Homemade yogurt is actually quite simple to make! I cannot believe we did not make it sooner! It’s flavorful, thick and creamy. It’s smooth and has a pleasant taste unlike some store yogurts. After a couple days, the yogurt mellows and tastes like dessert. It’s so good!! All you need is a good quality whole milk and a yogurt that has active cultures and that you like the taste of.
We decided to start making more homemade stuff ourselves that we typically purchase from the grocery store like ice cream, cereal, cheese and yogurt, among other items. The more I looked into ingredients and who makes these ingredients, the more I want to make what I can for my family.
I sourced good quality milk and cream from local farmers as well as a good yogurt in order to start our yogurt making.
I learned that not all yogurt has active cultures, so be sure to check the label. I also am using a simple plain yogurt that has only two ingredients – milk and culture. So many yogurts today contain an array of stabilizers, thickening agents (all those “gums”), preservatives (to extend shelf life) and other ingredients that simply should not be in yogurt. If the yogurt is heat treated or pasteurized after fermentation to extend shelf life, then the yogurt may no longer contain those helpful probiotic cultures. All yogurts start with cultures, but not all retain them.
Once you have homemade yogurt, save a couple spoonfuls to start the next batch.
Let’s get started!
Milk matters! Since I live in the city and cannot have my own milking cow, the next best thing is to purchase from farmers. Luckily we can purchase from a grocery company that gets it from the farmer — this way it’s local and has less travel from farm to table. We are using the same milk as we are using for cheese making – pasteurized but non homogenized whole milk. Non homogenized simply means that the milk has not undergone mechanical separation to remove the cream from the milk. This type of milk is often called cream-top. It’s closer to its natural state and the way we once purchased milk. After World War II, paper milk cartons were introduced with homogenized milk. The cream was removed and the milk agitated so you’d no longer need to shake the milk to incorporate the cream. After the 1950s, homogenized milk in paper cartons was mainstream and could be purchased in any store. Removing the cream created the different milks like skim, 1% and 2% milk.
You can absolutely use homogenized milk to make yogurt, though the yogurt might need extra straining for a thicker yogurt. Be sure to use whole milk, at least 3.25% milk fat.
Pour milk into a jar and pour into the pot. You can measure out 8 cups which should make about 3 quarts. I just pour the milk into the jar, dump that into the pot so I have enough for however many jars of yogurt I am making.
Warm milk to 82C/180F. It takes about 8 to 10 minutes. Leave the burner on medium low so the milk does not scorch. I mixed it often.
Cool milk to 43C/110F.
Put 2 to 3 tbsp yogurt into a bowl with 1/2 cup of the warm milk. Stir well.
Pour the yogurt mixture into a jar. Pour the warm milk in as well.
Here are my two jars.
Next we are using two methods I learned from Becoming a Farm Girl – the oven method and stove top method. These methods help so you do not require a yogurt maker.
Oven Method:
Place a lid on the jar and place in the oven with the oven light on. Leave in the oven 8 to 12 hours. I placed the jar on a tea towel.
Stove Top Method:
First I warmed up my enamel coated cast iron pot with hot water, then dried it out. Place a towel inside the pot. Place a lid on the yogurt jar and place in the pot and wrap towels all around the jar to keep it as warm as possible. Leave on the stove for 8 to 12 hours.
Straining the Yogurt
For me, it’s the next day. It’s time to strain the yogurt. I am keeping the yogurts separate to see the difference between each method.
Line a strainer with cheesecloth or a flour sack tea towel. I am using cheesecloth and a produce bag that I use for all my straining.
Pour yogurt into lined strainer.
The oven method yogurt was still warm this morning. It was also a bit thinner than the stove top method. The yogurt from the stove top was room temperature and noticeably thicker.
Here’s the two yogurts.
Leave the yogurt in the strainer, and set it in the fridge. For a lightly thickened yogurt, strain for 1 to 2 hours, 3 to 6 hours for greek-style and overnight for ultra thick.
Here’s the yogurt after 4 hours.
We decided to let the yogurt strain longer as the whey was still coming out of the yogurt. You can leave it like this and stir the whey in before eating. But we want ultra thick!
Straining the yogurt longer actually produced a thicker, less pungent yogurt. We ended up with a lot more whey that separated from the yogurt!
Store in fridge 7 to 10 days.
Save 3 tbsp of yogurt as the starter for the next yogurt batch.
Save the whey – to make pancakes, biscuits or even pour it into soup or smoothies.
Here’s the whey we got. Just shake before using!
I had the yogurt with cherry pie filling and some graham crumbs and it tasted just like cherry cheesecake! So good!
Feb 1
This is the last of our yogurt so I will need to make more now. I will use the rest of this homemade yogurt as my starter to make another quart of yogurt. I will use the oven method. I heated my milk to 180F and cooled it to 110F. Then I added milk to the yogurt and whisked it. Then I poured it in the jar with the warm milk and placed it in the oven with the light on. Tomorrow I will strain it for the day for ultra thick yogurt. And we will have yogurt once again!
