Mad Millie Yogurt Culture Instructions
- Jul 2
- 3 min read
Looking for instructions on how to make Yogurt using the Mad Millie Yoghurt Culture?
The sachet contains Mad Millie Yogurt culture in powder form. When given the right conditions to grow, the cultures will reproduce and change the composition of milk to yogurt. You may be more familiar with using plain yogurt as a starter, rather than than using a powdered culture. This powder is simply dehydrated and freeze dried, shelf stable (at low temperatures) bacteria. Powdered culture still provides the great benefits of fresh yogurt starter culture, just in a different form.
What do Mad Millie Yogurt Cultures contain?
Each sachet contains 5 packs of freeze-dried culture, which is enough to make 10 litres of homemade natural yogurt. The culture is dairy-free and gluten-free, making it suitable for vegan yogurt and skyr as well as dairy yogurt. The culture strains which become live when added to dairy or plant-based milk are:
Streptococcus thermophilus: a starter strain that helps to quickly acidify your milk to create the classic yogurt texture.
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus: a yogurt culture which works alongside the culture above to develop the traditional yogurt 'tart' taste
Bifidobacterium lactis: a probiotic strain added to boost gut health
Lactobacillus acidophilus: a well-known probiotic strain that is known to survive well inside the digestive tract.
The cultures contain no preservatives or artificial flavours and are vegetarian, gluten and nut free.
How are Mad Millie Cultures Used to make Yogurt?
In short, you simply add the freeze dried culture to milk after you've heated it to the appropriate temperature (see instructions below) using a milk thermometer, then leave for the times outlined in the instructions. The yogurt needs to be maintained at a constant temperature to produce the yogurt. To do that I either use a yogurt maker I've had for years which is very similar to this one for individual jars, or I make it in the Instant Pot on the yogurt setting for a large batch.
Why use Freeze Dried Cultures instead of Fresh Yogurt?
Fresh yogurt starters are more well known than freeze dried culture for making yogurt. In fact most people, me included, make yogurt using some of the last batch as a starter.
But fresh starters lose their strength over time, and at some point I buy another carton of plain yogurt or use freeze dried culture to start the process again. The reason people choose to have freeze dried cultures in their kitchen cupboard is usually so they can make yogurt when they don't have natural yogurt to hand.
Another reason to use freeze dried cultures is are if you plan to make yogurt with non-dairy milk, as you obviously wouldn't then want to use a dairy based fresh yogurt as a starter.
Mad Millie Yogurt Instructions
You can download the guide below. Note that this is a guide to making greek yogurt. If you just want standard yogurt, then don't strain the yogurt at the end of the process.
Alternatively, this is what the Guide to making Yogurt using Mad Millie Yogurt Culture looks like if you prefer to read it on a screen:
Good luck with your yogurt making. Fresh homemade yogurt is so much better (and cheaper!) than buying it at the shop.
Remember that when you make it, your homemade yogurt may not be as thick as some commercial brands as it has nothing added at all and has not been strained. If you like it thicker, simply strain it through a muslin cloth and you can then use the liquid whey in breadmaking. Or maybe even to make a whey-based Mead, also known as Blaand, for which you'll find the instructions here.
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