Homemade Yogurt is delicious with fresh fruit, or just plain. The best part is how easy homemade yogurt is to make!
Exactly a year ago I made my first trip to India. All the food was amazing but what stood out above everything was perhaps the simplest food of all: yogurt. Yogurt in India is more often than not homemade, and made fresh daily. It's usually plain but sometimes it’s made with mango or other fruits. Indian yogurt is so spectacularly delicious that it left me in awe of how wonderful and different something so simple can be. It also inspired me to make my own.
This past year I've been making my own yogurt regularly and although it doesn't quite reach the tastiness of Indian yogurt it's pretty darned delicious. It's so simple to make, and like almost every food, homemade is just plain better.
I make my yogurt with skim milk but you can also use 2% or whole milk.
Homemade Yogurt
Special Equipment:
You’ll need a
You'll need a very heavy bottomed pan to heat the milk during the yogurt making process. As this takes some time the milk will often burn on the bottom of the pan if you use a pan that is too lightweight.
Once the yogurt is prepared have some 
Ingredients:
2 L skim milk
1 cup plain yogurt (I use Greek yogurt)
Procedure:
Place the milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan, with the candy thermometer placed on the side of the pan into the milk.
This allows you to watch the temperature of the milk as it gradually rises, and ensure that it does not exceed the desired temperature.
Heat the milk over a very low flame until it reaches 93°C (200ºF).
As the milk heats up, stir it occasionally.
Keep the pot partially covered.
It usually takes about 20 to 25 minutes for the milk to reach 93ºC (200ºF).
Cool the milk down to 45°C (114ºF); keep the pot partially covered and stir occasionally.
I usually place the pot in a sink full of cold water to speed up the cooling process.
Once the milk has cooled down to 45°C (114ºF), mix 200 mL of the milk with 1 cup of yogurt.
Pour this mixture back into the rest of the milk and stir until fully combined.
Ladle the milk into the sterilized glass jars and cover with lids.
Place the jars in an oven with the oven light turned on.
Leave the jars in the oven for 12 hours. I usually do this overnight.
After 12 hours you will see that the milk mixture has solidified and become yogurt. You may see some liquid (the whey) has separated from the yogurt and risen to the top. You can either stir this back into the yogurt or pour it off and discard.
Place the jars in the refrigerator.
The yogurt will remain good for about a week so be sure to only make the amount of yogurt that you expect to consume within a week.
Once you're about to finish off your homemade yogurt set aside a cup of it to use for a new yogurt batch.
I make yogurt in two liter batches but you can make anywhere from 1 to 4 L at a time with the initial 1 cup of store-bought yogurt.
Please note that the below printable recipe can be viewed in metric or U.S. conventional measurements; just click on your preference within the recipe.
Ingredients
Special Equipment:
- You’ll need a
- You'll need a very heavy bottomed pan to heat the milk during the yogurt making process. As this takes some time the milk will often burn on the bottom of the pan if you use a pan that is too lightweight.
- Once the yogurt is prepared you'll need some
Ingredients:
- 2 L skim milk
- 200 grams plain yogurt I use Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Place the milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan, with the candy thermometer placed on the side of the pan into the milk.
- This allows you to watch the temperature of the milk as it gradually rises, and ensure that it does not exceed the desired temperature.
- Heat the milk over a very low flame until it reaches 93°C (200ºF).
- As the milk heats up, stir it occasionally.
- Keep the pot partially covered.
- It usually takes about 20 to 25 minutes for the milk to reach 93ºC (200ºF).
- Cool the milk down to 45°C(114ºF); keep the pot partially covered and stir occasionally.
- I usually place the pot in a sink full of cold water to speed up the cooling process.
- Once the milk has cooled down to 45°C (114ºF), mix 200 mL of the milk with 1 cup of yogurt.
- Pour this mixture back into the rest of the milk and stir until fully combined.
- Ladle the milk into the sterilized glass jars and cover with lids.
- Place the jars in an oven with the oven light turned on.
- Leave the jars in the oven for 12 hours. I usually do this overnight.
- After 12 hours you will see that the milk mixture has solidified and become yogurt. You may see some liquid (the whey) has separated from the yogurt and risen to the top. You can either stir this back into the yogurt or pour it off and discard.
- Place the jars in the refrigerator.
- The yogurt will remain good for about a week so be sure to only make the amount of yogurt that you expect to consume within a week.
- Once you're about to finish off your homemade yogurt set aside a cup of it to use for a new yogurt batch.
- I make yogurt in two liter batches but you can make anywhere from 1 to 4 L at a time with the initial 1 cup of store-bought yogurt.
Nutrition
Full disclosure: I make a small commission for purchases made through links on my blog. Prices are identical to those on the Amazon website, but purchasing through my link helps support my work in bringing you great recipes and culinary information!
Please leave your comment here. Your feedback is important!