Yogurt Thickening Techniques

delicious homemade yogurt from whole raw Jersey milk - look at the cream on top!

I’ve been eating homemade yogurt for awhile now, made from fresh raw whole milk produced by pastured Jersey cows (the gold standard in raw whole milk). I’ve been eating it because I have longstanding digestive issues, and eating yogurt once or twice a day just about eliminates those issues. My husband did a great post on how to make homemade yogurt without a yogurt maker, and I did a blog post on making homemade yogurt with a yogurt maker.

However, as I noted in my blog entry referenced above, and as a little searching online would confirm, homemade yogurt does not have the consistently smooth, thick, creamy texture of store-bought yogurt (which is usually achieved with additives like vegetable gums, which are not always easily available for individual consumers). Homemade yogurt tends to have a softly lumpy texture, with the “lumps” swimming around in the clear whey. Now, it’s still really good for you, and probably far more nutritious than store-bought yogurt – especially if you don’t add any sugar to it. But if you’re accustomed to store-bought, it can be a rough transition to eating homemade, and it’s also not something that looks very appealing to, say, houseguests, or anyone else you might be trying to convert to the homemade yogurt cause.

So, it’s not surprising that there are a number of ways to thicken homemade yogurt, in an attempt to give it a better appearance and mouthfeel. I did some online research awhile ago, and I found four different yogurt thickening techniques: straining to remove whey; adding powdered milk; heating milk to 180 degrees F; and adding gelatin. I tried a couple of them, and didn’t try the two others for good reasons. Below I discuss my experiences using straining and gelatin, and also why I did not try powdered milk or heating milk to 180 degrees.

Straining

This yogurt thickening technique is simple and makes sense – strain the finished yogurt through cheesecloth to remove whey (although some people mentioned using coffee filters, or a clean t-shirt). I used a few layers of cheesecloth, draped over a sieve and set over a bowl to catch the whey. I let it drain for about an hour.

However, as it turned out, I wasn’t able to just put the yogurt in the cheesecloth and walk away. A film formed after awhile on the cheesecloth, impeding drainage, so I kept scraping the yogurt around, to open up some areas in the film to let the whey continue draining. As you might expect, it’s a lot of bother to keep doing that.

Result: the yogurt was definitely thicker, somewhat closer to smooth and creamy but still lumpy looking. It had a much smaller volume than the original yogurt; I’d say I ended up with one-third yogurt and two-thirds whey.

Pro: whey drained off yogurt is great for other stuff, like making sauerkraut or pickling fruits or veggies.

Con: a lot of work, what with all the scraping, and resulting yogurt is considerably reduced in volume. To be fair, some websites I read said to just leave the yogurt for several hours or overnight, but I wasn’t that patient; maybe it would have drained well on its own, with more time.

Recommendation: I’d recommend using this method mainly for obtaining whey, and also if you’d like to use the resulting yogurt as a very tasty substitute for crème fraiche or sour cream (although again, it would not be as smooth and creamy as store-bought crème fraiche or sour cream, since like store-bought yogurt, they are usually made thick and creamy by additives). I’d also recommend this method if you don’t want to use any of the other three methods discussed below, as it is the most natural of all four methods mentioned in this post.

Powdered Milk

A lot of people use powdered milk to thicken their yogurt, although I could not find a consistent suggested amount; recipes varied considerably. I decided to not even try this method (after, of course, already buying a package of powdered milk) for a number of reasons:

Extra carbs: the only powdered milk available around here is the non-fat kind, which means I’d be adding extra carbs and protein to the yogurt. The protein would be okay, but not the carbs, since I eat low-carb and milk is already a somewhat carby food (although yogurt is a bit less so, since some of the sugar is used by the fermenting bacteria).

Taste and texture: some people commented that they didn’t like the taste of powdered milk, and I felt reasonably certain I wouldn’t either. I don’t like skim milk – why would I like it powdered? Others commented that sometimes powdered milk added a gritty texture – not what I’m going for.

Nutritional quality: I honestly can’t imagine powdered milk being highly nutritious, especially since this milk is probably from the usual sort of conventional dairy cow – confined in a stall 24/7, being fed distillery swill, antibiotics, and growth hormones, never getting to soak in some sunlight or fresh air, or even just take a walk once in awhile. Such cows produce poor quality milk (which is why it needs to be pasteurized and supplemented with vitamins), and the quality is reduced further by the pasteurization and dehydration process. Yuck.

