Homemade Yogurt by the Gallon

I started making yogurt a couple years ago when I discovered how much my youngest loves yogurt and could happily eat a ton of it every day. I had heard how easy yogurt was to make so thought I'd give it a shot. I started with a little yogurt maker that made one or two quarts at a time but soon realized that since yogurt stays good for awhile and we eat a lot of it, I wanted to make it by the gallon. After reading lots of tutorials and trying it out, I'm happy to report that making yogurt is easy (especially once you have the process down) and I make a batch every 3-4 weeks.

So here is how I make our homemade yogurt:

1. Pour about 3-4 cups or so of whole milk (we prefer whole milk for yogurt) into a blender. Pour the rest into a big pot (big enough to hold a gallon of milk.) Blend the milk with 1/4 cup noninstant dry milk (more like 1/2 cup if using instant dried milk) and 1/4 cup powdered E-Z gel (an instant cornstarch product). Those are optional ingredients but they help make the yogurt thicker without straining.

2. Add blended milk mixture to the milk in the pot and stir well to combine. Heat it to 180 degrees. You don't want to do this too quickly or else you might scorch the milk on the bottom of the pan. It shouldn't take too long though, just make sure to stir it every once in awhile.

3. Once it reaches 180 degrees, I hold it at that temperature for about 3 minutes, stirring often. This helps with the yogurt thickening up as well. After 3 minutes, remove from heat and add any sweeteners or flavorings that you want. I do 1 teaspoon real vanilla and also 3/4 cup of agave nectar OR 1 slightly heaping cup of white sugar.  This makes a yogurt that is sweet but not nearly as sweet at the grocery store and has a slight vanilla flavor.  You can also not add anything at this point and just make plain yogurt and just add honey or something when you eat it.

4. Let the mixture cool to 120 degrees. Now this does take awhile. I just usually set it aside while I do other things and check the temperature every once in awhile. You can speed up the process by setting the pot in an ice bath or something but that's usually too much of a hassle for me.

5. Once the mixture is at 120 degrees, at about 1/3-1/2 cup of plain yogurt to the mixture and stir it in. (You need yogurt to make yogurt :) You can use a 1/2 cup from your last homemade batch of yogurt if you want but I usually buy my favorite plain yogurt (Dannon whole milk plain yogurt) and freeze it in 1/2 cup containers and use one of those containers in every batch. (It needs to be thawed beforehand, I usually pull it out when starting the yogurt process and keep it by the warm stove the whole time.) If you thaw frozen yogurt then it will look watery and grainy--not like yogurt--but that's fine, it will still work.

6. After stirring in your yogurt "starter" (the 1/2 cup of yogurt) cover your pot and put your pot in an insulated place to stay warm for 8 hours. I have a storage bin that I put my insulated bean bag cooker (like this one) in and then put my pot in there and it works great. Other places I've heard of people using: an oven with the oven light on (but the oven off) or a cooler (with towels wrapped around the pot.)

7. After about 8 hours, remove the pot and place in the fridge for another 8 hours or so. The yogurt will look a lot firmer after sitting in the insulated space but it firms up even more in the fridge. I usually make my yogurt in the morning, have it sit insulated all day and then put it in the fridge overnight and then it's ready to eat the next day!

You might have a little liquid on the top of your yogurt (whey) after it's done but you can drain that off easily. The thing I love about doing yogurt this way is that I don't have to strain it at all, it's just ready to eat! After the yogurt is done, I move it to old 32 oz yogurt containers and keep it that way until we go through it all and then start the process again.

We love to eat our yogurt plain or with fruit and/or granola. Most of my kids love it and I'm happy that I can give them a healthier and cheaper version than what we buy at the store. Success!