Recipes & guides · 4 min read
Making yogurt with a yogurt maker — and without one
A yogurt maker makes it easy, but a blanket, an oven or a thermos work too. Here is how to keep milk warm for 8 hours.
The only hard part of making yogurt is keeping the milk at about 43 °C for 7–8 hours. A yogurt maker does that for you, but there are good ways to do it without one.
With a yogurt maker
Pour the milk with the culture into the jars, set the maker to 42–43 °C and leave it for 7–8 hours. Then lid the jars and move them to the fridge for 6–7 hours. Do not set it hotter "to be quick" — above 50 °C the culture dies.
In a blanket (the traditional way)
Pour the milk into one large jar or a pot with a lid. Wrap it tightly in a thick blanket, put it somewhere out of draughts, and do not touch it for 7–8 hours. In a cold kitchen, add a second layer or put the bundle in a box.
In the oven
Warm the oven to about 50 °C, switch it off, and put the closed jar inside with only the oven light on. Most ovens stay warm enough for a few hours this way; check the temperature once if you can.
In a thermos
A good food flask keeps a litre warm overnight. Fill it with the milk at 43–45 °C, close it and leave it.
Kefir is easier
Kefir needs less heat: warm the milk to 35–40 °C, stir in the sachet and keep it at that temperature for 12–14 hours — a yogurt maker set to 35–40 °C, or the covered jar wrapped in a blanket.
