After much trial and error I figured out just the right steps and ingredients to make delicious yogurt and so of course had to sketch the process. I wanted to make my own yogurt so that I could get the mild, creamy flavor I like without adding more plastic to the landfill; I already have a lifetime supply of empty yogurt containers.
Ingredients for 7 cups:
48 oz. Organic 1% Milk
6 oz. yogurt at room temperature (I like Clover 1.5% Plain Yogurt) or use 1 cup from previous batch
2 T. Organic powdered low-fat milk (optional)
Quick-read Thermometer
1 Quart measuring cup
2 Quart Pyrex casserole dish
Whisk
Directions:
Pour 48 oz. of milk into Pyrex casserole dish, or pot (if using stove)
Cook until 180° F. (almost boiling, 15 minutes in my microwave)
Remove from microwave and allow to cool until 110° F. or room temperature. If skin forms on top, use a fork to skim it off.
Turn on the yogurt maker* and put the jars in place so they can pre-warm.
Pour a cup or so of the milk into the 1 quart measuring cup.
Whisk the 6 oz. container of yogurt (should be at room temperature) and the powdered milk (optional) into the milk in the measuring cup.
Pour the milk/yogurt mixture back into the big bowl of milk and whisk all until completely blended.
Pour the mixture into the individual jars.
Put the dome lid on the yogurt maker and set timer for 8 hours.
When it turns off, place lids on jars and put in the refrigerator to cool.
When cold, eat as is or add fresh fruit.
Yum.
*The Waring Pro Yogurt Maker comes with reusable plastic containers but I replaced them with 1 cup glass canning jars which are more appealing. I eat the yogurt right out of the jars, wash them and use them again. The Waring helps to make the process simple: it has a timer and holds the yogurt at the right temperature for the number of hours you set it to run and then it turns off. The longer it “cooks” the more tart it becomes. But you don’t really need equipment to make yogurt; you can use a thermos, an oven pilot light or even a crock pot, but for consistent results the Waring is great.
Jana Bouc, Artist 
12 replies on “How to Make Yogurt, Illustrated”
Hi – I’m close by in the north bay. I bought a yogurt maker (Euro Cuisine) last month and have been cookin’ up a batch every few days. If you like plain white yogurt as much as I do (with a few grains of raw sugar), it’s the only cost effective way to go. I’m sure my yogurt maker is already paid for!
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Yep, I do like my snack of a jar of “plain white” homemade yogurt and some fruit. I don’t add any sweetener, but the yogurt has such a mild flavor it doesn’t really need it. Jana
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Nice page, Jana!
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A helpful and fun page, Jana, and I am sure– as Barbara says– that it will pay for itself quickly for us Yogurt lovers.
annie
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I’ve been meaning to calculate the difference in cost but haven’t sat down and done the math. Of course if you include the cost of the yogurt maker it could take months to make up for that cost. Jana
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Not only a great topic, Jana, but what a well done page! Nice balance and great rendering! Bravo!
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Wow! If it had only been you that had included the instructions instead of the confusing ones that I got, maybe I would have kept mine! These pages are great!
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I know, those instructions were really confusing and hard to follow. My friend who makes her own yogurt and first suggested I make my own couldn’t understand how I could be turning such a simple process into something so complicated. Heat milk, let it cool, add yogurt starter, pour in jars, keep warm. Done. Jana
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This sounds like a good idea, I think I would like to try this recipe.
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I love you drawings… and your yogurt maker. I made yogurt for the first time in years just last week…. after getting a maker with 5 little cups in a roll at a garage sale. I use to make it and wrap it up in blankets using a recipe in the Whole Earth Catalog. I’ll try your recipe next time. Thanks for sharing.
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Oh yes, the Whole Earth Catalog–way back in the good old days of making your own everything, which it seems like is coming back around again, but with electric gizmos instead of rough hewn wood.
Jana
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Very nice – you made me want to go buy a yoghurt maker!
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