How to Make Yogurt—and Greek Yogurt!

My husband is very fond of yogurt. He eats it with his work lunch nearly every day, and has done so for all 5 years of our marriage. He particularly enjoys the single-serve cups.

Those flavored individual yogurt cups are delicious, there’s no denying it. But they can get pretty expensive. Making your own yogurt saves money: even if you buy premium grass-fed milk at $10 a gallon, a quart of yogurt will only cost you around $2.50 to make. And it will be much healthier than most store-bought varieties.

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Let me take you through the easy and simple process of making yogurt at home!

One of the best parts of yogurt-making is that it requires so little equipment. You can get by with just a jar and a pot, but an instant-read thermometer is helpful to start out.

You only need a little bit of yogurt to use as a starter, and milk for the ingredients. It’s important to purchase plain (unsweetened) yogurt that contains live and active cultures. I don’t recommend using low-fat or skim milk. To make your yogurt even richer, you can also add cream.

Place your milk in a pan and bring the temperature up to 185ºF (85ºC). If you don’t have a thermometer, just heat the milk until it’s hot and steaming but not boiling. The reason you heat the milk is to kill any bacteria that might interfere with the good bacteria in the yogurt.

It isn’t completely necessary to heat your milk to 185ºF (more on this later). You can heat your milk to only 155ºF, or only warm it to 105ºF. The result will be a thinner yogurt.

Once the milk reaches the desired temperature, turn off the heat, cover, and let cool to 105ºF. It is critical that you allow the milk to cool, otherwise the heat will kill off the good bacteria in the yogurt.

While the milk is heating/cooling, add the starter yogurt to the jar and cover. You want the yogurt to come to room temperature so it doesn’t cool down the milk.

If the milk forms a skin while cooling, make sure to remove it—unless you like lumpy yogurt. You can skim it off with a spoon …

Or you can strain the milk into the jar.

Give it a good stir. Try not to over-fill the jar like I did.

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You can simply leave the yogurt in a warm spot in your kitchen. Or, if you’d really like to speed up the process, you can place the jar in a crock pot filled with water and turn the heat to “warm” or the lowest setting.

Come back in about 6-8 hours, and your yogurt is done!

I performed a little experiment to see how much faster the yogurt would “set” if I placed it in the crockpot rather than just letting it sit on the counter. The jar in the crock pot began to set in about 4 hours, and was fully set in 6 hours. The jar on the counter took about 24-36 hours to fully set. Keep in mind that my kitchen was quite chilly. If your kitchen is warm, you may not need the crockpot.

Also, I found that the yogurt made in the crockpot was thicker and more tart. So if you prefer a milder yogurt, you might consider a longer incubation time.

I also wanted to see what ratio of yogurt to milk produced the best results. I made a batch with 1 tablespoon of yogurt per 2 cups of milk, and another batch with 2 tablespoons of yogurt. The one made with only 1 tablespoon of yogurt was slightly more runny and milder.

I also experimented with only heating the milk to 155ºF (68ºC) vs. 185ºF (85ºC). The yogurt made with milk heated to 185ºF was less smooth but thicker. The yogurt made with the milk heated only to 155ºF was more runny, slightly more sour, and took 2-3 hours longer to set.

You can also make yogurt in individual jars. This is really handy for on-the-go snacking.

Simply stir the cooled milk and yogurt together in a measuring cup and pour into small jars before incubating in the crockpot.

If you’re willing to take your yogurt one step further, I highly recommend turning it into Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is simply regular yogurt that has been strained to remove some of the whey to make it thicker. It’s kind of like a sour cream/yogurt hybrid. And it’s really easy to make.

Place a colander inside of a large bowl.

Line the colander with cheesecloth, thick paper towels, or a clean tea towel.

Pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth-lined colander.

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Fold the cheesecloth over the yogurt.

Place a small plate on top of the cheesecloth.

Put something heavy on top of the plate. I like to use a stack of heavy bowls.

As you can see, the weight of the bowls starts to squeeze the whey out of the yogurt in a matter of minutes.

After a few hours in the refrigerator, most of the whey will have drained out of the yogurt. You can discard the whey, or save it for later use.

You can also squeeze out the yogurt to extract even more whey. I do not recommend you do this if you are using paper towels.

Scrape the Greek yogurt into a storage container.

My daughter and I enjoy yogurt with fresh fruit and a drizzle of honey. My husband stirs jam into plain yogurt. For a heavenly treat, I mix leftover lemon curd into Greek yogurt. The sour flavors play well together.

What’s your favorite way of eating yogurt?

In summary:

To make yogurt:

• Heat a scant 4 cups of whole milk to 185ºF (85ºC). Cool to 105ºF (40ºC).
• Meanwhile, place 4 tablespoons of plain, whole-milk yogurt that contains live and active cultures in a quart jar. Cover.
• Once the milk has cooled, pour it into the jar and stir to mix the yogurt and milk together.
• Screw on the lid firmly and place the jar in a crockpot. Fill the crockpot with water and turn to “warm” or the lowest setting.
• Check the yogurt after 6 hours. Gently tilt the jar to see if it is set to your liking.
• Once the yogurt is fully set, place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

To make Greek yogurt:

• Place a colander in a large bowl. Line the colander with cheesecloth, thick paper towels, or a clean tea towel.
• Pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth-lined colander and fold the cheesecloth on top.
• Place a small plate over the cheesecloth and put something heavy (like a stack of bowls) on top.
• Put the whole thing into the refrigerator for a few hours.
• Discard or save the whey and scrape the yogurt into a storage container.

I hope you give yogurt-making a try! Making yogurt at home is easy, and while it does take time, it’s mostly inactive time. You’ll be rewarded with smooth, fresh, delicious yogurt and save money in the process, too. If you already make your own yogurt at home, share some of your favorite tips with us!

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