Learn how to make homemade Icelandic Skyr style yogurt in this recipe, which can be customized and happens to be budget friendly as well!
I love Siggi’s brand yogurt, but recently they stopped carrying the larger container sizes in my local grocery stores. I was heart broken when I saw the last tub of plain Siggi’s on closeout!
In this recipe, we will learn how to make Skyr yogurt, using a Siggi’s single serve yogurt as the starter, as well as how to re-use a small amount of our yogurt to re-culture our future batches for the years to come!
I make this recipe once a week, and it NEVER gets old. Research suggests that yogurt (and other fermented foods) can increase the amount of tryptophan in the blood, leading to a natural boost in serotonin, which helps control mood and sleep. You seriously need in on all these amazing health benefits, as well as the calming effects of this Icelandic yogurt bliss!
For this recipe, you will need…
1 gallon of whole milk (I use organic grass-fed, but any kind of milk containing dairy will work)
2 single-serve Siggi’s brand containers (plain or vanilla)
5-6 drops of liquid vegetable rennet (I use New England Cheesemaking brand, Liquid Vegetable Rennet)
1/4 cup of cold, filtered water (I use natural spring water in a gallon jug from our store for things like this and adding to my sourdough starter. The chlorine and other chemicals in city tap water can disrupt the fermentation process)
Heavy bottomed cast iron or enamel pot with lid (that holds at least one gallon)
Wooden or silicone spoon
Electric thermometer
Wooden, plastic or silicone ladle
Large Nut-Milk bag or cheesecloth
Large Pot with a Strainer or a Sieve over top
Various cup measurement tools
Small Mixing Bowl
Containers of choice for storing yogurt (I use two 3 quart airtight glass jars )
Let’s get started!
This is a multi-step recipe. I have made this easier to remember by calling this five step yogurt. Overall, this yogurt takes about two days (48-ish hours) before it is complete.
Most of this time is waiting, so it is not as complicated as a 48 hour recipe may sound! All five steps to make this yogurt are easy, and it can be made to fit into your schedule!
So, let’s get this yogurt started… I promise, the wait is SO worth it!
Heating the Milk
To start, turn your largest stove top burner on to medium heat and set the heavy enamel pot onto the burner. Add your 1 gallon of whole milk to the pot, ensuring you have at least 1-2 inches of space at the top of the pot.
Slowly bring the milk up to temperature, stirring occasionally so that a skin does not form on top of the milk. If a skin does form, don’t sweat it. Simply turn the heat down a notch and remove the skin.
The process up bring the milk up to temperature takes 20-30, sometimes even 40 minutes. Try not to bring it up too quickly. This will result in scalded or burned milk.
We are going to bring the milk up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, or roughly 82 degrees Celsius. Once we reach this temperature, turn the burner off and move the pot away from the heat source. Let the yogurt sit at room temperature and cool until it reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43 degrees Celsius.
Adding the Filtered Water, Vegetable Rennet and The Siggi’s Yogurt Starter
Once the milk has reached our target temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, 43 degrees Celsius, we are ready to add the rest of our ingredients.
First, take the 1/4 cup of cold, filtered water and add the 5-6 drops of liquid vegetable rennet. Whisk this together and sit aside.
Next, add the two single-serve cups of Siggi’s yogurt to a clean, small mixing bowl. Using your ladle of choice, (avoid using any metal utensils, they will react with the yogurt) ladle 2-3 spoonfuls of the warmed milk mixture to your small mixing bowl containing the Siggi’s single-serves, which is our starter. Stir these together until fully combined.
Then add in the components from the small mixing bowl, with the warmed milk and Siggi’s, to the enamel pot of warmed milk. Stir to combine thoroughly.
Lastly, add in the mix of the cool, filtered water and liquid vegetable rennet to the enamel pot as well. Stir to combine thoroughly.
Put the lid on the enamel pot. All the heating is done!
The Fermentation Period
The next step to making the Skyr yogurt, is the fermentation period. This is where the warm milk becomes yogurt over the course of a number of hours.
To do this, situate your oven racks to be as low as they can go. This next part sounds kind of goofy, but bear with me! I promise it works!
