Homemade Yogurt

A while back I started making yogurt.  Why?  Because I could.  

My mom has this super old yogurt maker, and she never uses it anymore, but I really like to.  

It basically consists of 6 glass jars with lids, and the "machine" which generally just keeps the jars at a constant low heat (when plugged in).

Here's how I do it, and I've heard of ways to do it in the oven, or a slow cooker.  At the bottom of this post I've linked to some posts from Craftster where people have had more of a discussion on this.  If you're interested in one of the other ways, that might be a good place to start.

First, I heat about 5 cups of milk (I use 1% because that's just what we drink) with about 1/3 cup of skim milk powder added in.  The skim milk powder is optional.  It helps make for a thicker, more firm yogurt.  Some people don't like the taste of adding it, but I don't find there's much difference.  

I heat the milk just until it reaches a boil.  Then I take it off the heat to cool down to a luke warm temperature.  The milk should be warm, and shouldn't feel hot.

This is the boring part, waiting for it to cool.  It's also a super important part.  If your milk is too hot, it will kill the bacteria in your starter, and you won't end up with yogurt!

Once the milk is cool enough, I add about a tablespoon of plain yogurt as a starter to each of the glasses. I then fill the glasses, and stir gently, making sure all of the starter gets mixed in.  

Next, I put lids on them, and place them in the yogurt maker.  

They need to sit for anywhere from 6-10 hours.  The longer you let them stay in there, the thicker and more tangy your yogurt is going to be.  

My yogurt maker has this funny "timer" that's not a timer at all on it.  All it is is a plastic dial that you turn to the hour that you're supposed to take them out.  Too funny.  

After waiting your 6-10 hours, the yogurt will need to be refrigerated for at least an hour before it's ready to eat.

Because this is plain yogurt, eating it on it's own isn't very exciting. 

 Things that I like to do with it:

• eat it over semi-thawed mixed frozen berries and/or granola (for a homemade recipe, try this one from All Recipes)
• make smoothies with it
• use jam to make fruit flavored yogurt (the sugar in the jam is an excellent way to sweeten the yogurt!)

This yogurt is also great for any recipes that require plain yogurt (like tzatziki) or in place of sour cream. 

If this interests you, check out this Craftster discussion, this is a crock pot version:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=347357.0

**In response to L.A.'s comment (aka, my sister), because I'm sure other's are curious about this too,  you're not supposed to add anything while it's 'cooking', that should all be done after.  Also, in reply to the "you need yogurt to make yogurt" thing, I've read that you can buy a powdered yogurt starter, but it's just easier to find plain yogurt.  You need to get the active culture from somewhere. **