Creamy Homemade Yogurt
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus fermentation and chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2quarts whole milk, the fresher the better
- ¼cup heavy cream (optional)
- 3 to 4tablespoons plain whole milk yogurt with live and active cultures
Nutritional analysis per serving (20 servings)
71 calories; 4 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 44 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Rub an ice cube over the inside bottom of a heavy pot to prevent scorching (or rinse the inside of the pot with cold water). Add milk and cream, if using, and bring to a bare simmer, until bubbles form around the edges, 180 to 200 degrees. Stir the milk occasionally as it heats.
- Step 2
Remove pot from heat and let cool until it feels pleasantly warm when you stick your pinkie in the milk for 10 seconds, 110 to 120 degrees. (If you think you’ll need to use the pot for something else, transfer the milk to a glass or ceramic bowl, or else you can let it sit in the pot.) If you’re in a hurry, you can fill your sink with ice water and let the pot of milk cool in the ice bath, stirring the milk frequently so it cools evenly.
- Step 3
Transfer ½ cup of warm milk to a small bowl and whisk in yogurt until smooth. Stir yogurt-milk mixture back into remaining pot of warm milk. Cover pot with a large lid. Keep pot warm by wrapping it in a large towel, or setting it on a heating pad, or moving to a warm place, such as your oven with the oven light turned on. Or just set it on top of your refrigerator, which tends to be both warm and out of the way.
- Step 4
Let yogurt sit for 6 to 12 hours, until the yogurt is thick and tangy; the longer it sits, the thicker and tangier it will become. (I usually let it sit for the full 12 hours.) Transfer the pot to the refrigerator and chill for at least another 4 hours; it will continue to thicken as it chills.
- If you want to make Greek yogurt, set a colander or sieve over a bowl and line the colander with cheesecloth. Take your finished yogurt, either before or after you've chilled it, pour the yogurt into the colander, and let it sit in the refrigerator for 2 to 6 hours to drain. (Keep an eye on it, and when it looks thick enough to your liking, transfer it to a jar; if it becomes too thick, stir some of the whey back in.) Reserve remaining whey for smoothies, soups or lemonade, or for marinating poultry.
Private Notes
Comments
A crockpot is the way to go: Heat on high for 2 hours and 45 minutes or until 180 degrees. Put a towel under the lid to absorb moisture. Let cool 3 hours or until 110 degrees. Remove skin if needed. Add 1/2 c. yogurt. Do not stir.
Wrap and/or put in warm place for 12 hours.
Only one pot to wash and the ceramic pot is easier to clean than the metal one for some reason.
Heating the milk kills most competing organisms, but with pasteurized milk this is not an issue.
Heating the milk to 180+ deg F and holding for 20 minutes also denatures the whey protein lactoglobulin which allows it to then bind with the casein proteins. All of this protein dancing results in a creamier, richer yogurt product. (If you heat too hard and/or too long, the protein will congeal and the yogurt will become coarse and grainy.)
Unnecessary? Perhaps, but not to this purist.
The ice cube thing makes no sense. How does cooling metal a couple of degrees before heating it affect scorching?
To get started, use Siggi's yogurt for a starter. It's an heirloom yogurt, meaning it will never weaken with time the way other yogurt cultures do. If you make yogurt regularly, it will last indefinitely.
I want to thank the person who suggested you don't need to heat the milk if you are using ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk! Great time saver and I buy this kind of organic milk anyway. I bought a yogurt maker with one container, not the fussy ones with multiple containers. I have cut down from 1-2 plastic 32 oz tubs per week to one tub every six weeks to use as a starter. (I like to start it fresh with organic whole yogurt.) It was the plastic waste that was getting to me.
I use a Food Dehydrator to keep the milk warm at 110 degrees for 6 plus hours. (We already had a Dehydrator for drying peppers we grow- and it works great for the yogurt making). I tried leaving yogurt in a pre-warmed oven as suggested but... then someone in the family preheated the oven to a high temp for a pizza without looking in oven thereby ruining my yogurt. Using the Dehydrator frees up the oven and it works well at keeping a constant low warm temp. Thanks for this recipe!
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