Making yoghurt from scratch is actually far easier than most people realise. The trickiest part is figuring out how to keep your yoghurt at an even temperature (of around 40 degrees Celsius) while it is forming. And that’s where the Easiyo comes into it’s own. Note: We now also have a Making Yogurt at Home FAQ & Troubleshooting guide.
Now, the Easiyo Yogurt Maker is sold with the assumption that you will buy the Easiyo sachets to make your yoghurt with, not make it from scratch, but there is absolutely no reason you need to do it that way. What I tend to do is to keep a couple of their flavoured sachets in the cupboard for special treats (for flavours that I haven’t figured out how to make myself), or for when I run out of yoghurt for my starter or have no milk (or milk powder) to spare. The rest of the time I make my yoghurt from scratch, using one of the two following methods.
Making yoghurt from scratch using fresh milk
- Heat 1 litre of milk almost (but not quite) to boiling – look for the point when it is just slightly frothy on top but not yet foaming up (or use a milk thermometer if you have one). Organic milk is of course best, but not essential, and you can use anything from fat free milk to full cream (4%) milk. Heating the milk changes the protein to make it more conducive to making yoghurt with. It also kills off any bacteria that is growing in the milk and might compete with the yoghurt starter culture.
Cool the milk in the fridge until it is completely cold. Note, this is different to other methods of making yoghurt from scratch.* I tend to heat the milk before bed and leave it in the fridge overnight.- When the milk is completely cold, pour half of it into an Easiyo 1 litre container and add 1/2 cup of milk powder. This is not essential, but makes for a thicker yoghurt. Put the lid on tightly. Shake until mixed, the same way you would using an Easiyo sachet.
- Take about half a cup of the milk and mix it with 2-3 tbsp of yoghurt, until they are well blended. Make sure the yoghurt is not too old, as your starter bacteria may have died. Tip: If you don’t have any yoghurt left, you can use 2-3 tablespoons of any Easiyo packet as your yoghurt starter. I keep a packet in the cupboard for this purpose, and just keep it in a glass jar once it’s open. If you use a flavoured packet you will get a very mild flavour through your yoghurt.
- Add this mix and the rest of the milk to the yoghurt container and shake some more to mix thoroughly.
- Fill the Easiyo with boiling water, up to the top of the red baffle, just as for the usual Easiyo instructions.
- Put the container of milk into the Easiyo and leave for about 10 hours, depending how tangy and how well set you like your yoghurt (the longer you leave it the tangier and better set it gets). Then take it out and put it in the fridge to finish setting, for 6 hours (this will stop the culturing process).
Variation 1: Making yoghurt from scratch using powdered milk
The Yogurt Cookbook includes your basic "how to make yogurt" recipes at the front, but then also covers how to make yogurt cheese, how to make curd cheeses just with lemon juice and milk, including the Indian cream cheese, panir, and then has perhaps a hundred recipes that use yoghurt, from soup to main dishes to desserts.
This is basically the same as above, except without steps 1 & 2, and instead of 1/2 cup of milk powder, I use 1&1/3 to 1&1/2 cups of milk powder, 1 litre of cold water from the tap.
This is much quicker and also doesn’t involve me having to buy yet another litre of milk every two days (my family goes through a LOT of milk already!), but I can understand that food purists might prefer to use fresh milk.
Variation 2: Making yoghurt from scratch using UHT milk
In response to questions in the comments, I have now tried making yoghurt using UHT milk, and I have to confess, this is now my favourite option. It is exactly the same as option 1, without the heating and cooling of the milk, and works perfectly.
You can easily keep a litre or two of UHT milk in the cupboard, without having to clutter up your fridge. It’s probably not as economical as using powdered milk, but still far cheaper than buying ready made yoghurt or Easiyo sachets. And you can buy organic UHT milk at Aldi in Australia (usually). I know you can get organic powered milk, but I haven’t sourced any yet.
