If you and your family love yogurt and granola in the morning, get ready for this game-changing homemade yogurt recipe. Making yogurt at home may seem like it’s not worth the effort, but this recipe proves that it could not be easier.
Just two ingredients come together to create homemade yogurt that is so much smoother, creamier, and richer than anything you can buy at the grocery store.All you need is good-quality milk, a small amount of cultured yogurt, and a little patience to get you started. Once you have a successful batch of yogurt, you can start to use your homemade yogurt for new batches.
Yogurt is made by fermenting milk with healthy bacteria known as cultures. The fermentation process produces lactic acid, which is ultimately responsible for the yogurt's flavor and texture.
Yogurt is most commonly made using milk from cows, goats, and sheep. Dairy-free yogurts like coconut and cashew are becoming more widely available. These alternatives are made using the same process as yogurt made with animal milk.
Yogurt vs. Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt is made simply by straining plain yogurt until the whey separates and you are left with a thicker, slightly tangier yogurt. Greek yogurt is great for spooning over soups or blending into smoothies, while regular unstrained yogurt is perfect for eating with fruit and granola.
Whey is a tangy milk byproduct. It is the liquid that is left over after milk is curdled and strained.
Using Low-Fat or Non-Fat Milk
Whole milk yogurt will be much richer and creamier, but if you prefer low-fat or non-fat yogurt, you can use either milks while following the same directions.
Directions
Heat milk, then cool:
Place milk in a large saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until it reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool to 115 degrees.
An instant-read thermometer is the most accurate type of thermometer on the market. It gives you a very fast, accurate reading, and is easy to calibrate. If you don't have an instant-read thermometer, you can use a candy, meat, or deep-fry thermometer instead.
Combine milk and yogurt:
Whisk together 1 cup milk and the yogurt. Stir into remaining milk.
Let yogurt ferment:
Transfer to a 1-quart mason jar or a glass bowl. Wrap jar or bowl (without lid) in 2 clean kitchen towels, completely covering sides and top. Let stand undisturbed in a warm place until yogurt has the consistency of custard, 5 to 8 hours or up to overnight.
The longer you let the yogurt incubate, the thicker and tangier it will become.
Refrigerate yogurt:
Refrigerate uncovered jar; when it's cool to the touch, about 30 minutes, screw on a tight-fitting lid.
Ways to Use Homemade Yogurt
Blend with frozen fruits like strawberries and mangoes to make smoothies.
Combine with grated cucumber, lemon, garlic, and fresh dill to make a tzatziki dipping sauce for veggies.
Use as a marinade for grilled chicken or shrimp. Try enhancing the flavor with spices like cumin, coriander, and smoked paprika.
Stir a few spoonfuls into soup to make it nice and creamy.
Blend with peanut butter and freeze in ice cube trays to make fun treats for your dog.
When stored properly in an airtight container, your homemade yogurt should last about two weeks in the refrigerator. We don't recommend freezing the yogurt, as it can change the texture once defrosted.
How do you thicken homemade yogurt?
Simply place the yogurt in a strainer lined with a few layers of cheesecloth or paper towels and rest the strainer over a bowl. Let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours, then discard the liquid. You'll be left with a thicker yogurt, more similar to Greek yogurt.
Why is my homemade yogurt not sour?
If your homemade yogurt isn't as sour or tangy as you'd like, try fermenting it a few hours longer. The longer you let the cultures acclimate, the tangier the yogurt will be.
Originally appeared: Martha Stewart Living, December 2012
Making your own yogurt is way cheaper than buying yogurt at the store. It's easy to calculate the savings, because one litre of milk makes a 750-g tub of yogurt (plus some). I used to spend $6.99 on a container of organic yogurt, but one litre of organic milk only costs me $2.60.
Pasteurized milk is an excellent choice for making yogurt at home. HTST (High-Temperature Short Time) or Flash Pasteurized milk is heated to 161ºF and held there for 15 seconds. If your bottle of milk is labeled “pasteurized,” it has most likely been treated in this way.
Direct-set yogurt starters are one-time-use cultures. It is possible to use some yogurt made with a direct-set starter to make a new batch of yogurt, but after a few batches, the culture will weaken and a new dose of direct-set starter is needed.
A half gallon of milk makes a little less than two quarts of yogurt, which has been just enough to last us two weeks. We buy a local brand of milk that costs $3.70 per half gallon ($1.85 per quart), so we end up saving about 75-cents per week on yogurt. Nice.
To be considered true 'yogurt, rather than fermented dairy, the probiotic must predominately contain; Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streprococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis or Lactobacillus acidophilus. It is best to use a premium, multi-strain probiotic that requires refrigeration.
Does homemade yogurt have more probiotics than store bought? Certainly. The heavy processing and use of additives in regular yogurt you buy from store destroy probiotics. On the other hand, you can prepare homemade yogurt by natural fermentation of milk minus the processing and with no additives.
2> If there's no homemade yogurt for starter, any good quality organic store bought plain yogurt will work well as long as it contains live culture (like S. THERMOPHILUS, L. BULGARICUS, L. ACIDOPHILUS, BIFIDUS, L.
Pour milk of choice into a double boiler and heat to 180°F. This will kill competing bacteria, and the whey proteins will denature and coagulate to enhance the viscosity and texture of the final product. Maintain temperature for 10 minutes for thinner yogurt, 20 minutes for thicker yogurt.
A yogurt starter can be from any jar of store bought yogurt that says “active cultures” on the carton. Make sure your yogurt is plain (no sweeteners) and full fat for the best results (though I've heard low fat and even Greek yogurt will work fine as a starter as long as it has active cultures).
You can make yogurt out of regular store-bought pasteurized milk, organic milk, raw milk or even goat's or sheep's milk. Pasteurized milk, the kind you find at the grocery store, is basically milk that has been heated up to 180 F to slow the growth of bacteria in milk, which lengthens its shelf life.
You can even make yogurt from organic milk and save money. A $5 gallon of milk produces four quarts of yogurt, each of which costs only $1.25. Even if you pay $7 for a gallon of milk, a quart of yogurt made from that milk will only cost you $1.75.
It's worthwhile to test a few different brands of yogurt until you find a favorite. Sweeten after Chilling. If sweeteners are needed, we like to add them after the yogurt is set and chilled. We prefer not to add sugar before culturing to avoid feeding any undesirable bacteria.
Fermentation time: The longer you ferment the more tart, and thicker, your yogurt will be. Different cultures work at different rates, but as a general guideline: 6-8 hours produces a mild yogurt, 8-12 hours a tart yogurt, and more than 12 hours produces a sour yogurt.
Yogurt is cheap, easy and fabulous to make at home, and I'm going to take you step by step through the process. As with all and any fermentation processes, it takes time and planning but it's definitely worth the effort.
Yogurt generally has a 10- to 21-day shelf life when made properly, and stored in the refrigerator at temperatures below 40°F. Molds, yeasts, and slow growing bacteria can spoil the yogurt when it is stored over a longer time. To ensure long shelf life, always use clean and sanitized equipment and containers.
Electric yogurt makers plug into the wall and use a heating element to maintain fermentation temperature. This doesn't require very much power, so you generally don't need to worry about a machine's wattage level. It's more important that it can keep the temperature steady.
Basically, you take a small amount of store-bought yogurt, whatever kind of milk that you like (dairy, soy, etc.)and mix it together.Then you let it ferment overnight and like magic: homemade yogurt.
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