How to Make Yogurt – My Failures & Finally My Success
With our goats producing extra milk, above what we were able to drink, I was able to try making various milk-based products like Feta Cheese, Ricotta (the simplest of all) and yogurt. Making your own yogurt can sound very simple and it really was after I found a method that actually worked.
How NOT to Make Yogurt
Since it’s been awhile since I had my yogurt failures I cannot tell you the exact ways I tried; I should have written this a long time ago! I do know that I tried making it in my Easiyo yogurt maker and ended up having more of a kefir than a yogurt. We used that in smoothies.
Another failure was when I heated the milk to a certain temperature on the stove, added some culture and cooked it in the oven at a low temperature for 6 hours. After 6 hours it was still not thick so I cooked it all night. It never did thicken and tasted sour as well as having a very strong goat flavor.
Still trying… This method (don’t know what I did exactly) was okay in taste but I ended up with only a very small amount of yogurt and lots of water (it’s not called whey is it for yogurt?) on top. Once you stirred the two together it was much too watery to be used.
Finally, a Method That Works
Then I found the website How to Make Yogurt! (drum roll, please) I finally had success by following their method (mostly 🙂 I did fudge a little here and there.). You can read find their printable pdf here.
How to Make Yogurt – It Really is Easy
Note: this is my version of how to make it. I skipped a few of the steps like sterilizing and using a water jacket. They do mention that a water jacket is optional so I felt okay to bypass this step. Sterilizing, from all I’ve read, is very important to making cheese and such, but I would just recommend that you have very clean pots and utensils before beginning.
First, you will need to be sure you have the following supplies on hand.
- 1 Half gallon of milk (however much milk you begin with is how much yogurt you will make)
- 2-3 Tbs of plain yogurt (as a starter) Any brand is fine as long as you use plain yogurt.
- 1 4-5 Qt pot with lid
- 1 Metal or plastic spoon
- 1 Dial thermometer with clip
- 1 Heating pad
Let’s begin…
1. Pour your milk into your pot and heat to 185°, stirring frequently.
2. Fill your sink a little less than half-way with cold water and add some ice to chill it down.
3. After your milk has reached 185°, remove it from the stove top and place in cool water. Cool to 110°, stirring occasionally.
4. Thoroughly mix 2-3 Tablespoons of plain yogurt into the milk. After this you won’t need to buy plain yogurt. You can use your homemade plain yogurt!
5. Place lid on top of pot. Place cutting board on counter with heating pad on top of that. (I did not use the cutting board they suggested but doubled up a towel instead.)
6. Set pot of milk on top of heating pad and cover with a dish towel. Let set for 7 hours.
7. Pour your finished yogurt into containers and refrigerate.
I would recommend you read through Make Your Own Yogurt before following my variation on their method. They have some interesting information they’ve included.
Look at how nicely this yogurt set up. I haven’t experimented with making vanilla yogurt or any other type of flavored yogurt but if you have, please tell us all about it.
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11 Comments
Joane
Is this recipe exclusively for goat milk or can it be for cow’s milk as well?
Elisabeth
Joane,
You can use cow’s milk, too.
Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Jennifer
Although it only works for smaller quantities, you can also skip the heating pad and leave it overnight in a wide neck thermos. It’s great for making a couple of cups of yoghurt and saves worrying about leaving a heating pad plugged in overnight.
Elisabeth
Thanks, Jennifer for the tip. My Easiyo yogurt maker works on this same principle. It is akin to a thermos but the yogurt it made seemed to be about as thick as kefir instead of yogurt. Maybe it was something I did…
Lily
I’ve tried and failed to make yogurt numerous times…I’ll have to give this recipe a try. Have you ever made it in the crockpot? I have a recipe, but haven’t attempted it yet.
Elisabeth
I haven’t made it in a crockpot before. I actually never use my crockpot since we are off-grid. Hubby doesn’t like to use all that energy for a slow cooker. 🙂
Simplychele
Really interesting..I had never heard of doing it that way. Thanks for sharing.
Barb
Interesting! I was never successful making yogurt until I tried the crockpot method which I found to be very forgiving. I could “forget” about the heated milk for up to an hour in the crockpot, and it would still make good yogurt.
I’ve been thinking about making ricotta and maybe some of the simpler cheeses. My kids love cheese, and I’d like to reduce our use of store-bought cheese where I can.
Elisabeth
I’ve used the ricotta for things besides Italian food. It is very mild flavored.
Lauren
Congrats on the yogurt. I love a thick (Greek yogurt) and I think I will make mine overnight. We have a recipe for Greek yogurt and yogurt cheese (which is amazing and I could just eat tons of it!)
http://twobluehouses.blogspot.com/2011/03/homemade-greek-style-yogurt.html
http://twobluehouses.blogspot.com/2011/04/good-food-friday-herb-yogurt-cheese.html
I imagine would be really great with goat milk as well. You will have to let me know… I would love two mini milk goats… now if only the city would say, yes! 😉
Belinda
Great guide and excellent guide to making yogurt, there are so many methods to do this, whether you’re using a crock pot, yogurt maker or just doing it in the oven. Great summary.