This is a guest post from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship.
I’d like to think of myself as a yogurt diva, if you’ll indulge me a moment. Jenny has me beat in all other things probiotic, and I’ll gladly crown her Get Cultured Queen if she’ll allow me to be the Yogurt Fairy here at Nourished Kitchen.
I make a gallon of yogurt in each batch, about every week and a half or so. My family is absolutely lost if we run out. We eat it at breakfast, lunch, and snacks constantly as well as using it in some soaked grain recipes. It’s imperative to have an easy system when you use a homemade food that often. I’ve got it down to a science.
You can see my whole tutorial on how to make homemade yogurt, photos and all, if you’re interested in my no dishes, no special equipment, simplified yogurt making method. For now, here are the top 10 tips I’ve learned over the past four years of making my own yogurt:
- Don’t burn the milk. This is key for multitasking mamas and other busy people who have trouble standing around to stir milk. You can avoid burnt milk by putting glass jars filled with milk into a pot of water and boiling them that way instead of putting the milk right in the pot. This also saves on dishes, one of my favorite worthwhile pursuits.
- Don’t cool your milk down in the refrigerator. Put it outside in the winter or in a sink of cold water and a few ice packs, or even on the counter if you’re willing to deal with inconsistency, not in the refrigerator which is taxing to the system and ultimately costly.
- More starter is not better. Two tablespoons starter per quart of milk is perfect. Any more, and the bacteria will be too crowded as it tries to culture. Survival of the fittest = runny yogurt.
- Incubate at around 100 degrees F for maximum creaminess. I used to shoot for about 110, but I have found that slightly less than that seems to get more consistent texture results.
- Incubate 12-24 hours to allow the bacteria time to predigest the milk proteins. Nearly all the lactose is converted to lactic acid at this time, and many lactose intolerant people can eat 24-hour yogurt without repercussion.
- Place jars in the freezer for the first hour or so after culturing. This will stop the multiplying of bacteria quickly, which gives you the best, delightfully creamy consistency.
- Use free jars. I like to keep my jars from spaghetti sauce, etc. to use for making yogurt.
- Eat your yogurt with as little sweetener as possible. I’ve weaned myself down from sweetened yogurt cups to just needing a little bit of honey, or even no sweetener if I mix in homemade applesauce with LOTS of cinnamon. (See 4 tips for eating less sugar in your yogurt.)
My son demonstrates his love for applesauce and yogurt.
- The no-thermometer method. I like having one less item to gather when I make my yogurt. I can tell each temperature now without the thermometer:
*Up to 180 when a skin forms on top of the milk.
*Down to 100-110 when (a) I can hold the jar without pain and (b) a drop on my wrist feels warm, within a few degrees of body temp, not painful. - Freeze some starter. If you’ve tried Greek yogurt or have a special starter that cost you a lot, freeze some of the first batch right away in baby food jars. Generally the yogurt will still culture just great after thawing, but I always like to have a few backups just in case.
I am a firm believer in the health benefits of yogurt, and the convenience of always having it on hand makes the never-ending question, “What is nourishing that I can offer my kids for a snack that won’t take long to prepare?” an easy one. “Yogurt with…” is always answer number one.
My next goal is to figure out how to dehydrate yogurt-n-fruit rolls so I can take it in the car with us without the serious mess factor.
How do you take your yogurt?
Katie Kimball has been delving into the real food/traditional food movement for about a year. She blogs her successes, failures and goals at Kitchen Stewardship, where the mission is to help people balance their time, money, nutrition and environment in the kitchen, baby step style.
Further Reading:
- The health benefits of yogurt
- Yogurt Recipes
- Jenny’s Homemade Yogurt post
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/01/12/homemade-yogurt-recipes-so-you-can-eat-it-all-the-time/
I have been on a mission to find a way to make foolproof yogurt. I’ve had so many failures that I was thinking maybe I should just give up and keep buying it. However the other day I found a way to make yogurt in the oven and it worked! I heated milk up to about 160. Cooled it to 110. Added a couple Tablespoons of yogurt from a local dairy. Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to it’s lowest temp (170) and then shut it off. I turned on the oven light (40 W appliance bulb in the socket) put the container of milk in the oven and then closed the door. I would check periodically on the oven temp (it stayed at about 84 degrees in there, which is ‘warm summer day temperature’). About 5 hours later I had a nice thick yogurt. That night when my husband came home from work I told him that I had good news for him. I think he might have been expecting something pretty exciting–I said “I made a batch of yogurt successfully”. He smiled and said “seek and ye shall find”.
Your method is good because it doesn’t tie up the oven.
Whewww! That’s a lot of work for such a simple and healthy food.
Here is my raw milk version:
1 pt. raw milk
Bulgarian grains (from a friend)
or two tabs. good quality yogurt
Method:
Pour milk into a very clean, wide mouth jar and cover tightly
with lid.
Set the jar in a bowl or pot of hot tap water to take the chill
off the milk.
