feel like you have to buy a bunch of specific products when diving into a new hobby. That was a fear I had with yogurt -- I didn't want to have to buy some sort of machine to incubate my yogurt if I wasn't even sure it was a hobby I would like. Gianaclis describes a variety of methods for incubating yogurt in enough detail that you are likely to be able to find a way to make yogurt with what you already own.The book also has great scaffolding to more advanced concepts. When I first picked up the book, it was yogurt or kefir I thought I might make, but Gianaclis has ordered the chapters in a way that makes it feel reasonable to go from simple yogurts and kefirs to cheese. By introducing rennet into the mix, you find you have gone from cultured milks to fresh cheeses... something I would not have considered trying my hand at before this book, but now I look forward to making chevré and wonder if the author's books on cheesemaking might be in my future.

I sat down and tried to read the whole thing! The kiddos just kepr nagging. Lol. I already learned a lot, and I know which recipes I'll try first! I saw she has other books, and I'm trying to decide which one I want to read next.

This book is lovely, I’m enjoying it so much. I’ve had a small scale dairy for many years and made my own kefir, yogurt and cheese but this book has upped my game.

So what do I like about this book: first of all, it was the most detailed book I could find available, doing my research on amazon according to page count. Others that came up in the search engine were tiny books that were more like pamphlets, not what I needed. (Of course, this is what the search engine would bring up). And indeed, it contains a lot of good information and would be more thorough compared to the others.What I didn't like: I was especially looking for a book with recipes to flavor yogurt, especially without putting a ton of sugar or sugar products. Unfortunately, flavoring is only touched briefly and very vaguely. She has more recipes for using your yogurt IN things for cooking purposes, which is not what I was looking for. She doesn't provide recipes for flavoring, only briefly mentioning flavoring yogurt, not as detailed as I need, and certainly not as detailed as a recipe would be, which is what a beginner (and really anybody), needs.And that's the thing. Rarely do most people use yogurt in cooking. Most are eating it as a flavored dish by itself, so the book is not really helpful there. I want to add, what I was looking for was recipes that made yogurt like the store bought kind of flavored yogurt that you get in the store. That wasn't in there, and that's what I needed. She has other kinds of yogurt, but not the flavored-like yogurt in a tub at the store. And I mean SPECIFIC recipes, like peach yogurt, or the blueberry like yogurt you can get in the store. Not the fruit puree, that she has in there, or the vague mentions on flavoring, but no real recipes that make it similar to store bought.But if your looking for other ways to use your yogurt, by all means, this may be right for you.Also, she doesn't go over any troubleshooting in the book that I can see, most unfortunate, as beginners really need that kind of thing, and the search engines don't necessarily provide information on what I am running into (if it exists the search engines aren't bringing up my problem as they are only bringing up those things that have absolutely nothing to do with what I typed in).For that reason, while more thorough than the others, because it doesn't really provide the information I was looking for, I am only rating this 4 stars.

Excellent writing, spectacular photos, voluminous information. This book is worth it's weight in gold. If you're following Dr. Davis's yogurt making, this book is a must-have. It's not that there are flaws in Dr. Davis's writings, but you can be left with many questions. Regarding Dr. Davis, I haven't followed his recipe exactly, just conceptually and have had excellent results. I had individual strains on hand (some Reuteri, Casei, Bulgaris, etc...) and some glucomannan on hand (for the fiber/prebiotic). I did order an Ultimate yogurt maker. Some annual seasons, 36 hours is too much. In winter it may be fine.

I am new to yogurt making and this book explains many different ways to make a wide variety of yogurt and Kefir from all over the world. Full color photos are a plus.

I am new to making yogurt. This book is a must have for making great yogurt at home. The recipes and directions are really easy to understand and follow. Explanations and great photos are plentiful. Plus the resources to purchase cultures are included in the last section. I am glad I have purchased the book and look forward to trying all the recipes.

I like this book alot! It's just what I was looking for.