My kids are yogurt fiends! I’ve been feeding plain Nancy’s yogurt to the kids since they were little. As they got older I threw in my Homemade Maple Granola and fresh berries, apples, or bananas as well. Now my kids ask for yogurt every weekday morning and they go through about a gallon of yogurt in a week. In Fairbanks a half gallon of Nancy’s Yogurt is about $5.50, so my kid’s yogurt addiction costs me about $11.00 a week.
For years I’ve fiddled with making my own goat yogurt, with milk from my goat share, with little success. I even bought a yogurt maker. I tried different methods of keeping the yogurt warm, such as in my crockpot, my Instant Pot (which does work pretty good), wrapped in a down blanket next to the fire, in a cooler. I tried letting my yogurt sit for various lengths of time, tried yogurt starter, used yogurt from the store as a starter, you name it, I’ve tried it. But the yogurt was always too runny; the taste was fine but the texture was not ok. I like my yogurt firm.
Now, I’m a decent cook and a pretty good baker so I was really confused why I couldn’t make my own yogurt at home. All those people on Pinterest said they could do it, why couldn’t I? So I was chatting with a friend they other day, who is a better cook and baker than me, about my yogurt woes, and she said I should add some powered milk to the recipe and it would thicken right up. She also suggested I could drain the yogurt as well but I’d lose a lot of the yogurt as whey (the runny, watery stuff that sits on top of yogurt). “Hmmm?”, I thought, “I hadn’t tried that yet, why not”. So I did, and it worked. Woohooo!
Since then I’ve tried this recipe at least a dozen times with consistent results. If you want a more sour version just let the yogurt sit overnight, almost 24 hours. I put my yogurt by the woodstove to keep it warm but Instant Pots do work, some even have a yogurt setting. You can also keep your yogurt warm, on the warm setting (depending on the temperature) in your oven. Or wrap your yogurt in blankets and set it somewhere warm in your house. Warm is key. Also a gallon of yogurt now costs me $7 in total instead of $11.00, $6.00/gallon of milk and a little less than a dollar of powered milk.
A word of warning on using goat milk. Like anything you make out of goat milk, such as Chevre, if your milk smells goaty or is going bad the smell will come through in your yogurt. So make sure the milk smells and tastes fresh so your yogurt will too.
Goat Milk Yogurt
A delicious, nutritious, easy recipe to make at home.
Ingredients
- 1 gallon goat milk raw or pasteurized
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1 cup instant dry milk
- 1 Tbl vanilla optional
Instructions
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Pour the milk into a non-reactive pot and turn the heat on between medium and medium-high.
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Put a thermometer on the side of the pot, when the thermometer hits 110 degrees F start stir occasionally so the temperature in the milk stays consistent and the milk on the bottom doesn’t burn. Or you can use a double boiler system to avoid stirring.
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At 180 degrees take the milk off the burner and turn off the heat.
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Let the milk cool to 90-110 degrees, then add the dry milk and let it hydrate for 5 minutes. Once hydrated, stir for 60 seconds with a whisk or until you don’t see any more ‘chunks’ of powdered milk.
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Add the yogurt or yogurt starter (amount according to starter directions) to the milk mixture and stir for 30 seconds.
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Add vanilla (optional) and stir.
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Keep at about 80 degrees or warmer for 10 hours and then refrigerate.
