This is the one and only time that boiling the milk mixture is not a must. However, to be on the safe side, I would boil the water before mixing it with the dry milk powder. Same guidelines as when you mix infant formula to make baby milk. Boiling the water will ensure a more safe milk to make yogurt with.

By the way, whole dry milk powder makes very creamy yogurt – nice and thick velvety smooth texture.

I prefer Nestle’s “KLIM” or “NIDO” whole milk powder. Sometimes, I mix both fresh milk and whole dry milk powder.

If you want to make a heavenly tasty yogurt you can add half and half to the milk mixture. You can even make it using just half and half. This is called “cream bulgare”. It is very rich but you eat a smaller portion since it is soooooo satisfying. Topped with a bit of honey and walnuts it is a dessert made in heaven!..

1) I happen to be a chemist and am also certified in Food Safety and Sanitation. You can certainly make yogurt by not boiling pasteurized milk but you are still taking a risk since you can never be absolutely sure that the store where you bought the milk has kept it at the right temperature ot that it did not sit for a few hours out at some loading dock before it was refrigerated. You have just been very lucky if you have not gotten sick so far. Some people never wash their hands before they sit down to eat and do not get sick either. Is that a reason to believe that washing hands is not necessary? Let’s be smart about observing proper food safety guidelines so people do not get sick – especially if someone is making yogurt for small children to eat. The milk (even if it is pasteurized) must be brought to at least 180-185 F in order to kill any bad bacteria that the milk aquired AFTER pasteurization (you can contaminate pasteurized milk the moment you opwn the jar – all you need is an airborne spore! So, for everybody out there – BOIL your milk or bring it near the boiling point.

2) I never said that you boil the milk with the yogurt in it. Please refer to the website that I posted – written by a fellow microbiologist. It explains in a very articulate manner why you can not overheat the milk/yogurt mixture. You would be killing the yogurt bacteria!!!

3) Although a yogurt making machune is not necessary (I do not use one either) I still believe that it is one of the most safe methods to make yogurt especially if you feeding it to babies, small children, etc. Yes, the glass jars and all utensils need to be “sterilized” (not just sanitized). Yes, your hands must be clean and you should wear gloves as well. You should also wear a protective mouth/nose mask, just in case you start coughing or sneezing above your milk or yogurt/milk mixture. Again, this may sound extreme but if you intend like many of us to give your homemade yogurt to children you can never be too safe when dealing with cultured dairy products/fermenting milk etc. at home.

People spend years to be educated in food safety and sanitation and come up with guidelines that will keep them safe. You should not underestimate the potential of something going wrong (bad bacteria contaminating your products) by cutting corners.

I still feel that this website has the best and most accurate information for anyone who wants to make their own cheese and or other cultured dairy products at home (including yogurt). Beginners especially can benefit from the safety guidelines and the beautiful illustrations (photos etc) at this website. And, they do not try to sell you anything either!!!

Dr. Fankhauser’s Cheese Page

Yogurt Making Illustrated

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/cheese/yogurt_making/yogurt2000.htm

PS. I turn on the light in the oven right before I start to prepare the yogurt so as to give it some time to warm the oven.

Using milk powder it is possible to vary the thickness of the finished product by providing more or less milk solids. Incidentally, UHT milk will give you unbound goop that tastes like yogurt. And if you drain it through cheese cloth for 24 hours you get a thick yogurt cheese that is perfect for making frozen yogurt.

It is not necessary to bring the milk close to its boiling point and if you do that with the culture in it, you will end up with spoiled milk not yogurt.

Yogurt is basically protein and bacteria. If you have a good culture and you use clean equipment you will be fine.

From the thousands of times I have eaten yogurt that was made from unheated milk, I have NEVER had a problem.

By the same food safety guidelines, most of the world’s best cheeses and real sauerkraut would be unfit for human consumption.