I truly had no idea how simple homemade yogurt would be! After coming off a few years of being “dairy free”, I began sourcing our dairy products from a really great local farm. The switch made me realize the amazing impact high quality dairy had on my family’s health! This eventually led me to where I am now, having my own small herd of dairy goats. When I was buying my milk from a local dairy, I decided I would use the milk to make my own yogurt. Firstly because I just really wanted to try it out. Secondly, because it saved me so much money. Purchasing the milk and making it into yogurt myself, was nearly half the cost of buying their quality yogurt. These little experiments really prepared me for when we would eventually add our goats. Now I make all of our yogurt from our fresh goats milk! This recipe will focus on tips for goat milk yogurt, as it can be trickier to get that thick and creamy texture. You can use cows milk for this recipe as well, and It will turn out just as great!
How does milk turn into yogurt?
Making homemade yogurt requires a culture to ferment it. The process is simple and just requires a few steps and a bit of time. To culture yogurt you need, a freeze dried yogurt culture, or you can culture your yogurt with a bit of yogurt from the store. As long as the yogurt you are buying has real bacterial cultures in the ingredient list. I have experimented with many freeze dried cultures, as well as store bought yogurts and this culture is by far my favourite: Sweet Culture by New England Cheese Making. You can use a previous batch of your yogurt, to culture subsequent batches a couple of times. I do find the results get less and less consistent, and once that happens use a fresh culture. The other issue I kept having when using store yogurt, is that my family would always finish the jar, leaving nothing left for the next round. Then I was going to the store to buy yogurt, to make my homemade yogurt- it just wasn’t making much sense. You can do whatever you find is best, this is just the best way for me!
What you need:
- Thermometer- My Thermometer
- Jars – My Favourite Jars
- Heavy bottom pot
- Whisk
- Dehydrator, Cooler or oven – for the incubation period
Ingredients:
- 1-2 Quarts of milk (Goat or Cows)
- Honey & Vanilla- Optional
- Freeze Dried Culture or 2-3 Tbsp Yogurt that contains bacterial cultures
How to make Homemade Yogurt?
Heat your milk:
Start by pouring your quarts of milk into your pot, and heat on medium heat. You want to make sure you are watching your milk, you don’t want to boil it. This can give it a cooked flavour. Heat your milk to 185-190 F, a thermometer is very important for this entire process, as you are going to be heating and dropping the temperature fairly precisely. If you are wanting to add flavouring or sweeteners, like honey and vanilla, do that now.
Important Tips for Heating Goat Milk:
When it comes to working with goat milk, it can behave differently than cows milk. One problem I see people having is that their yogurt comes out thin and runny. The trick is to heat your milk to 190-195F and hold it at that temperature for 10-15 minutes. This isn’t as necessary with cows milk. You can just heat it to 185 F, and then start the cooling process. With goats milk, you will get a better result getting that temperature up a bit higher and keeping it there. But remember you do not want to simmer or boil it.
Cool your milk:
Once the milk is at the appropriate temperature (goats milk: 190-195 F or cows milk: 185 F). Bring the temperature down to 115- 120F. You can do this by placing it in a cool water bath, or remove from heat and let it come down to temperature on its own. Depends on how quickly you want to do things.
Adding Yogurt Culture:
Once the milk is down to 120F, it is time to add the yogurt culture, either a freeze dried one, or 2-3 Tbsp from another batch of yogurt (store bought or previous batch). The reason you cool the milk before adding the culture, is because too high of heat will cook and denature the bacterial culture, making it inactive and will not yield good results. When you add the culture, you want to mix it very very well with a whisk. Whisk side to side, and up and down, to ensure the culture is well mixed in.
A Note on Cultures: If you are using a freeze dried culture, you should check the package directions. As they may differ, and I do mine even a little bit different than my culture package suggests- but it works well for me!
Incubating Homemade Yogurt:
Now that your milk has cooled and had its culture added, pour it out of the pot and into some jars for the incubation period. The yogurt needs to be incubated for 10-12 hours. In order for the yogurt to properly ferment, and the culture to do its thing. It needs to be kept consistently warm for the entire incubation time. The temperature sweet spot for this is, about 108-109F. Now many people do this entire process in their instant pot, because It has a great incubation setting. Personally I do not use my instant pot, and that is because I do so many savoury items in it, that I just think the yogurt would take on that flavour. I have also heard of people using their oven with the light on and towel wrapped around the jars, or bring a cooler inside, and fill with a couple inches of warm water (about 115F) in the bottom.
Personally, I use my dehydrator! Yes you heard me, my dehydrator! It is the perfect tool for incubating yogurt, and mine even has a timer in which it will automatically shut off when the 12 hour mark is up! The type of dehydrator I have is the Bench Foods, 10 Tray Kitchen Dehydrator! (Use code: XVIACRES for 10% dehydrators.)
I previously used a cooler quite a bit, but I found that It wasn’t holding a consistent temperature for long enough- this was likely because it was a cheap junky cooler, I think a decent one would work very well, but I am really enjoying using my dehydrator. This way I know it is at the right temperature for the right amount of time.
Ready to Refrigerate:
When the incubation is done, it is time to cool it off in the fridge. There is no set time for this, but I give it a couple of hours- mostly because I don’t like to eat warm yogurt. The yogurt should be thick & creamy!! Depending on the culture you use, it can determine the tang of your yogurt. The New England Cheese Making Sweet Culture, has a milder flavour, that my family and I really enjoy.
and VOILA! You have your own homemade yogurt! Made with two ingredients…Pair it with some granola & honey, and enjoy!
Things to Note:
Storing: I find the yogurt lasts 7-10 days in the fridge, but it hardly lasts that long!
Culturing: You may find if you continue making subsequent batches and culturing your yogurt with your previous batch, that the flavour gets quite tangy. In comparison to the first batch you make with your freeze dried culture. Usually when I start to get less desirable results, I’ll do a batch with a fresh culture. This is why I found using store bought yogurts to culture, frustrating and inconsistent and moved to a freeze dried culture.
Homemade Yogurt
Equipment
- Yogurt Starter Culture
- 10 Tray Kitchen Dehydrator (Use code XVIACRES for 10% Off)
Ingredients
- 1-2 Quarts Milk Cows Milk or Goats Milk
- Freeze Dried Yogurt Culture or 2 TBSP Previously made yogurt store bought can work but see notes)
Instructions
- 1. Pour your milk into a heavy bottom pot, and heat on medium. You want to watch closely and take temperature often, to make sure it does not boil. If you want to add sweetener or vanilla, do that now.
- 2. For Goat's Milk heat to 190-195 F, when milk is at 190 F, turn heat down to low and keep milk between 190 and 195 F, for about 15 minutes. If you are using Cow's Milk heat milk to 185 F and then it can be immediately cooled off – it doesn't require being held at the high temperature for an extended period of time.
- 3. Once milk has been heated, remove from heat and cool temperature to 120F. You can do this by just letting it sit and come down on its own, or to hurry up the process, you can put it in a cool water bath in the kitchen sink.
- 4. When temperature reaches 120F, add your starter culture- either freeze dried or previously made yogurt, and whisk really really well.
- 5. Pour into jars.
- 6. Incubate at around 108F for about 10-12 hours. I use my dehydrator, with the trays pulled out, set at 108F for 12 hours. You can use a cooler with warm water (115F), or even the oven with your light on, with some towels around the jars.
- 7. When incubation is done, refrigerate for 2-3 hours and enjoy!