Heating Milk to 180 degrees F

This method thickens yogurt a couple of ways, dehydration (which depends on how long you heat the milk) and protein denaturing, which occurs at high temperatures (here’s a simple explanation, a technical one, and a really technical one). I didn’t try this method either. I don’t want to denature highly nutritious raw whole milk; I want the nutrient content to be as whole and intact as possible (although some people using high heat with raw milk do have their reasons). Also, this method pasteurizes the milk, killing off a lot of beneficial bacteria that are naturally present in high-quality raw milk. These beneficial bacteria are good for the digestive system, and they also fight off pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, both in the milk, and in your gut.

Recommendation: If the only milk you can get is store-bought pasteurized milk, you’ll have to use this method in order to produce safe yogurt. Pasteurized milk has had all the beneficial bacteria killed out of it, leaving it extremely vulnerable to “infection” by pathogenic bacteria between the time it’s pasteurized and the time it gets put in your fridge. By pasteurizing the milk again, prior to adding the yogurt culture, you are giving the beneficial yogurt culture bacteria enough of a head start that they can outcompete or kill off any new pathogenic bacteria that will inevitably get introduced into the milk in your home environment (no offense! Bacteria are everywhere).

Gelatin

This is my preferred method for thickening yogurt. I simply add a packet of Knox gelatine powder (2 teaspoons) to two quarts (8 cups) of milk, as I’m heating the milk up to 110 degrees F. (No need to “pre-soak” the gelatin in a separate container. I just sprinkle the powder on top of the milk, distributing it as evenly as possible, wait a few minutes, and then whisk it in with a fork) This method produces some very good, reasonably thick yogurt, although it doesn’t thicken up until after the finished yogurt cools in the fridge and the gelatin sets up. Note: You can also use more or less gelatin for different texture. I just made a two-quart batch using only 1 teaspoon of gelatin (half a packet) and it turned out real well – still with a thick and creamy texture, but not as firm as when I had used 2 teaspoons.

Pro: considerable improvement in texture and thickness, with good appearance and mouthfeel. I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve this to other people, although still with the caveat that it is homemade, because it’s not perfectly smooth and creamy like store-bought yogurt.

Con: If you’re using small packets of dried gelatin powder, and you want to make significantly more or less than two quarts of yogurt, then you’ll have leftover gelatin you’ll have to store somehow (it needs to be kept dry). You also won’t be able to strain whey out of this yogurt, since it is bound up with the gelatin. Finally, if you are avoiding animal flesh products, then obviously you couldn’t use gelatin; there are, however, substitutes for gelatin, including vegetable-based ones, although you might have to experiment to figure out which one you like and how much to use.

Recommendation: this is the easiest method for thickening homemade yogurt. You could also use this with any of the other methods. I’d recommend varying the amount of gelatin you use to see what texture you prefer.

Final note: it is important, while the yogurt is fermenting, to not jostle the container(s); this will interfere with the formation of the yogurt texture, regardless if you are using any thickening technique or not. Be sure to ferment your yogurt in an out-of-the-way place where it will not be disturbed.

I’m glad I finally got around to researching this topic and learning how to thicken yogurt up to a texture that I like. Before I started thickening it, eating it could almost seem like a chore, since the texture and appearance were not appealing, and so sometimes I avoided it, to my own detriment. I enjoy eating my yogurt now, though, and I certainly enjoy having a happy, well-functioning gut!

Pastured Jersey cows - happy cows make great milk!

Tags: cows, food, low-carb, milk, recipes, yogurt

Uncategorized | Angel | September 15, 2009 6:27 pm

11 Comments

By Janet, September 30, 2009 @ 12:22 pm

Thank you so much – your information is extremely helpful. It covered alot of ground and answered my questions.
I truely appreciate it.
Thanks & God bless.
Janet
By Angel, September 30, 2009 @ 6:42 pm

You’re welcome! I knew this information would be helpful to other people, so I wanted to share it. Yogurt is such a wonderful healthy food!
By Carrie O'Hara, October 12, 2009 @ 11:54 am

DOH! I already made the yougurt, and it’s thin. I’m straining some; any other techniques for thickening a finished homemade yougurt? You’ve a very helpful page here. Thanks!
By Angel, October 12, 2009 @ 12:43 pm

Hi Carrie,

Hmmm … if you are willing to use gelatin, I would suggest adding some to the yogurt.

My suggestion for thickening one quart of already done yogurt:
1. Put a quarter cup of water in a small saucepan. Sprinkle 1 tsp gelatin over the top and let it soak for 5 minutes or so.
2. Gently heat up the gelatin on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until dissolved, 3-5 minutes.
3. Thoroughly mix the gelatin in with your whole batch of yogurt, then (if you wish) distribute yogurt into individual containers.
4. Refrigerate for several hours to allow the gelatin to set.

I haven’t actually tried this, Carrie, this is just what came to me when thinking about it. If you try it, please let me know how well it works!
By Mark Clark, December 9, 2009 @ 6:18 pm

Hi, Angel,

I just found your blog while looking for uses for whey. We make lots of smooth creamy yogurt so I’ll share our process. We make just over a half-gallon at a time.

