I don’t know about you, but I love yogurt!  I’m not a big fan of plain yogurt, but I do adore any kind of flavored yogurt dessert or drink.

However, I rarely buy the big tubs of yogurt at the store, because they tend to go bad before I remember to eat it all - and then when I buy 4 or 5 of the 50 cent fruit variety (such as Dannon or whoever), I eat them so quickly, I feel guilty because of the money seems wasted on such a small dessert. Also, I never cook with yogurt because when something (like bread) calls for 1-2 cups of yogurt, and yogurt costs $1 - $2 at the store, it makes the “homemade” part of it more expensive than the store bought counterpart!

Now…I’ve discovered a way to have yogurt til’ my heart’s content.  Yesterday, while browsing www.RecipeZaar.com, I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade yogurt.  It had never occured to me that making yogurt at home might be easy to do!  The only thing you need is some milk and yogurt starter.  Now, yogurt starter is anything with live active yogurt cultures in it - preferably a tub of plain yogurt from the store.  I had powdered milk to use, but no yogurt….so, Kevin headed out to do a quick store run for me (what a nice hubby he is!). 

Kevin bought the only plain yogurt he could find at our local grocery store, Food Lion. It’s Dannon brand. And, it has live, active yogurt cultures in it….

Once you have your main ingredients - this is how much you need of them:

2 Quarts of milk
1/2 cup of yogurt (I used 1/2, but you can use less…the recipe calls for 1/3-1/4)

I used powdered non-fat milk, because that’s usually the only milk I keep on hand at all times. The ratio of water to milk that I use is 3 parts water to 1 part milk (3:1). In other words, I fill whatever container I’m using 1/3 of the way with powdered milk and then fill it up the rest of the way with cold water.

Setting your yogurt aside, pour your milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Be very careful though, because milk will scorch easily. I used medium heat and (almost) constantly stirred it with a whisk. It never did fully bubble, but I think the main point is to get the milk up to a high temperature.

After heating your milk, pour into a pitcher or bowl and let it cool to 120 F. I didn’t have a thermometer to test it, but other yogurt making advice I read says that this means “cool to where you can’t feel the bite of the hotness”. I just let mine cool down while sitting on the table during dinner, and a while afterwards - about an hour I think. The recipe also says to pour it in a glass or pyrex bowl, but I used a plastic pitcher because that was all I had. I’m not sure if it calls for glass for health reasons or something - but I can say that mine worked perfectly fine in my 2 quart plastic pitcher.

After your milk has cooled down to about 120 F, slowly pour in your half cup of yogurt and stir. Then wrap the container in a towel, all around (top and bottom) so that heat stays even throughout. Place it in an area where it will not be disturbed and let it sit for 4-6 hours. I placed mine in our pantry.

When the time is up, remove the towel and place the container in the refrigerator for at least 8 more hours. Be careful not to shake or jiggle it, as this will prevent the yogurt from “setting” up correctly. You may notice some yellowish liquid at the top. This is called the “whey” and is perfectly fine. Leave it alone for now.

I left our’s in the refridgerator for 12 hours before checking on it today. And when I did….It was perfect! I can’t believe how easy it was to make the yogurt.

Now I have a huge 2 quart jug of homemade yogurt.  The yellowish liquid throughout, and collected on top, is the whey.  Whey is a good health food substance that can be used in a variety of other old fashioned and modern recipes (such as protein drinks). 

I just poured it off the top as much as I could into a tupperware container, then I labled it and set it in the fridge.

Here is my fresh, homemade yogurt ready to eat!   I added some vanilla extract to my hubby’s bowl.  He doesn’t care for plain yogurt, but was a doll and ate mine just because I was good enough to make it.

This yogurt is self perpetuating - whenever I start to run out of this, all I have to do is boil another 2 quarts of milk and add 1/2 cup of this homemade yogurt to it, and let it set up.  Now I’ll always have yogurt - and lots of it!!  There’s so much I can do with this…. breads, drinks, smoothies, dips.  Right now, I’m also making some “yogurt cheese” out of the homemade yogurt.  It should be great on our bagels!  I’ll post about that later if it works. 

———————-

THE EASY RECIPE

(Here’s a summary of homemade yogurt!)

Ingredients:
2 quarts milk
1/2 cup yogurt

Boil milk, being careful not to scorch it.  Pour into a container and let cool to 120F.  Once cooled, stir in a half cup of plain yogurt.  Wrap in towels top to bottom and set in a warm, dry place.  Let it sit undisturbed for at least 4-6 hours.  Then, being careful not to jiggle it, remove towels and set container in fridge for another 8 hours.  Remove from fridge, pour liquid whey off, scoop into a bowl - eat and enjoy

———————

Tagged: homemade recipes

What Next?

• WFMW - Easiest Sweet Tea Recipe in the World (Viewed 0 times)
• SOUTHERN STYLE SWEET TEA (Viewed 0 times)
• Ultimate Blog Party - Chocolate Party Cake in the CrockPot (Viewed 0 times)

Don't be shy...Leave a comment!

4 Responses to “Easy Homemade Yogurt”

Leave a Reply