How to make yogurt

Making yogurt is super easy. There are 4 basic steps:

1. Boil milk
   
2. Cool milk
3. Add yogurt
4. Incubate (keep warm)

That's it! Nothing hard. Nothing complicated. Not time consuming. No special equipment required.

We'll discuss these steps as succinctly as possible in addition to providing links to more in depth discussions and tips that we've learned over the years if you want to read more.

Things you need:

• Milk
• Yogurt start
• Thermometer
• Blanket & large container OR yogurt machine

1 -- Boil milk

This kills any bacteria already in the milk so that the healthy yogurt bacteria will thrive. All you need to do is bring the milk to a boil before letting it cool.

We use 8 cups of 2% milk. Make as much or as little as you want, it's a one to one ratio: 8 cups milk = 8 cups yogurt. Other fat contents work as well--the fattier the milk, the creamier the yogurt.

If you boil your milk on the stove, careful to not scald it. If you do, your yogurt will be gross. Microwaving works great, and does not scald the milk. I our microwave, 13 minutes uncovered will bring the cold milk to a boil.

2 -- Cool milk to 125° F

This is important since it's the best temperature for the yogurt bacteria to thrive. Get as close to 125° F as possible. Anywhere from 120° to 125° is fine.

You will need to strain the cooled milk to get rid of the film that appeared from boiling.

3 -- Add yogurt culture

Any plain yogurt with live bacteria will work. All store bought yogurt containers specify if they contain live cultures, and most tell you which cultures they contain.

If you want a recommendation for a good start, we really like Dannon Oikos plain Greek yogurt. It costs a little more than $1 for a small cup.

For 8 cups of milk, we use somewhere around 1 1/2 tablespoons of yogurt start and guess on it every time. It's not a science--use a spoonful or two and you'll be fine. Mix it into your cooled milk.

4 -- Incubate (keep warm) for ~8 1/2 hours

You have two options here: use a yogurt machine or wrap your yogurt-to-be container in a blanket and place it in a sealed cooler or a cool oven (do not heat it).

Both methods work very well. All the yogurt machine does is keep it at a constant temperature. The blanket/oven/cooler method keeps the yogurt warm as well.

The longer you leave it in, the thicker and tangier the yogurt gets. After 8 1/2 hours or so, refrigerate your yogurt until cool, then enjoy!

That's really all I need to do?

Yes!! Simple, right? As we update this blog, we will include plenty of other tips and tricks that we use each week when we make yogurt, but none of them are mandatory. For right now, take a look at our very first blog post to get a few extra tips until we incorporate more here.

But what now?

So what do I do with plain yogurt? This, my friend, is the main question that we will try and answer in as many ways as possible through this blog. Our first recommendation is to toss in some fresh fruit, a little sugar, and a little vanilla. A spoonful of jam and a little vanilla also make a very easy sweet yogurt.

Before you eat all of it...

Make sure to save a spoonful of this yogurt for your next batch. The culture lasts a long time--we had ours going for nearly 3 years before we moved across country and had to give it up.