makes two quarts
“Wait a second … You can actually make yogurt?!” The revelation hit me like a lightning bolt as I was reading a home dairy book one day. It was early in my homesteading journey and my mind was blown by the idea of making so many foods I previously thought could only be purchased at the store. Yogurt was one of my first from-scratch victories, and it’s an ideal place to start if you’re new to the world of home dairy. Even if you don’t have access to raw milk and fancy cultures, you can still make thick yogurt rivaling those from the fanciest creameries with basic ingredients and a stockpot. It only takes a few minutes of hands-on time to create as much as your heart desires, and this recipe can easily be doubled if you have a family of yogurt lovers. I almost always make at least a gallon at a time and it disappears in a flash.
8 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons plain yogurt with live, active cultures
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
2 quart-sized glass canning jars with lids
Large stockpot
Food thermometer
Small cooler (see “Incubation Tips”)
Clean the jars thoroughly or sterilize them in the dishwasher. Fill the jars with the milk, leaving 2 inches of space at the top of each jar. Place the filled jars into the stockpot.
Fill the pot with water, stopping when the water level is three-quarters of the way up the sides of the jars.
Bring the water to a boil and gently simmer until the milk inside the jars reaches 180°F.
Carefully remove the hot jars from the water (don’t pour out the water in the stockpot yet—you’ll need it later). Loosely cover the jars with their lids and periodically check the temperature of the milk until it cools to 110°F. (You can speed up this process by placing the jars in the fridge, but it’s really easy to forget about them in there!)
Add 2 tablespoons of the yogurt to each jar, stir gently, and cap the jars.
Put the jars into the cooler and fill the cooler with the leftover warm water from the stockpot before closing the lid. (If the water has cooled too much, turn the burner back on and heat it to 120°F or so before pouring it into the cooler.) Allow the yogurt to incubate for 8 to 10 hours, or until it sets up. The longer it incubates, the tangier it will be.
Chill the finished yogurt for 24 hours before enjoying. It will keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks, although I’ve had it last much longer. (If you see mold in the jars or the yogurt develops an unpleasant aroma, toss it.)
Top your homemade yogurt with maple syrup, honey, nuts, chopped fruit, jam, or Simple Berry Sauce and dig in!
kitchen notes • Make sure the jars are very clean before you start. Sterilize them in your dishwasher if possible.
The step of heating the milk to 180°F changes the proteins in the milk and creates a thicker yogurt. There are methods to make unheated, raw yogurt, but they generally require specialty cultures that won’t be available at your local grocery store.
Most high-quality brands of yogurt will contain live, active cultures, but check the back of the carton to be sure. You can use your homemade yogurt to start future batches, although the cultures seem to get “tired” after a while, so plan on buying fresh yogurt after three or four batches.
If you don’t have a cooler that fits your jars, don’t worry—here are a few other incubation options:
• Briefly preheat the oven, then shut it off before placing the jars inside to incubate for 8 hours. Leave the oven light on—this should generate just enough heat to keep the yogurt happy.
• Place the jars on a heating pad and cover them with a towel.
• Use a food dehydrator (the kind with removable racks) set to 110°F.
The goal is to keep the jars at roughly 110°F during the incubation period, so there’s plenty of room to get creative as long as the temperature stays constant. (I’ve even heard of people incubating yogurt in their hot cars during the summer!)