If you keep up with me on Facebook, then you might have noticed that I started making homemade yogurt.

Don’t freak out!

I say that, because back when I first heard about making homemade yogurt (I think it was back in 2003 and my friend Sarah was making it) I thought it sounded so gross and kinda risky. However, I grew interested again when I saw a post on Frugal Living NW where Angela showed us (in pictures) how she did it. I clicked on her links to Kitchen Stewardship, where Katie gave me the run-down of the hows and whys and photos, again. She has a ton of detailed information, so it is a definite must-read if you are curious about making yogurt.

I was intrigued. Mitch was not.

Months (and lots of obsessing) later, I finally decided to just try it, and if it was a flop, I wouldn’t freak out.

I needed a “starter”, so I picked up my FAGE Greek yogurt for FREE at Safeway that week. And then, the only other ingredient I needed was milk. I bought a 1/2 gallon of whole milk (not ultra-high-temperature pasteurized organic, though. Katie explains why we shouldn’t use it.), and ended up spending $2, plus another $4 for a candy thermometer from Walmart.

Now, this is where I tell you that if you are interested in learning how to make yogurt, go check out those other posts. However, let me show you what I did.

First, get your large pot ready by putting a washcloth in the bottom to keep the jars from bouncing around. Then, nest the jars in there (I used quart canning jars). Make sure you have lids that fit the jars, and have them clean and ready to go.

Fill the pot with water and the jars with milk, leaving about an inch (so, just up to the threads). Put it on the stove to boil (I’m impatient, so I put it on high), and put your candy thermometer inside one of the jars.

When the temperature of the milk reaches 185°, put the lids on the jars and remove them from the water. Put a lid on the pot, and do not pour the water out. (I like to keep it simmering.)

Now, you have to cool the milk to the correct temperature, which is between 90 and 120 degrees. I shoot for 110°, because that’s what Katie told me to do.

I’ve cooled my jars on the counter, which allowed me to go for a run while they were cooling, but I usually cool them in a sink full of ice water. You need to watch the temperature carefully, because it goes a lot faster than you would think. Set your timer for 15 min, then 20 min, and make sure you check the temperature so that it doesn’t go below 110°. If it does, just put the milk back into the pot of water and try again! (Ask me how I know this.)

Up to this point, you have only been dealing with milk. However, as soon as your milk cools to 110°, it is time to add your starter yogurt. Katie has some good recommendations for starters, but basically you want a plain yogurt with all of the good bacteria in it. Many people use organic. I used what was free.

Add 2 TBS for each quart of milk (don’t add too much!) and gently stir it in, then tighten the lids.

I never took pictures of the next step, because I’m still trying to perfect it. I’ve used the cooler method (as pictured at Frugal Living NW and Kitchen Stewardship) and the oven method. My cooler must be “cheap” because it doesn’t do such a hot job of keeping the heat in. (Heh, heh.) However, it does work!!

To do the cooler method, you would line your cooler with a beach towel, then put your pot of boiling water inside the cooler to one side. Remove the lid to let the heat out, and wrap the towel around the pot to keep it warm longer. THEN, put the jars on the other side of the cooler (but still kind of close to the pot) and wrap the towel around them. Close the lid and let it sit for hours and hours. Keep in mind that if you open the cooler, you will be letting the heat out, and you are trying to maintain the heat. Of course, like I said, my cooler isn’t the greatest, so I did add boiling water to the pot a couple of times, and I needed to bring the cooler into the house rather than leave it in the cold garage.

• The first time I made yogurt, it took 8 hrs.
• The second time, it took 10 hrs.
• The third time, I did it overnight, and in the morning it still wasn’t thick, so I added more boiling water to the pot and it took probably 20 hours.

