Homemade Yogurt

                           

I'm coming to realize that I'm a slow learner.  My friend Katie has been making her own yogurt for years and has tried to convince me to give it a try.  Then I watched my sister-in-law, Joli, make yogurt and still wasn't convinced that I could do it.  Blog posts I've read seem complicated too.  Finally a friend from church told me how to make yogurt in 4 steps:
Step 1-Heat milk to 180F
Step 2-Cool to around 100F
Step 3-Add a couple of teaspoons of yogurt

Step 4-Keep at 100F until it turns to yogurt

That's all there is to it!

Now I'll explain how I actually accomplished those 4 steps.

Heat 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of whole milk to between 175-185F
Note: I've heard you can use low fat or non fat but I like
the creamy taste of the whole milk

Allow to cool to 100F (This takes about an hour, so go
water your plants and drink some coffee)

In the meantime, measure out a couple of tsp of
fresh, plain yogurt that has live cultures
(the ratio is 4 C. milk to 1 tsp. of yogurt).  After
you've made yogurt once, you can just start saving
a couple of tsp from one batch to make the next.

Once the milk has cooled, add the yogurt and mix well
(I used a whisk)

Put 100F milk into Crockpot and surround it with
100F water (this is my method for keeping it at 100F
for 8-12 hours, other methods include an oven that
can be set at 100F or a yogurt maker)

Cover with a thick towel to keep in the heat.  This
lasts about 3-4 hours.  When the thermometer says
that the water is below 100F, turn on Crockpot for
just a couple of minutes. SET A TIMER.  I almost
forgot about it and almost killed my yogurt.
Let the yogurt bugs do their thing until you wobble
the milk and it looks like jello (8-12 hours).
         You've just made Homemade Yogurt!

Now you can make your own Greek Yogurt!

Use 4 layers of cheesecloth and cover a colander.  Put a bowl under the colander to catch the whey.  This takes several hours so put it in the fridge during this time.  When the yogurt is the consistency to your liking, save whey and put yogurt in an airtight container. Store both in the fridge.   Rinse out the cheesecloth well and save for your next batch of yogurt.

I like my yogurt really thick so I strain it a lot.  For a half gallon of milk, I usually get about 32oz of thick Greek yogurt and almost 32oz of whey.  Save your whey! I'll post ways you can use it.
Waste not, want not!