Flavouring your Yoghurt
There are different ways of flavouring your yoghurt, which can be done either before setting or afterwards, when serving. One common method is to stir in some jam or some fresh fruit when serving. Unfortunately, half of my family won’t eat yoghurt this way, having gotten to use to the store bought extra sweet stuff. So for them, I sweeten before setting. The two preferred flavours I’ve made this way are lemon (which I love) and vanilla.
For either one of these you just added 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey and 1 teaspoon of vanilla or lemon essence. When I make the yoghurt with milk I stir in the sugar or honey when the milk is hot so as to dissolve it effectively. If I’m using water and milk powder I just heat up a couple of table spoons of water and dissolve the sugar in that, before mixing in the milk powder and yoghurt. The essence can be added at the same time.
Sarina Jacobson's book has received 5 stars on Amazon (but the image link is to Fishpond). I haven't tried it yet, but I'm waiting on some yoghurt books from my library for more recipe ideas.
Experiment with the amount of sweetener you like to use. Two tablespoons is much less sweet than store bought yoghurt usually is, but still sweeter than some people like. Honey gives a quite different flavour compared to sugar. Do not use Xylitol, which will inhibit the bacteria from growing. I believe Stevia is the same. You can use them afterwards if you like.
You can also use a few tablespoons of one of the Easiyo sachets as your starter culture, to create a very mild flavour.
When adding berries or other fruit it is better to add it when serving, as the fruit will just sink to the bottom of the milk before the yoghurt sets.
More questions? See our Yogurt FAQ and Troubleshooting page.
*Updated to add: The reason for cooling the milk all the way to cold is to ensure the heat from the boiling water is not enough to kill off the starter culture. However, my mother has reported only cooling to 40°C (which is the usual practice for making yogurt at home) with no issues.
Updated (again) to add: I’ve changed the instructions for making the powdered milk version from 1&1/4 to 1&1/3 – 1&1/2 cups of milk powder, because – in response to a comment below – I’ve started using more milk powder and found I prefer the consistancy. I’ve also changed the instructions from 1-2 tbsp, to 2-3 tbsp of starter, because this seems to give a more consistant result, presumably because of the life cycle of the starter bacteria – if the yoghurt is a bit old, there won’t be as much left. On the other hand, two much culture doesn’t work – there’s too much competition for the “food” (milk sugars), so that it’s all gone before the yoghurt sets. So don’t overdo it.
Hi there. Have you tried usng UHT milk at all? I imagine you wouldn’t need to heat it (as it is ultra heat treated already) and so would follow the dried milk steps rather than fresh milk steps. What starter yoghurt have you found works best? Any particular brands or strains? thanks Trudy.
Hi Trudy, thanks for your comment.
I haven’t tried UHT, but I have heard that you can use it without heating, yes. I haven’t really got a prefered starter. I tend to use whatever is left from last time, but when I do buy yoghurt I do try to choose brands with different bacteria in it each time, to get a variety. If I forget to save some before I make my next batch I just use a little of the Easiyo plain yoghurt sachet, which I have in a jar in the fridge. I’m not sure how long it will last, but it has still seemed okay after a month or two being open (but refridgerated) so far.
Kirsten
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks for a great and very timely article – I have just bought an Easiyo and want to avoid having to buy the sachets.
I eat the plain unsweetened youghurt but my husband and children, like yours, have become too used to the sweetness of store bought yoghurt so I am experimenting with quantities of sugar and flavours.
Do you know whether there is any reason why you can’t make just 500mL at a time? Just while I am experimenting with flavours etc?
Thanks again. Emma
Hi Emma,
thanks for your comment. I don’t see why you couldn’t make 500ml, the only issue would be whether it would be too hot for the starter culture. Maybe experiment with putting a little less boiling water in?
If you do, I’d love to hear how your experiement goes. It’s something I’ve considered, but haven’t tried yet.
Kirsten
My recipe is 1 1/3 cup full cream milk powder, 3 tablespoons easiyo sachet, and 3 tablespoons sugar (if unsweetened sachet powder).
I do not store the opened sachet in the fridge, in a sealed container in the cupboard is fine.
That must be quite a bit creamier than my recipe Rachel – I need to make a batch of yoghurt tonight, so I’m going to try that recipe.
