I love yogurt.
Nothing fancy, just plain, whole milk yogurt with all the good stuff (live and active cultures, protein, animal fat, and calcium) and none of the bad (gelatin, sweeteners, artificials).
Yogurt is one of those foods that I could eat every single day. I like it with fruit mixed in, topped with a sprinkle of buckwheat groats and molasses, on top of chili or baked potatoes, with vanilla and cinnamon, I even love the tang of it straight up.
I don’t love paying $4-5 a quart for the organic stuff. I don’t love that the plastic tubs it’s sold in aren’t recycled in our local curbside program.
I love making yogurt!
I’ve been making my own yogurt weekly/bi-weekly for over a year now. It’s quite simple, although it can take a few tries to get into the swing of things. I use a yogurt maker and, although it can be made in the oven or a cooler or other home-rigged device, I highly recommend a yogurt maker.
There are few items in my kitchen that I would replace the moment they broke without batting an eye and my yogurt maker is one of them (can you guess what another one is? :)). Luckily, they aren’t very expensive. Mine was gifted to me, the Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker, but it retails for around $30. The yogurt it makes ends up costing about $2 a quart, or less than half of what the yogurt at the store costs.
I’ve written about my love of making yogurt before but I get lots of requests for the details so here they are!
Yogurt Making Step-by-Step
Time required: Less than 30 minutes of hands on and then up to 9 hours in the yogurt maker.
Ingredients needed: Milk, yogurt in a ratio of 2 tablespoons of yogurt per cup of milk (exact amount will depend on the capacity of your yogurt maker)
Equipment needed: Yogurt maker with jars and lids, big pot, whisk, kitchen thermometer, stove, funnel (optional)
1. Buy a high quality milk and yogurt. I usually use Natural By Nature but yesterday I settled for Homestead Creamery after two stores were out of my first choice. Natural By Nature is grass-fed, organic, and NOT ultra-pasteurized. Pasteurization kills ALL bacteria and enzymes, the good and the bad. Anyways, back to the yogurt…
2. Pour desired amount of milk into a big pot on the stove and set the burner to medium high.
3. Take the necessary amount of yogurt out of the fridge and set in a bowl on the counter to come to room temperature while the milk heats.
4. Whisk the milk regularly (every 3 minutes or so) and once you start seeing little bubbles form begin to check the temperature.
5. Bring the milk up to 180* F then immediately take off of the heat. Watch closely towards the end because boiled over milk is a bitch to clean off the stove.
6. Cool the milk to 120*. Whisk regularly to help cool the milk. You can also put the pot in an ice bath in the sink to expedite cooling, just whisk and check the temperature often because you want to catch it right at 120*.
7. While the milk is cooling set your yogurt maker up. Take all the lids off the jars, plug it in, and turn it on. Make sure to set the yogurt maker in a spot where it will not be disturbed for up to 9 hours (you don’t want to move it once the magic starts). Once the milk reaches 120* you want to work fast to get it in the jars and in the machine to keep the milk mixture as close to temperature as possible. You may want to have a funnel handy to help fill the jars.
8. 120* and it’s go time. Quickly whisk the room-temp (more or less) yogurt into the warm milk. Once completely mixed in (15 seconds of vigorous whisking), fill the jars with the warm milk mixture, screw on the lids, set in the machine, and put the cover on.
9. Do the dishes and wait 7-9 hours. It’s done when you turn a jar sideways and the yogurt pretty much stays in place. It will become tangier and thicker the longer it sits in the maker.
10. Put the jars in the fridge. It’s tempting to give it a taste but warm yogurt is kind of weird, it will be better once it cools, promise.
11. Enjoy and save a little bit for your next batch!
Heating the milk
Cooling the milk in a ice batch in the sink.
As I said, it can feel a little confusing at first, worrying about the temperature and doing the steps in the right order. It quickly becomes familiar and these days I don’t even measure my yogurt start or pay much attention to how long it sits in the maker, I just go with instinct and it turns out every time. It does take a bit of time but I usually make it after lunch while I’m cleaning up the kitchen or prepping kombucha ‘cus you know I love multi-tasking. 🙂
I am definitely considering making yogurt after reading this post. The thing that stops me is that I already have many space hogging gadgets to make much of my own food! BUT a yogurt maker seems like a good investment because like you, I eat it every day. And $30 is not bad at all. I think I just finished the convincing myself part that you started. Homemade yogurt here I come…
By the way, I’m very impressed by all the things you make yourself. It’s definitely inspiring!
