Can I just make it with whole milk and some plain, organic yoghurt I already have??????

The recipes that the lady who gave it to me says for some dried milk.  I'm not so sure I want to put that in there.

What says the experts?  

Thank you thank you, for all the help.  The buttermilk turned out real good too!

Looks like perhaps the dried milk is optional only for thicker stuff?????

They want you add dried milk to make yoghurt "thicker". However, you can get a thicker yoghurt by boiling the milk for a while (that evaporates a good amount of water). That was how mom used to make our yoghurt.

If I were a B or AB, I would definitely go for the second method Boil the milk to make it thicker..

Yes, you can make it with whole milk, no problem. Just add some of the yogurt and follow the instructions. It may not be as thick as storebought, but it will have more tangy flavor and more live cultures in it--which is the way yogurt is supposed to be, not crammed with gums and additives and MSG.

Homemade makes the best yogurt cheese too. Very, very easy to make; line a strainer or colander with two layers of clean cheesecloth, put the yogurt in the cloth, tie it up and set the colander in the sink overnight. If the weather is really hot, you can suspend the colander over a bowl and put it in the fridge overnight. 12-24 hours later you'll have wonderful thick fresh cheese, like a really soft tangy cream cheese but no gums or bad stuff! Add some chopped herbs or whatever you like to make a dip or a spread for breads, vegetables, etc.

Have fun!

Yaman is correct-boiling the milk will evaporate some of the water and give you thicker yogurt.

I sometimes boil my milk
- but somehow I think you`ll lose some of the good vitamins
- so half of the time  I use organic lowtemperature past., non homogenized whole fat milk  and it makes a nice youghurt with some whey in bottom

Acyually my youghurt is milder in flavour than the storebought versions- I think it depends on the temperature of the milk when it ferment.
Higher temp= shorter fermentation= more acid.

and the cultures differ in flavour.

Try making a batch with just plain milk - no dried milk, no boiling of the milk - and see what you think.

Personally, I love it.  It is thinner than storebought yogurt but it has a wonderfully fresh flavor that storebought yogurt can't match.  Plus I found the thinner consistency makes it easier to blend in to sauces, lassis, etc.  Enjoy!

Boiling seems counterintuitive to me.  I will just keep it simple like sakarinista is saying at first and go from there.  Thanks guys!!!!  I can't wait to try it.  I'm not so concerned about how it tastes or the consistency as I am of it being good for me.  I usually mix mine with some kind of fruit for breakfast.  mmmmmmmmm.....  Or make tuna salad out of it.  mmmmmmmmmm........  or or or  

If you stilll find it too runny
You can drain it a bit ( Just stop before it turns into cream cheese like )
I do that for a yummy dessert ( where I mix a bit whipped cream and berries

I use some oversized disposable coffee filters for the draining and turn them inside out to scrape off the yoghurt. Not something to do in a hurry. It's still a good idea to warm up the milk properly as that will speed up the process. Too hot milk will obviously kill the starter. I think once the liquid is separated it will be hard to blend it in so I will just drain it all off and end up with really thick Greek style stuff. Its almost half and half when it gets out of the very old maker we have...

Make sure your yogurt maker containers are cleaned well with hot soapy water so that no rogue bacteria contaminate the batch.  That can make for runny yogurt or funny tasting yogurt.  (Not necessarily a health issue.)

Try the SCD Yogurt recipe!

It is so much better for you, and does not require those bad-for-you thickeners!

http://www.scdiet.org/2recipes/scdyogurt.html

You can use Brown Cow organic yogurt from the store as a starter.

for those lucky gts who can have yogurt, why not add a polyflora in a cup of cooled milk......just a thought