The last time I did it, I tried the oven method. To do this, I heated the oven to 200° while my water/milk was heating, then I turned it off when the milk was done. I let it sit there and stay warm while I cooled the milk in the sink. The next time I try this, I’ll put my stoneware cookie sheet in the oven at this point so that it can warm up. (I have to open the oven to do this, so it cools just a bit.) Then, I put the jars on a stoneware cookie sheet and tucked them back toward the oven light, which I left on until the yogurt was done. I put the pot of boiling water in the oven to maintain some heat, and heated up one of those rice bag heating pad thingies and put that next to the jars on the cookie sheet. I know. I should have taken a picture.

After about 8 hours or so, I check the progress of the yogurt. If it isn’t thick yet, I try very hard not to panic, add more boiling water to the pot, and close the lid/door. I have never had a batch not turn out right, so I’m pretty sure you can’t fail at making yogurt. Still, I do admit that I get a bit uptight and panicky. LOL!

Once the yogurt has thickened (you will be able to scoop it out with a spoon), put it in the coldest part of your refrigerator until it cools (and thickens some more!). Some people put it in the freezer, but I haven’t tried that yet.

At this point, you have amazingly yummy, plain, homemade yogurt. It is to die for. Promise. However, it is rather runny, so I have been making it thicker and more “Greek” by draining the whey.

To do this, I put a coffee filter at the bottom of our strainer, and rest it on a bowl.

Then, I let the yellowish liquid whey drip into the bowl. SAVE the whey!! It is full of protein! You can add it to soup or smoothies, or use it to soak grains. You can even just stir it into the yogurt, if you don’t mind a runny yogurt. I put my whey into small containers, freeze them, and then pop them out of the containers (like I do with my soup) to store.

This is what I like mine to look like:

If I want even thicker yogurt (as a substitute for sour cream or cream cheese), I leave it in the strainer (in the refrigerator, of course) overnight and end up with this:

I have a small container in the refrigerator labeled “sour cream” that we now use as a sour cream substitute. SO yummy!

To flavor the yogurt, I mix a dollop of my homemade jam into individual portions. (Oh, my goodness. This is making me crave yogurt.) Since I made peach, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry and pear jam, we have quite a few options!

AND, don’t forget to save some of your homemade yogurt to use as your starter for your next batch!! I promise that you will want to do this over and over again!

The bottom line:

Time commitment - About 1 hr. in the morning while you are cleaning up the kitchen and doing chores to boil milk and let it cool. THEN, you just let it sit there for hours and hours. You don’t need to be home all day! You can even start it at night and let it thicken while you sleep. There is a crock pot method that seems to take more babysitting, but I’d like to try that eventually.

Why did I do it? - Well, I was just curious, pure and simple. I know that you might want to hear about how I’m saving so much money by making my own yogurt, however I rarely bought it anyway, and then only if it was free or practically free. These days, I spend $1.99 on the Dairy Glen (Safeway cheap stuff) 2% gallon of milk and use about 1/2 of it for my yogurt-making. I DO probably save money by not buying sour cream anymore, though. **By the way, milk produced in Oregon must be rBST free (another article about Safeway, specifically, here), so I do feel comfortable buying the stuff I can afford rather than organic milk. It’s what works for me and my family at this time.**

You might also want me to tell you about how it is so much better for you than the sugar stuff you buy at the grocery store, and that’s probably true, but again, I rarely bought it anyway, and I’m a fan of the GoGurt, so . . . obviously I am not concerned about the evils of sugar in store bought yogurt. It’s yogurt, not soda. (I think it’s kinda weird and funny when people freak out about the sugar content in the yogurt I might buy while they are handing their kid a can of soda. Just sayin’. BTW - this actually happened to me once. LOL!)

Will I keep making it? - Absolutely!! It is amazingly good, plus it makes me feel all granola-mama, and my family loves it, too! We eat it for dessert, which tells you how good it is. Grant took some to school in a small container, and he thought it was gross, so we won’t be sending it to school with him, but he gladly gulps it down when we serve it at home, nice and cold from the refrigerator. Both boys love it, and Mitch is totally on board now. And, really, it is so simple to make that why wouldn’t I do it?

I’ve probably made homemade yogurt about 5 or 6 times now. I think I’ll make another batch today!

How about you? Are you curious??

Be Sociable, Share!

•