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks!! My son bought one of these, and we’ve been using it for a few months. Now I can make “real” yoghurt instead of “packet” yoghurt.
Excellent Greg, glad to be of help!
I can report that I tried Rachel’s recipe (above) using 3 tbsp of a sweetened Easiyo sachet and no extra sugar… my son and husband didn’t like it
but my daughter and I did. I think maybe with just a little extra sugar they would have liked it okay though.
I see more experimentation ahead
Thanks very much for your article- I just bought the Easiyo and googled to find a real-milk recipe! I’m going to use A2 milk.
That’s great Bellgirl, A2 milk also made into yoghurt has got to be able the most digestible option around for most people I would guess. I wonder if using A2 makes any difference to how the yoghurt turns out? Let us know if you notice anything, won’t you?
I’ve been using your recipe for a few weeks now Kirsten, but seem unable to consistently make thick yoghurt, rather than thick drinking yoghurt (if that makes sense). Any tips? I’m using UHT full cream, 1 tsp sugar (sweet enough!) and two cubes of biodynamic A2 Jalna yoghurt (I’m in Australia). I froze a kilo of it into ice cube trays and just defrost in the milk on the bench for an hour before putting the rest in. It was the same before I started the freezing thing so I know it’s not that
Hi Sue,
I haven’t actually tried UHT milk, but I’ve read other people having success with it, so it shouldn’t be that. The two things I could suggest are try using another cube or two of the Jalna yoghurt – did you freeze a jar close to the beginning of it’s shelf life or the end? Because the friendly bacteria we need to make the yoghurt for us do have a limited life span. The other question is, is your water staying warm long enough? I’ve heard of people checking it after some time – maybe 6-8 hours, and carefully replacing some of the water with a fresh batch of hot water.
Also, make sure the starter yogurt is well mixed in – if you are putting it in frozen, this could be an issue. Try mixing it in with half a cup or so of the milk to make sure it is not getting stuck in a lump at the bottom of your yogurt jar. If you are finding the yoghurt is thicker at the bottom than the top, this could be what’s happening.
Let me know how it goes!
Hello,
Just wanted to to know if anyone has used UHT with good results.
Have just dusted off my Easiyo from the back of the cupboard and would like to make my own yogurt from scratch!!
Thanks.
Hi Kerry,
I haven’t used it, but a commenter on on a post from Christine’s blog Slow Living Essentials reports having used it to good effect.
Cheers
Kirsten
I have been using UHT milk for a while now, with good results. I’d still add 1/4-1/3 cup of powered milk as well, to thicken it up.
Hi Sue, is your yoghurt comming out very tangy compared to store bought ? I would suggest the freezing of yoghurt you use as starter culture is to blame, as freezing most often kills live bacteria.
We tried making this last night (I only found your website today, I was going off another website which didn’t have an easiyo container spec’d). We cooled the milk down to 40°C, and then put it in the easiyo container with water at about 50°C (we didn’t want to put in boiling water, as we didn’t want to risk killing all the good bacteria). Woke up this morning with nice yoghurt, however it was a bit thin once mixed in (still ok). I was reading somwhere when heating milk, if you hold it at 80°C for 30 mins, you get thicker/creamier yoghurt. Have any of you heard of this?
Also, I am wondering if I can get away with hotter temps of the water I put in to get thicker yoghurt. You say that your Mum cools to 40°C and puts in boiling water? this works ok?
Yep, she uses boiling water with warm milk and has had no problem. I haven’t tried holding it at a temperature for any length of time, but other things I would suggest you try for thicker yoghurt: add some powdered milk; use more starter (so there is more of that good bacteria doing it’s thing), leave it for longer – though this probably wouldn’t work if you didn’t start with boiling water. I have also heard of people carefully changing over the water half way through because it had cooled down too much, but I have never had to do this.
You can also ‘drain’ the yoghurt for a little while afterwards to remove some of the whey using cheesecloth or something similar (but not for too long or you end up with quark) for a thicker effect, but be aware that you are also draining away a lot of the bacteria that way.
