If you are seeking a thick, creamy, homemade yogurt, it is absolutely possible to make it right in your own kitchen. Yogurt is a fantastic way to naturally add probiotics to your diet. One of the biggest frustrations I hear about homemade yogurt is how runny it is. Many homemade products will differ from storebought foods. This can include texture, longevity, and taste. Homemade yogurt is no different. It can be a little runnier depending on the culture you use, the incubation temperature, and the length of incubation.
Pasteurizing Raw Milk
Pasteurizing raw milk when making yogurt is important to keep the bacteria in the culture from having to compete with bacteria in the milk. I typically heat the milk to 180 degrees Farenheight, maintaining that temperature for 20 minutes. While home dairy is a science, not every recipe has to be strictly followed. Once the temperature of the milk has come up to 180 degrees, I put a lid on the pot and do something else for a little while. Often with a covered heavy bottomed pot the temperature will stay roughly the same for 20 minutes.
At the end of the 20 minutes, I remove the lid and allow the milk to cool anywhere from 105 degrees to 110 degrees. Once it has reached the temperature, it is time to add the culture. If you are using a powdered culture, sprinkle it on top of the milk and allow it to rehydrate for a minute or two before stirring. If you are using a batch of store-bought yogurt or previously made yogurt to culture this new batch, shake up the container, add it to the milk, and stir.
Controlling the Flavor
There are many ways to control the flavor of the yogurt. Different cultures will influence the taste and sometimes the texture of the yogurt. Freeze-dried cultures will often tell you if they will provide a mild or tangy flavor. For example, the ABY-3 yogurt culture says it has a mild flavor with a thick and creamy texture.
The length of time the yogurt cultures will also influence its tanginess. The longer you incubate the yogurt, the more tang you will have. There have been times I have forgotten about it for 24 hours. It is fine, friends! Just taste it (with a clean spoon) until you achieve the amount of tang you want.
There are many ways to naturally flavor your yogurt. The four main ways I do this are:
- Organic Maple Syrup
- Raw Honey
- Homemade Jams or Jellies
- Leftover Pie Filling (my favorite!)
- Vanilla
When flavoring the yogurt with ingredients such as maple syrup, raw honey, and vanilla, I will add it to the entire batch. This helps save time when I am preparing yogurt for breakfast or snacks, and I also use less ingredients. I promise you will use more honey, maple syrup, and vanilla if you wait to add them to each serving. While it may seem like a lot of syrup or honey to use at once, don’t be shy about adding it right away.
Different Yogurt Cultures
There are many different types of freeze-dried yogurt cultures. I have used a Bulgarian yogurt culture from New England Cheesemaking Supply, which yielded excellent results. Another culture I have used is ABY-3 culture from The Cheesemaker. While the ABY-3 yogurt is more expensive, it does yield a very thick, creamy, and mild yogurt. I always save about a quarter cup of the yogurt after it has incubated and before I strain it. It is kept in the freezer until I need it to culture the next batch of yogurt. I still have the freeze-dried culture in the freezer if I need it. Sometimes I forget to save a portion of the yogurt, or I drop a the jar and it breaks.
Another way you can easily find a culture for homemade yogurt is to purchase yogurt from the grocery store. If you go this route, try to select the highest quality item you can find, preferably unflavored. Be sure the label lists that it has live and active cultures. Most of them do.
Maintaining Your Own Yogurt Culture
Maintaining your own yogurt culture will ultimately save you quite a bit of money down the road. This is especially true if you are using a freeze-dried culture. After the yogurt has incubated, take a quarter cup of yogurt and place it into a small container. Store the container in the freezer until you are ready to make another batch. If you happen to be clumsy like me, avoid using a glass container.
Straining Yogurt
Once the yogurt has finished incubating it is time to strain it. Do not forget to set some yogurt aside for your starter culture! I like to set it aside before I strain a lot of the whey out as the culture is in both the whey and the yogurt.
Straining is a completely optional step and depends entirely on how thick or runny you like your yogurt. It also depends on how the incubation period went and even the cow’s milk. I get milk from just two cows. Both are jersey cows, so the milk naturally has a lot of cream in it. The milk behaves differently depending on how far they are into their lactation and the time of year it is. Achieving varying results throughout the year is normal when you are getting milk from one or two cows. That is the beauty of having a family milk cow!
You will need a cheese cloth or butter muslin to strain the yogurt. This is not the cheese cloth you find from the grocery store. A local fabric store may have just what you need. Otherwise, you can find what you need right here.