Add the culture (or stir in the yogurt), place the lid on tightly and
set the jar in your oven with the light turned on.
Allow to incubate for 24-36 hours then remove the grains.
Store the grains in a small jar covered with fresh milk until
ready for another batch.
That’s it! Easy.
Did I miss where you incubate the yogurt after the hour in the freezer? I have read and reread, but am not seeing it…. I incubate mine in a cooler with another jar filled with hot tap water. It works well and doesn’t tie up my oven. In a particularly cool house (like now) I may have to change out the hot water in the jar after 12 hours, but my yogurt is almost always nice and thick. If not, I tell my family I made drinkable yogurt this time!
Great tips! I especially like the idea of putting the jars of milk in a water bath to heat it instead of heating in a saucepan. Smart!
I am getting back to making yogurt this week. My favorite kind of yogurt is filmjolk — it’s Swedish. Villi is the Finnish version which is also very good.
I love it because it’s countertop yogurt, meaning there is no incubation necessary. You make it on the countertop — just like kefir. I also love it because you can make it with raw milk. I add a little cream to ours to make it more creamy and delicious.
What I like best about villi and filmjolk is they are not as tart as the yogurt we are used to. They are smoother and milder.
Oh, and I usually sweeten ours with raw honey. My daughter gets this almost every day for her afternoon snack.
I have tried making yogurt in the past with mixed results. I am planning on trying again since I just found a source for raw milk in my area. This post and the info on your site are very timely!
I have a question though…If you freeze your starter, does it kill the active live cultures? Thank you for all the useful information!
I’ve gotten into the routine of making a half gallon of yogurt in my crockpot 2 days a week and that suffices for my family and is sooo easy. You just have to be home for 5-6 hours. It’s always turned out great for me.
Also, I’ve found the best way to eat it is actually to drink it. I add about 1/4 cup of water to a cup of yogurt stir and then add some cinnamin.
Thanks for the tips. I use a double boiler to heat the milk – so that’s about the same. But I’ve not heard about putting it in the freezer afterwards to help w/creaminess. Will try that & will also try lowering the temperature to 110. I usually do 115.
Julie – Love the husband’s reaction!
Brenda – it may look like a lot of work on paper, but in practice it’s SO easy, just 5 minutes here and there. I’m kind of happy I don’t have to deal with any grains – my water kefir keeps me busy enough making sure I’m taking care of those babies well enough.
NancyO – this isn’t my whole method, just the sideline tips. I incubate in a cooler with a pot of boiling water next to the jars. You can read my whole process w/photos here: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/04/13/monday-mission-homemade-yogurt-the-easy-way/ The freezer is after incubating! It stops the process.
Ann Marie – I tried the countertop cultures, and they were less thick than I’d prefer (better for smoothies in my opinion) and the Viili was *more* tart/sour than the Dannon. ?? Different tastes, I guess, but my Viili is just sitting in my freezer.
Billie – Freezing doesn’t kill the cultures, it just slows them down considerably. If it killed them, the yogurt wouldn’t work, so the fact that it does is proof enough. I wondered that too at first though!
Crystal – the crockpot method is a good one, too, that a lot of folks I know use. I just hate washing that crockpot insert!
Thanks for all the good questions!
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship
YES! Great post! I have been searching for an easy way to make real, healthy yogurt at home! I’m so excited!
~traci
Jenny and Katie, thanks for sharing this! I too make alot of yogurt. About every two weeks, so these tips are helpful to me. I usually use more than 2tbls starter and incubate at 110. I’m actually making another batch right now and will definitely use these tips and see if my yogurt will thicken up
Thanks!!
I like my yogurt with homemade granola on top. I can make a great cow’s milk yogurt, but I have dairy goats, and have been unsuccessful making goat’s milk yogurt. Mine comes out watery and thin. Have you tried this? Any tips?
Katie, the more I read, the more convinced I get to give it a try! :>) So keep after us! I linked to this on my weekly roundup, the post is under my name. Thanks!
One of my New year’s goals is to master making yogurt, which is a tall order for me since ive never made yogurt before, lol. Thanks for this post, its giving me the motivation I need to get started.
Thanks for all the tips. They’re very helpful.
Wonderful tips! I especially like the tip about freezing some starter. I got a yogurt maker for Xmas and have LOVED having homemade yogurt on hand.
Kate,
Katie
I’ve never tried goat’s milk yogurt, so sorry! Hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you. ??
I strain my yogurt if it’s very thin. I’ve salvaged a couple batches with undesirable texture this way. You can buy fancy yogurt strainers for making greek yogurt, but I discovered that I can use a jelly bag. Just let the whey strain into a bowl for as little as 15 minutes and as long as an hour or two depending on how thick you want it. Reserve the whey for other recipes. I’ve found that straining makes a really nice thick, creamy yogurt that the family loves! We make a couple gallons a week from raw milk. Downside is that you have less yogurt than when you started because you’ve strained off the whey.