Homemade Yogurt

This past week we made some of our own yogurt for school. It was something that I have wanted to try for quite a while and just never got around to it. You know that list of "todo" items that is never ending and just doesn't get done? Well it was on the bottom of that list. As soon as our yogurt had cooled over night I had a bowl with some granola for breakfast. YUM! I am amazed at how much yogurt my kids eat now. They have always enjoyed yogurt but now it's just about a daily snack.







Supplies Needed

• A sauce pan or double boiler. (Make sure it's large enough to hold the milk with a few inches of room.)
• Spoon for stirring
• Thermometer. (I used my candy thermometer)
• Small bowl
• Containers to put yogurt in. I used quart sized canning jars
• whisk
• small cooler to incubate in. I've also heard you can do this in the crockpot or in the oven but haven't tried it myself.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon milk

1/2 cup of plain yogurt (I picked up a large container at the store but will save 1/2 a cup of this batch for next time)

Instructions

Pour the milk into your saucepan and heat the milk to 200°F. While the milk heats stir it slowly so the bottom of the pan doesnt scorch or the milk doesn't boil over. It's not fun to clean up!

Once the milk has reached 200°F allow the milk to cool to around 112°F to 115°F.

Take out 1/2 a cup of the milk and whisk into the 1/2 cup of yogurt. Once it's all smooth looking whisk the yogurt milk mixture back into the pan of milk.

Next you will need to incubate the milk. Ladel the milk into your conatiners and put the lids on your conatiners. Next place them into a small cooler and fill with water that is around 110°F. Close the lid and let it sit for a very long 4-6 hours or until it has set. I checked on it every hour to make sure the water temp was around 110°F . I think I was a little paranoid it wouldn't work and was a little anxious to try it. lol. After 4 1/2 hours my yogurt was done and tasted just right. If you like a thicker and tartier yogurt let it incubate longer.

Once yogurt is set place your conatiners in the fridge to cool. The yogurt should last about 2 weeks in the fridge if you dont eat it all before then :) Also, make sure to set aside 1/2 a cup of yogurt for your next batch and you will never have to buy commercial yogurt again!

Enjoy