About a month ago I started making yogurt. I had read about people making their own yogurt for a while, but was a little bit afraid to try. I was surprised that it was relatively easy. It's definitely cheaper, and keeps that many more plastic containers from ending up in a landfill somewhere. It does require some time, and patience. Since Sunday is usually our day to just hang around the house, it's the perfect day for yogurt making. It's a process with just a couple of steps. You heat the milk up, cool it back down, add the cultures and then six to ten hours of waiting. Obviously perfect for making before bed, and culturing overnight, but I like to hover over my kitchen experiments. As a result of my need to micromanage bacterial growth, I end up spending Sunday in the kitchen. It's actually nice. I get a lot of my more time consuming food preparation done, and I feel a sense of accomplishment when it's done. Sometimes I make various cold salads for the weeks lunches, dinners for the busy nights when the kids have violin and swimming, condiments, and any thing else that would be impractical to make during the week. There's something deeply satisfying to me about providing healthy food for my family, and doing it in a way that saves money. I always just assumed that certain things were just too complicated to make at home, and that's why they are bought at the grocery store. It turns out that most things are pretty easy to make at home if you have some basic cooking skills, and the will to learn, of course. I realize many people don't enjoy cooking, so the thought of spending a day doing that is not appealing, but I love it and it works for our family.
To make yogurt, you need a starter culture. You can use yogurt from the grocery store for this as long as it is plain and has active live cultures. I made my first batch that way. After that you save a little bit of the yogurt you have made to use as a starter for a new batch. Unfortunately this method is not sustainable for more than two or three batches. The cultures weaken and die off, and you have to buy more yogurt. I really wanted something that could be used indefinitely, so I did some research and found a site that sells heirloom cultures. They didn't cost too much, and should last as long as I make a new batch every seven days or so. If I don't need or want yogurt one week, I can just make a small amount to save the culture. Pretty neat stuff. As far as equipment, you can buy expensive yogurt makers or you can use your crock-pot, like I do. There are other methods that I have read about, but the crock-pot seemed easiest to me.
Here is the method I used:
You'll need a crock-pot, regular cooking pot, spoon, and a thermometer (I use an instant read meat thermometer, but I suspect a candy thermometer would work better).
Turn your crock-pot on low to heat it up.
In a pot on the stove, slowly heat the milk to 185 degrees. The amount of milk you use is the amount of yogurt you make, so if you use a half gallon of milk (like I do) that makes a half gallon of yogurt. You need about two teaspoons of starter for each cup of milk. I must admit that I sort of wing it here, and add around a quarter cup of starter for a half gallon of milk.
Once the milk reaches 185, remove it from heat and cool it down to 110 degrees. You can just let it cool slowly, or set the pot in a pan or sink with cold water to cool it quickly.
Once the milk reaches 110 degrees, remove a small amount and mix it with your culture in a bowl.
Pour the remaining milk, and the culture/milk mixture into the crock-pot and stir thoroughly.
Put the lid on the crock-pot. Then turn the crock-pot off, and unplug it. Wrap it in a heavy towel (like a big beach towel), and let it sit for six to ten hours. Usually takes about ten for me. DO NOT check it before six hours. DO NOT stir it! When you check it, you can gently tilt the crock-pot slightly to one side. You should be able to see if it's thickened. It will also smell like yogurt.
Once your yogurt has thickened, put the crock-pot in the fridge for a few hours. This allows the yogurt to set and reach it's proper thickness. Otherwise, it may be thin and runny. After it sets up, you can ladle it into whatever containers you will store it in. I usually strain about half of mine using cheese cloth and a seive in the fridge for a couple of hours. It makes a thicker "Greek style" yogurt.
I know the instructions may seem complicated, but I promise it's really not. It's so worth it if you have yogurt lovers in your family.