Well, I tried making yoghurt using Stevia as a sweetener last night and it didn’t work at all well (better than when I tried with xylitol though, which didn’t set at all). I think I’m just going to stick to honey and sugar for sweeteners from now on!
We go through a lot of yoghurt in our household. I now have three EasiYo yoghurt makers set up. I buy the 3L milk for $3.00 from Coles, heat that up, with 1.5 cups of instant powdered milk (Woolworths brand). When it has boiled I cool it down in the sink filled with cold water. After around 15 minutes I add 6 heaped tablespoons of the EasiYo boysenberry probiotic base (2 tablespoons per 1L milk), whisk, and fill up the yoghurt containers. They get put into the yoghurt maker for 8-10 hours, and then go straight into the fridge. The yoghurt is thick and creamy. I save so much money with each litre costing around $1.50 (I was spending $5.50 per litre before).
[...] Yoghurt (see this, and this) [...]
Hi, i am thinking about buying a yogurt maker, and so I am reading about recipes. The easiyo sounds great but I’d prefer not to have to purchase their packets, so I googled and found your site – Thankyou! I do have a question though, why is it necessary to heat and then cool the milk? All the milk we get at the local stores here is already heat pasteurized, so it just seems like it is unnecessary?? Also, when I was little my mom made yogurt all the time in a salton yogurt maker, I don’t recall her ever heating the milk first. Thanks.
That’s a very good question Jennifer. I’ve read that the heating and cooling changes the milk chemistry somehow, but yes, wouldn’t pasturising have done that already? I don’t know. My mother now buys ultra-pasturised milk – whatever that is – and uses it without heating.
If you try it without heating will you report back about what happens?
Good luck!
Please can you tell me why my yoghurt ends up looking like cottage cheese? I have followed your recipe
Hi Jill,
Sorry to take so long to reply, I’ve been overseas & offline.
I can’t tell you for sure, but could it be that you have stirred or shaken it after it’s started to set? Or, you’ve added something that has curdled the milk, like some kind of fruit? I did that with berries once…
Good luck!
Hi just curious as to whether soy milk would work, i am thinking that since it is UHT it would work in the same way? Went from full cream milk to semi skinned milk and now my tummy cant even take that anymore, hence moving onto soy….
Hi Roweina,
Sorry to take so long to reply, I’ve been overseas.
I haven’t tried soy milk, but I believe it works just the same. Will you let me you know how it goes if you try it? (Or just put another comment on post).
Thanks & Good luck.
Kirsten
Once you make the yogurt, can it be frozen? I dont think we would have a chance to eat it all before it went off…
Speaking of which, how many days does a batch of yogurt last for in the fridge before it is no good to eat?
Yes, it can be frozen. Just freeze it in portion sizes and then let it defrost a bit in the fridge before eating – frozen yoghurt is a great summer snack!
How long it will last in the fridge will depend, I assume, on how long your milk had to last. I’ve read up to two weeks as a rule of thumb, but since we tend to get through a litre in day or two I have never tested it out!
I love this post and have reposted it in my blog. I hope you don’t mind. I just made it last night with 3 Tbsp yoghurt culture and 1 1/3 cups powdered milk and it set really well. Thanks again for the post.
Rebecca
You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it
I like cement yoghurt – really thick, creamy yoghurt and I use 2 cups of full cream milk powder to 3 tablespoons of starter. – warm water in mix and hot water in baffle, I wrap in a towel to keep heat consistent.
I love to buy a can of mangoes and puree and stir through once set – yummo!
Yum, that sounds delicious Melissa. I’ve been stirring through home stewed rhubarb this week, which is also yummo!
I’ve never tried it that thick, but I might do one like that next. I love experimenting!
Has anyone tried making yoghurt from coconut milk? I would like to try it, but wonder if anyone already has to save me experimenting.
caroline
I haven’t tried this, but a quick google found me a recipe for coconut or soy yoghurt at http://cookbookaficionado.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/homemade-coconut-milk-yogurt/ the recipe includes both tapioca starch and agar powder, so I guess it’s a little more complexe, but it does say you can do it in a yoghurt maker.