Take a thick, heavy bath towel and lay it out on the kitchen counter. Set the enamel pot (with the lid on) in the center of the towel, and double up the towel over the top of the pot. Pick up the enamel pot, wrapped in the towel, being cautious as to where to handles are and if the pot is level to prevent spilling, and set it into your oven on the lowest rack possible.
Turn your oven light on and prop the oven door open.
Now that you have beared with me, I will explain why this works!
We want to keep the yogurt at a consistent 110 degree temperature to help the fermentation happen. Yogurt is finicky, as it likes to be a consistent temperature for a number of hours in order to do what it needs to do. I have found that the oven is a nice place to get a consistent temperature, especially when the oven light is on and the door is open. This allows for some needed air flow.
Do not keep the light and on and shut the oven door. This will trap too much heat and over-ferment your yogurt. This would not be good!
The yogurt needs to ferment for 10-12 hours. I typically start this recipe in the evening, so it can conveniently ferment overnight.
Straining the Skyr Yogurt
After your 10-12 hour fermentation period, the yogurt will look like the image below. If the yogurt is not looking like this, ferment it for longer. Do not ferment your yogurt longer than 24 hours.
At this point, you are seeing the yogurt curds, (the white parts) and the whey (the yellow parts). We want to strain the curds from the whey to create thick, ultra satisfying Skyr yogurt. To do this, we will first set up our strainer. Do this by utilizing a large nut milk bag and placing it over a strainer, which will be on top of another bowl to catch all of the whey that will drain. Alternatively, you could use a colander and place cheesecloth inside the colander to separate the whey.
Once your straining system is ready, use a plastic or wooden ladle to gently spoon the curds into your nut milk bag, or over your cheesecloth. You want to be gentle with the curds, disrupting them as little as possible when moving them into the nut milk bag. The more the curds break, the less yogurt you will get, as the whey will strain and take some of the broken curds with it.
Once you have finished spooning all the curds into your nut milk bag, tie the bag closed and set the whole straining system into your refrigerator.
The yogurt will need to strain in a cool environment for 12-24 hours. In my experience, the longer the yogurt sits, the thicker it will become. I will typically let leave the straining system in my fridge for 24 hours, as I prefer the tang and texture this amount of time gives, however 12 hours works just fine, too!
Blending the Skyr
After 8-24 hours, or until the curds are mostly firm to the touch, remove your straining system from the fridge and place onto a counter. The curds should look like the image below.
Place a large mixing bowl onto the counter and set up the whisk attachment on your hand mixer.
Take the nut milk bag with all of the Skyr curds and empty the bag into the large mixing bowl. Reserve a few tablespoons of whey for incorporating into the Skyr. Set the whey aside.
Blend the Skyr curds on high speed until thoroughly blended. If the consistency is too thick, add in the reserved whey and blend until thoroughly combined. If no whey is needed, reserve to the side.
Spoon your Icelandic Skyr into glass containers for storage and keep refrigerated.
Be sure to reserve one full cup of your Skyr as a starter culture for the next time you want to make yogurt. Keep it in the fridge if you will be making yogurt in the next week, or freeze up to 3 weeks. To thaw frozen starter, keep in fridge overnight and mix well before adding into a new yogurt recipe.
Remember, yogurt should never smell uncomfortably sour of foul. If your starter smells this way, instead of slightly tangy and pleasant, you should discard it and start a new starter.
This yogurt will last up to 2 weeks in the fridge. I hope you enjoy!
Now, what do I do with all of this whey?
In yogurt making, you will usually have a lot of extra whey as a byproduct.
Whey can be extremely useful on the homestead. We give it to our dogs and our chickens as a nutritional supplement, and we consume it, too.
Whey is full of nutrients and especially protein, making it a wonderful addition to things like smoothies, soups, baking and bread recipes, and soaking grains. We soak steel cut oats, brown rice and barley in whey overnight before cooking these grains. We do this to soften them and make them easier to digest, as well as enjoy the added benefit of less cook time!
The last thing you want to do is throw away this valuable super food!
Congrats!
I hope you enjoy this protein rich, satisfying traditional Siggi’s inspired Skyr yogurt recipe! You will be able to use this yogurt as a starter for many batches to come!
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