Because there aren’t already 10 billion yogurt recipes online, I thought I would jot down what I usually do. It is SO easy and cost effective. I am not a precise cooker. I cook with a pinch of this and a dash of that. DH bought me a food thermometer for Christmas a couple years ago and I do find that helpful for making yogurt. It is by no means necessary though and I’ve made yogurt successfully without it with no flops.
You can use any kind of milk including cow and goat milk, plant based milks and yes, even *breastmilk. I usually use 1% or whole cow’s milk. I have also started using organic soy milk for Levi since buying soy yogurt is outrageous! I haven’t yet tried Coconut milk but I plan to later this week.
For a starter, you don’t NEED a fancy culture but you can buy one if you want. You can just as easily and much more affordably use any kind of yogurt that has live and active cultures. I have used Yo Baby, different varieties of greek, and even used an uneaten bite from a tube of Go-Gurt before – to culture an entire gallon. It doesn’t have to be plain for your yogurt to turn out. I like to pick a yogurt with specific probiotic strains that I want my yogurt to have.
I also don’t have a yogurt maker. That might be a nice gadget but I use a cooler and it works perfectly every time.
Step one: Heat desired amount of milk to just before boiling. Or 180F for you precise people. This kills any bacteria that may be present in the milk.
This is a batch of soy yogurt
Step two: Cool milk to lukewarm or 112F. I have cooled mine as low as 90F and had it turn out perfectly. It’s not a science. The milk does need to stay warm in order to incubate.
Fancy thermometer 😉
Step three: Add a spoonful of yogurt. I usually throw in about a tablespoonish amount for a gallon of milk. Stir around a bit. It usually doesn’t dissolve in the milk. It’s all good.
Has 6 strains of probiotics
Also live and active cultures. You can use any kind of yogurt really. I'm just showing a few kinds I've used.
I was thrilled to discover that the batch I tried to to culture using Kefir, turned out beautifully. I tried googling if I could use Kefir but didn't find anything. So I tried it and it works!!
And this is why that is such exciting news!
Step four: Place the covered container of milk (sometimes I leave it in the pan with a lid) in a cooler with a microwave hot pack. Close the lid. This keeps it warm for incubating.
Sometimes I make a few batches at once. Usually I do a gallon of milk at once. That fancy sock has dedicated it's life to being filled with rice and warmed in the microwave for use as a hot pack.
Another picture of the fancy sock.
Leave overnight or for 10-12ish hours. Your yogurt is ready! I like to chill mine and mix it with some sugar and vanilla. You can also stir in jam or fruit to flavor. I mix it in a fruit smoothie for DH.
Sorry for the poor picture quality. My camera ran out of space so I had to use my phone. But we all know what yogurt looks like anyway! 😉
You can also strain the yogurt through cheese cloth if you want greek texture yogurt. Some people add a thickener but my yogurt is already super thick once I strain it and plenty thick enough even before.
*I have tried multiple times with breastmilk but it’s never very thick at all. From my research, apparently some women don’t have much success with breastmilk due to the varying composition. Mine does get some yogurt formation and smells like yogurt. I haven’t tried a thickener in it yet but that would likely solve my problem. Either way, Tru still drinks it and he’s getting the value of breastmilk with added probiotics. Win, win.
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