Do it! :)! Remember, you don’t have to have a maker to make yogurt, if you really don’t want another appliance you can research how to use your oven or a cooler or a heating pad to keep it warm. The important thing is that you keep the jars (you can use mason jars) between 100-120* for the entire time to allow it to set and for all the good bacteria to cultivate. I just ate a bowl of yogurt and it was so good!
Kim, I don’t have a yogurt maker either. I also have a tiny kitchen and try not to have single-use kitchen equipment! (my ice cream maker is an exception :)) So I just use a makeshift warm water bath in a big stockpot and put it in the oven with the light on. Though I should do what Faith says and check the water temperature every so often while it’s in there. But yogurt turns out ok though…
Faith, I know you’re not into refined sugars, but have you tried Vietnamese yogurt? (made with regular milk and sweetened condensed milk) I make this every now and then for a sweet treat: http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/vietnamese-yogurt-recipes/
(This blogger is Vietnamese so I trust her recipe!)
That Vietnamese yogurt sounds amazing, I will give it a try! I made yogurt in my sink (filled with hot water) for a few months but I love the consistency of the yogurt maker. I really want an ice cream maker but I keep telling myself I don’t have space!
Thanks for the info! Perhaps I’ll try it without a maker first to see how it goes!
Thank you for these easy to follow yogurt making instructions. A friend recommended that same yogurt machine. I’ve only seen ultra-pasteurized milk for sale in the stores here. I’ll have to special order from the natural foods store, unless I’m lucky enough to get some fresh goat milk from my friends. Wish I had my own goats, I would be eating tons of yogurt.
I love your DIY in the kitchen courage. I have wanted to make my own Kombucha for ages and am still a little hesitant and scared to try. You inspire me 🙂
Thanks! I never really thought of it as courage but I guess it is!
Hi Faith,
I just acquired a yogurt maker (same brand as yours!) from my mom, but my first attempt to make my own failed. It separated into a solid middle with liquid surrounding, and little whey bits… Searching around, I saw suggestions that it had incubated for too long… Could you help answer a few questions, though?
– What type of yogurt do you start with? I used Fage 2 % (greek)– perhaps it doesn’t work to use Greek yogurt?
– My instruction booklet tells me to leave the lids OFF of the jar while the yogurt incubates, but your instructions say to put the lids on (and we have the same machine)… could this make a difference?
– I was making 2% yogurt (I started with 2% milk and yogurt), so I estimated it would take 8.5 hours, since the instructions say 7 hours for whole milk, 10 hours for skimmed milk– do you think I estimated too much time?
– It tells me not to “disturb” the yogurt while incubating, but at what point is it okay to take the plastic cover off to check for “doneness”?
Thanks for your help and advise!!
Let’s see here, greek yogurt should be fine as long as it has live, active cultures and no additives. I was given my yogurt maker without instructions so I just assumed that you put the lids on and it works for me. I have occasionally had the same thing happen that you are talking about, and it does seem to be a result of it getting too hot in the incubation but I still eat it, just drain off the whey and you should have nice, thick yogurt! Some recipes even suggest that you stir the yogurt before refrigerating it but I prefer the firmness when it’s not stirred. Did you toss it? Even if you don’t love the texture plain I’m sure it would still be good for baking! I’ve also found that the results vary depending on the freshness of the milk, some instructions recommend only using the freshest milk. As far as time, after 6 hours it should be set up enough to take a peek.
Better luck next time!
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[…] to make yogurt again soon. Wanting a bit more information about the process, I asked my friend Faith, who uses the same yogurt maker that I have, for some […]
can yogurt be made w/ soy milk or almond milk?????????/
if lactose intolerant… will the bacteria offset the lactose sensitivity???? will 2% milk help in this regards?
is 2 % yogurt healthier for u/ less calories etc than whole milk?\
i assume u can make it from 2 % milk,.. is this correct? any problems w/this?
I did try almond milk once and coconut milk once, neither produced satisfactory results. I eat whole milk these days because I find that the flavor and richness it produces is well worth the small difference in calories as compared to 2%, but yes, you can make it with skim, 1%, or 2% milk.
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If I wanted to make Strawberry or Blueberry yogurt, when or how do I add the berries? A link or suggestions for flavored yogurt and greek yogurt would be nice.
Thanks.
Hi Bretton,
I didn’t have good results when I tried to add flavors into the processing; I think it’s best to make plain yogurt and add to it when you are ready to eat it. As far as greek, it’s just strained. You can use a towel or coffee filter in a colander and strain off the whey for as long as you want to achieve the thickness you desire.