Hi. I use my easi-yo yoghurt maker to make yoghurt but without the baffle or container. I put in 3 cups each of cold and boiling water (slighlty less boiling and more cold water in hotter weather), 2 1/2 – 3 cups milk powder, one small tub natural yoghurt (or appox 1 cup of my previous batch) and 2 tablespoons of sugar. This I mix thoroughly and leave for about 12 hours. It makes about 2L of yoghurt so saves me having to make it as often.
Hi Anne-Maree,
That is great to know, I never thought of doing that! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Kirsten
I love this idea! Anne-Maree, I’m curious as to what you mean by hotter weather? I live in the tropics to I am wondering what the best ratio of cold to hot water would be for me?
Can you use real vanilla extract? We make our own with vanilla beans and vodka.
Are there any other ways to give it fruit flavors before it sets?
You Can use vanilla extract, yes. I don’t know about other ways to give a fruit flavour before it sets. Maybe using orange water or rose water in the powdered milk recipe would work?
I tried making the powdered milk recipe and it was so thick and creamy. I used the strawberries and cream powder mix as a starter, and Dano powdered milk (it’s Danish and available in west Africa-where I’m from). I now want to see if I can use the yoghurt I made as a starter, will know how it goes in the morning. Thank you very much for posting this recipe,it’s difficult for me to get the powder mix, I have to send all the way to London to buy it from Lakeland.
You’re welcome Amina, I’m glad it’s been useful.
Thank you so much for this post. I find buying the Easiyo sachets are just as expensive as buying premade yogurt but had no idea how to go about making it from scratch. The instructions were wonderfully straightforward while allowing variations
I wanted to say thankyou for the recipe’s, I have just borrowed my mums yoghurt maker and wondered how to make it myself with out the sachet’s I am looking forward to giving it a go and avoiding the store brought ones, I love that I will know what’s in it.
I live in UK and regularly use Long life milk mixed with milk powder and yogurt starter to make a container full of thick, creamy yogurt.
We’re now living in Australia for 5 months and bought ourselves an Easy-Yo yogurt maker to carry on with our yogurt making. However, I have been unable to achieve the same results as in UK. I have used different yogurt starters, different milk powders and different types of milk (UHT and normal pasteurised)but only achieve a runny, pouring yogurt. The latest experiment using heated,(but cooled to tepid temperature) pasteurised milk had to be thrown away, as the yogurt curdled. Please could you tell me how to achieve thick set yogurt using Australian ingredients? I don’t want to use Easy- Yo sachets. We bought a sachet of Greek yogurt when we first bought our Australian Easy Yo yogurt maker and found it much more bitter than the same product bought in UK. I don’t understand why I can’t make yogurt in Australia and can only conclude that there must be additives to prevent setting in one or more of the ingredients I’m using. Please can you help ?
Hi Patti,
I’m going to have to do a bit more research on this, but my first thought is to wonder how fresh your starters are?
I have noticed a few times lately that my yoghurt hasn’t been as thick as I would like, and I have a tendency to use left over yoghurt, then add a few tsps from an easiyo pack I have stored in the cupboard if I don’t have quite enough yoghurt or think it may be a little old. So yesterday I tried just using the rest of that easiyo packet, and found it didn’t set at all (not even to the point of runny yoghurt, just nothing) – so I’m figuring there’s my problem! I will now test the pack I have in the fridge and see if it is also all dead, and I went out yesterday and bought a fresh jar of jalna biodynamic yoghurt, with a month before its use-by date, to make a new batch of yogurt today.
I know you said you’ve used different starters and different milks. The only other thoughts I have are, is your easiyo maker somehow not holding the heat? Or, is it too hot (where in Australia are you?) and the bacteria is dying off? I know a friend of mine who lived in Alice Springs said she used to only make it at night.
As far as there being an additive in Australian milk that stops it setting, I don’t think so. I can’t tell just how thick you are used to having it, but I certainly make it thicker than a pouring yoghurt generally, though I must admit I’ve never got it to be as thick as the jalna yoghurt I buy. I’m going to experiment tomorrow with using more starter and see what happens.