Our yogurt never has any lumps and comes out smooth and creamy at every stage. We add no thickeners or additives of any kind.

Heat a half-gallon (plus a cup or so) of 2% milk in a non-stick sauce pan. The flame should be very low; barely visible. Heating takes about an hour and one half. By the end of heating, small bubbles have formed under the skin which forms but it never reaches an active boil and should never be hot enough to be in danger of boiling over.

The hot milk is then transfered to a half-gallon lidded crock. I’ve run hot water into the crock to pre-heat it so it won’t crack. I remove the skin from the pan so it doesn’t get into the yogurt.

In our house, the hot milk stands for 45 min. Enough time so you can hold your (freshly washed) little finger in the milk for ten seconds without feeling burned.

Another skin will have formed and I remove that as well.

At this point I add some starter. I’ll either use a tablespoon of Fage commercial yogurt or yogurt from my last batch. Don’t use common commercial yogurt, use good Greek yogurt with live cultures. I place the tablespoon of starter in a pinch bowl and spoon tablespoons of the hot milk one at a time stirring it in so as not to shock the culture. I add several spoons of hot milk slowly and stir so the starter becomes runny. Then I add the warmed starter to the hot milk.

I use our over the stove microwave oven for the growing process. I don’t actually start the microwave. The MW oven has a built in light under it to light the stove top. This light keeps the inside of the MW oven at a perfect temperature. I set the crock on a small wooden cutting board inside the MW oven and place its cover on top. I then wrap the sides and top of the crock with terry cloth hand towels. I leave the yogurt to “process” for twelve hours.

At the end of twelve hours, I transfer the crock to the refrigerator just to stop the culture from proceeding further.

When cool, the yogurt is very smooth and creamy, much like commercial yogurt only much better.

I always strain my yogurt using large commercial coffee filters. I found several hundred of these on eBay once for very little money and snapped them up. I’m guessing if my coffee filters were solid bowls, they’d hold about a gallon of liquid; maybe a little more. I place the filters in a wire mesh strainer of the same size and place that over a large mixing bowl then dump in the fresh yogurt. I put the whole thing back in the refrigerator for another day or so.

The result is strained yogurt with a consistency somewhere between sour cream and cream cheese. It’s nearly identical in consistency to the Fage brand Greek yogurt but actually tastes better. We have it for breakfast with fruit and berries. It also makes a wonderful filling for crepes.

If your readers are looking for a way to make their own high-quality smooth yogurt, this is it.
By Angel, December 9, 2009 @ 8:01 pm

Wow, Mark, thanks for the detailed instructions. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t be willing to put all that work into making the yogurt, but I would be very willing to help you eat it!

A question: about what temperature does the milk reach at it’s hottest point?
By Robin, December 18, 2009 @ 3:58 am

Thanks for all the great information- my son got me into raw milk and I was wondering how that would work out with yogurt. Have you tried using xanthan gum as a thickener? Bob’s Red Mill now sells this- so it’s easy for anyone to get. You can buy online if you can’t get it in your grocery store. It is somewhat expensive at around $12 for 8 oz but only a small amt is needed. I’m thinking about buying a yogurt maker but thought I’d have a much better chance of actually using it, if I didn’t have to boil the milk and could get the texture right by simply adding an extra ingredient. Happy Holidays!
By Angel, December 18, 2009 @ 2:14 pm

Hi Robin,

We have both xanthan gum and guar gum, but I have not tried using them yet as thickeners. The main reason is that, as you pointed out, a little goes a long way, and it is very easy to overshoot the mark and end up with food that has more of a slimy feel to it than smooth and silky. Gelatin is much more forgiving!

If you develop a nice recipe that uses just the right amount of xanthan gum, please do comment again and share it. I would like to try it sometime, but I’m willing to let someone else do the hard work of figuring out the right amount.
By Robin, December 19, 2009 @ 12:07 am

Hi Angel,
Interesting info about the gelatin..well I bought the yogurt maker online tonight. When it gets here I’ll see what I can do with xanthan gum as a thickener. (Let’s see if my training as a chemist gets me anywhere!) I’ll post back with the results!
By Angel, December 19, 2009 @ 7:29 pm

I would very much appreciate that! I am interested in trying different thickening techniques. If I like the results that I get using your suggested method, I will update my post (with appropriate credit to you, of course). We’ve hardly used any of our xanthan gum or guar gum, so it would be nice to have something to use them in.
By Erynn, January 30, 2010 @ 5:17 pm

Hi! I was wondering if anyone has used Irish Moss as a thickeining agent for the yogurt?

Divine Mind

musings by Angel