I typically strain the yogurt for several hours. Sometimes this means I strain it for as long as six hours, resulting in a yogurt that is quite thick. It may seem too thick at first, but remember that if you are adding honey, jam, jelly, or maple syrup, you will be adding more liquid or moisture back into the yogurt. After straining you find it to be too thick, remember you can always add a little cream back into it.
Tips for Homemade Yogurt Success
Be sure you are using clean milk. If the milk being used tastes cowy, the flavor will be reflected in the milk. This can happen when the teats are not fully dried before milking, or if someone is hand milking and using lotion or a balm to make it easier to hand milk. Off flavors in the milk can be the result of not cooling quickly enough, the age of the milk, or even a vitamin deficiency in the cow.
Yogurt needs to be consistently warm in its incubation period. This can be tricky in the winter months if your house is cold. A very simple way to achieve a consistently warm incubation period is to turn the oven light on and place your container of yogurt in there. This works well if you are incubating overnight.
The key is to find someplace warm. We heat our home with a wood burning stove, so I will often set the yogurt next to the stove. If the fire dies down, sometimes the temperature fluctuates too much, and I don’t achieve the best results. A way to combat this is to place your yogurt on a heating pad (set on low), covering it with a towel. Make sure your heating pad doesn’t automatically turn off after a couple of hours.
Check the yogurt after 8 hours – sometimes I let it go as long as 12. Occasionally I will get distracted and forget about it for 24 hours. It’s just fine.
If you find your yogurt to be lumpy, whisking it can help. Whisking or mixing the flavors in with a hand mixer helps to evenly distribute the flavor and texture.
Raw milk that has not been run through a cream separator will likely have a cream line. This cream line will rise to the top of your yogurt during incubation, which is normal.
Equipment You Will Need
I don’t have anything fancy for making yogurt. Many people have an Instapot with a yogurt function, but I do not. I hate getting bulky things out that take up space on my countertop. At any given time, I have multiple things going on in the kitchen. It’s nice to have the yogurt culturing out of the way so the kitchen isn’t cluttered. The things I have for yogurt making are:
- A heavy bottomed pan or dutch oven
- Culture of your choice (see above)
- Butter muslin or cheesecloth
- Bowl to catch the whey
- Heating pad (optional)
Thick, Creamy, Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Begin by slowly heating milk to 180 degrees and holding that temperature there for 20 minutes.
- Allow the milk to cool to 105 degrees to 110 degrees Faren height, then add the culture. The amount of culture depends on what culture you are using. For every half gallon of milk, I use approximately 2 Tablespoons of yogurt from my previous batch. When I am using a freeze-dried culture, I be sure to refer to the instructions, however, the ABY-3 is 1/16 teaspoon per half gallon.
- Cover the pot with a lid and place in a warm environment for 8-12 hours. Try not to disturb it while it is incubating.
- Once the yogurt has finished incubating you may either strain it or place it in the refrigerator without straining it. If you are choosing not to strain it, now is also a good time to add some natural sweeteners. I would highly recommend adding sweeteners all at once, especially if you have children because you will use less. It will also save you time when preparing breakfast or snack. If you are straining the yogurt, you will need a very fine mesh cheesecloth, butter muslin, or even a cotton dish towel. Drape the towel over a large bowl and pour in your yogurt. Gather the ends of the cloth, tie them together, and hang the yogurt on a hook or a knob in the kitchen. Allow the yogurt to strain for a couple of hours or until it is as thick as you would like. If your yogurt is too thick, you may always add in a little bit of cream. I would wait to do this until after you have added ingredients such as maple syrup or honey. Adding as these ingredients will increase the liquid in your yogurt and make it a little runnier. To prevent this, go ahead and strain your yogurt until it is quite thick – perhaps seemingly too thick. Remember, you can always add cream back in if you need to after you have added sweeteners.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
Further Tips
Any milk can be used to make yogurt. When I am making cheese with raw milk, I will use the freshest milk I have. This means the milk I use for cheesemaking is no older than four days old. Fortunately for yogurt, this is not necessary. I often use my older milk to make things like kefir and yogurt.
Lastly, enjoy the process. It may take some trial and error to figure out how you like to flavor your yogurt. Remember less is often more. You can continue to add, but once you have added things like maple syrup or honey, you can’t take it out. Add a little bit at a time until the flavor is how you prefer. Wait to add toppings such as granola (check out my homemade sourdough discard granola) or fruit unless you are going to be consuming the yogurt within a couple of days.