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Header image how to make homemade yoghurt by the A Hopeful Home blog. The image shows a bowl of yoghurt with blueberries, granola, and banana on top.

How to Make Homemade Yoghurt

Fresh, cheap, and healthy homemade yoghurt. This homemade yoghurt is so simple to make and you get to decide what's in it!
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Total Time 20 hours
Servings 1 litre

Equipment

  • A medium sized saucepan
  • A (wooden) spoon
  • A kitchen scale or a measuring jug
  • A candy or meat thermometer
  • An Easiyo maker OR a shallow glass, enamel, or stainless steel container (oven proof) as well as a storage container to store the yoghurt in the fridge
  • If you are making Greek yoghurt, you will also need: a large sieve, a muslin cloth, and a large sized bowl

Ingredients
  

  • 1 litre Pasteurised milk You can choose which type of milk but I like to use whole milk. To clarify, most milks in the supermarkets in the UK are pasteurised.
  • 2 tbsp A good quality commercial plain yoghurt which I like to call the 'mother' yoghurt I like to use Aldi's Brooklea 10% fat Greek yoghurt to start it off and if a previous batch is a bit old or has accidentally been finished). The reason I really like the Brooklea yoghurt is because it contains live cultures which is meant to be extra good for your gut.

Instructions
 

  • Start by heating the milk to 82 degrees Celsius in the saucepan on a medium heat. Stir it occasionally to prevent a skin forming on top of the milk and the milk to burn at the bottom of the saucepan. Once it reaches that temperature, take it off the stove and allow it to cool to 43 degrees Celsius. That will take around 30-40 minutes. These temperatures are temperatures to aim for so please don't worry if the temperature of the milk ends up slightly higher or lower.
  • Now add the good quality commercial plain yoghurt which I also like to call the 'mother' yoghurt (or a previous homemade batch if you are on your second or third batch made from your 'mother' yoghurt). Stir well.
  • > If you are using an Easiyo maker. Then add water to the container holder (as you usually would when making Easiyo yoghurt). You want to make sure the temperature of this water is also around 43 degrees Celsius. To reach this temperature, I usually add 50% boiling water and 50% cold tap water. Next, add the milk-yoghurt mixture to the container and close the lid. After, put the container in the Easiyo maker, close the lid, and leave it undisturbed for 10 hours.
    > If you aren't using an Easiyo maker. Then make sure to heat the oven to 43 degrees Celsius (or just leave the oven light on, this should allow the oven to heat to a similar temperature). Put the milk-yoghurt mixture in the container, cover it with for example silver foil or a dish cloth, and put it in the oven for 10 hours.
  • Once the 10 hours have passed, put the yoghurt in the fridge to chill for at least 6 hours before you eat it.
  • After 2-3 hours, take the yoghurt from the muslin cloth-lined sieve and put it in a storage container. Next, put this storage container back in the fridge to chill for at least 6 hours before you eat it.