How to make yogurt

My very first DIY fermented food was yogurt. I wasn't really into fermented foods or diy-ing or anything yet, but I *was* eating an awful lot of yogurt. And at seven dollars a pint(!) for the local yogurt, I sure wasn't eating the organic, local dairy that I knew I should be.

Homemade yogurt

I looked up how to make yogurt, and read a dozen different sites walking me through it. Then, I went to the store and purchased a gallon of milk and a little pint of plain yogurt.

Next, I did nothing. For a long time. I was too scared to do anything! This was milk, after all, and I was supposed to leave it out?!? And warm?!? How was I supposed to know it went right? What if I poisoned myself?

It was stressful.

Finally, that gallon of milk was unopened, sitting in my fridge, and due to expire the next day- it was time to get over it and do the darn thing, or else that milk was going to go to waste. Guilt is a powerfully good motivator!

And you know what? It was easy. I'd say "easy as pie," except it was easier than pie! And everyone who's ever tasted yogurt will be able to smell and taste a problem-- yogurt is yogurt is yogurt, homemade should smell and taste just like the plain flavor yogurt you get at the store.

There's just one thing that will take some creative problem solving on your part. You need a place that will stay around 100-120 degrees (that's Fahrenheit) for a period of several hours. I use a cooler, filled up with hot water, but some people use an oven with the pilot light on, or a heat pad in a box, or even directly in a crock pot if the settings are right! A thermometer comes in handy, too!

DIY Yogurt

Once you've figured the incubation chamber bit out, it's easy peasy, although the process does eat about an hour of your life! To make *a bunch* of yogurt, you need milk and bacteria: any plain yogurt that says "contains live and active cultures" can be used to culture your initial batch of yogurt.

Pour a gallon of milk and a pint of heavy whipping cream into a heavy bottomed pot, and turn the heat to low. (I like cream top yogurt, like Brown Cow brand, so I sort of cheat to achieve the same effect. If you're not a fan of the cream top thing, or for some reason are on a low-fat diet, you can leave the cream out!)

Supplies for making yogurt

Slowly let the milk heat up, stirring occasionally. DO NOT STIR DOWN TO THE BOTTOM. This I typed in all caps so you could understand how important it is. Once the milk starts heating, do not ever let your utensil hit the bottom of the pan! I'll show you why when we're done here.

While you wait for the milk to come up to 180 degrees, you're sort of stuck in the kitchen, so use the time wisely. I did some dishes, and made myself some food, and started cleaning the fridge. I found some junk that was almost empty, so I decided to make some cute little flavored yogurt cups: jam, apple butter, and pumpkin butter. Each of these jars had just a few teaspoons of stuff in the bottom, and weren’t gonna get used up before they went bad.

Jam used for flavoring yogurt

I glopped the jam and fruit butters into the bottom of 8 oz. mason jars. I also have learned to factor for heat expansion and the commercial labels being slightly off, so you'll wanna get out more jars than the math says you'll need.

When the milk and cream gets close to 170, start preparing a cooling bath-- for me that's a sink full of cold water, plug rigged so I can lift it just a little and the water pressure will force it back down. I'm lazy and want to avoid lifting a heavy pot of hot milk more times than I need!

Cooling bath 

And finally! After AGES (45 minutes or so?) the milk is at 180 degrees! Here's where the process suddenly becomes a lot quicker paced...

Move the pot of hot milk to the cooling bath and get its temp down to about 120 degrees, adding more cool water (or ice!) to the bath as needed. While that's happening, scoop a couple tablespoons of your commercial yogurt into a cup and add some hot milk, slowly, a teaspoon or so at a time, until your yogurt culture is liquidy and warm. Get your jars all ready for filling.

[liquid yogurt and jars awaiting filled]

When your milk is at 120 degrees, pour in your yogurt, while stirring your milk. Remember, NOT THE BOTTOM!! I'll show you why in just a second!

Fruit on the bottom

Now pour your proto-yogurt into your jars, and cap them, tightly! Put them in your waiting incubation chamber, and you're done. Now it's just cleanup from here. Speaking of cleanup, let's check out those dishes...

Example of burnt milk

See the gunk at the bottom of the pan? That's burnt milk, and it will form no matter how diligent you are in stirring. But, if you never ever stir it up, it becomes a lovely insulating layer and keeps the rest of your milk from tasting burnt. This is why I insisted no stirring the bottom of the pot! It comes up in little bits and then your yogurt is full of little things that both taste terrible and ruin the texture.

Close up of burnt milk 

After a few hours*, it's time to take your yogurt out of its warm n cozy chamber and stick it in the fridge. It should jiggle in the jar, not slosh like milk, but the less you shake it the better it'll stick together and make nice thick yogurt when it's cooled!

*Few hours- as little as four, as many as twelve, officially, depending on which recipe you're reading. The longer it goes, the tarter it will taste and the less lactose will be left behind. This batch in particular I popped in the cooler at 10:22 pm, and the next morning had coffee and breakfast before I remembered I'd made yogurt... I think was 9:45 am when I pulled it from the cooler. It also wasn't at 120 degrees all night; it was about 90 when I drained the water. That's okay, tho, as bacteria work in a range and 90 is in the low low end of that range, from what I can figure out.

~ Megan

A question for the readers: what's your favorite recipe or method for using plain yogurt? I eat it every day, so I never worry about using it up, but I realize not everyone can deal with a gallon of yogurt...