Good luck – please let us know how you go!
Kirsten
Thanks Kirsten! I have just been given an Easiyo for Christmas but didn’t like the idea of being trapped into buying their sachets all the time. Your advice is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and also to all the others who have added their comments. Fantastic.
For the same reasons as everyone else, I am here to avoid having to buy the sachets, and do things the old fashioned way, which is hopefully healthier.
My question is, and I would appreciate if anyone has any ideas for me; My family has recently gone sugar free (or should I say – I have recently made my family go sugar free), and I am looking for ways to flavour the yogurt without added sugar, artificial or otherwise. Sweetened fruit juices are out too. Any ideas?
Also I thought some people may be interested to hear of my husbands recent trip to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. He was invited to stay in a Ger, which is a nomadic tent style of housing in the middle of literally nowhere, with a family for a few nights, along with the goats and animals etc. the old grandma in the family made yoghurt every night from horsemilk or goat milk in a container left out. She had been using the same culture that had been handed on from her mother, and would continue to be handed on the her children. No fridge, no easyyo, no sachets… Of course being my husband he didn’t take notes, but he did say it was horrible and had to refuse seconds
Wow, that’s a great story of your husband’s experience Laura.
As far as sweetening goes, is fresh fruit okay? You could try stirring in fresh berries or mango when serving. You could also try using a little cream instead of milk – I haven’t tried this, but the creamier yoghurts I’ve bought always seem sweeter than the ordinary ones, even without added sugar.
Let us know if you come up with anything else!
I have used the advice from posts to master my Easy yo yoghurt making,haven’t yet tried making yoghurt without a couple of tablespoons from sachet. On my last shopping trip to buy some new sachets I notice that Easy Yo now have an ice cream maker range – has anybody tried this out yet and was wondering if there are any short cuts again not making from scratch.
[...] of Costa No comments My post on How to Make Yogurt is so popular (about 1/4 of all visitors to Sustainable Suburbia visit that page), and has [...]
Hi,
Are you able to tell me if the recipe on the following website http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/vietnamese-yogurt-recipes/
can be used using the easiyo. The recipe used hot water and milk, would I have to cool it before I use it the easiyo and would it set in the 1 litre container, as the recipe pours the mixture into individual containers to set?
Thank you,
lochydc
I think it would work fine. You might have to adjust the quantities, it adds up to more than 1 litre. It would *probably* work okay just cutting down the yoghurt – if it’s all in the one container you should be able to make it with only a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt, though I couldn’t say if the condensed milk will have any affect on that, and also it could be a little watery so maybe cut down both the yoghurt and the water. Or, you could be more precise and reduce all the measurements to make a litre.
You shouldn’t need to worry about cooling it, as long as the milk you’re using is cold. Yoghurt can grow at up to about 50 degrees (it’s usually recommended that you cool to about 40 and try to hold it at that temperature when not using the easiyo) so that should be cool enough not to kill it off. On the other hand, using the Easiyo there’s probably no reason to boil the water in the first place, that’s probably just to bring the overall mix to the right temperature, so you could try it with cold water. It will take a little longer this way though, as the mix will have to warm up before the culture starts to grow.
Another option is to put a little less boiling water into the easiyo as it won’t need to be as hot (if you use hot water in the recipe), but if you do that I’d check after say 4 or 5 hours and make sure it’s still warm. If not, just carefully take the container out and add a bit more boiling water (or tip some out and add more), then put the container back. Truthfully, it’s a fairly forgiving process.
One thing to note is that the hotter it is (within the limits that don’t kill the culture) the quicker the process will go, which results in a tangier yoghurt and usually with more separation of the whey.
I’ll try this recipe out for myself next time I have some condensed milk and report back, or please do leave another comment with your results if you try it.
Dear Kirsten,
I just returned from a visit to New Zealand and bought an Easiyo with lots of sachets and even more milk powder. Thanks to your article I can keep making yogurt for my family for a while.
Thank you for your information.
Regards,
Kurt Common
Tokyo, Japan
Thanks Kurt, I’m so glad it is helped you.