Homemade Yogurt
Leslie Smoot
I discovered a few months ago how easy it is to make your own yogurt--even without a yogurt maker. All you need is a kitchen thermometer, a crockpot, and time. Now I make this regularly.
1/2 gallon whole milk (you can use 2% milk, but whole tastes better)
1/2 cup ready-made plain yogurt (make sure to use the kind that has live yogurt/probiotic cultures)
Pour milk into crockpot, put lid on, and turn setting to high. Take yogurt culture out of the fridge now--it needs to be close to room temperature before adding to the milk. After about 2-2.5 hours, insert thermometer into middle of milk. When temperature reaches 180 degrees, turn off crockpot and remove lid. The temperature of the milk needs to cool to 110 degrees before adding the yogurt culture. This takes 2-3 hours. (If you're in a hurry, you can take the crock out of the heating element and place it in an ice bath. You can cool the milk in about 10-15 minutes.)
When the milk has reached 110 degrees, whisk about a cup of it into the ready-made yogurt. Then add that back into the milk, stirring until combined. Put the lid back on the crockpot and place it in a draft-free spot in your house. Wrap towels around the crockpot sides and top and let sit for 8-12 hours, undisturbed. The longer it sits, the more tart the yogurt will taste.
After the allotted time, your milk will have magically turned into yogurt. Pour into a container to store in the fridge. It needs to cool for another 4 hours in the fridge before eating.
If you prefer the texture of Greek yogurt, strain your yogurt through cheesecloth for a few hours. You could do this while it's cooling in the fridge.
I discovered a few months ago how easy it is to make your own yogurt--even without a yogurt maker. All you need is a kitchen thermometer, a crockpot, and time. Now I make this regularly.
1/2 gallon whole milk (you can use 2% milk, but whole tastes better)
1/2 cup ready-made plain yogurt (make sure to use the kind that has live yogurt/probiotic cultures)
Pour milk into crockpot, put lid on, and turn setting to high. Take yogurt culture out of the fridge now--it needs to be close to room temperature before adding to the milk. After about 2-2.5 hours, insert thermometer into middle of milk. When temperature reaches 180 degrees, turn off crockpot and remove lid. The temperature of the milk needs to cool to 110 degrees before adding the yogurt culture. This takes 2-3 hours. (If you're in a hurry, you can take the crock out of the heating element and place it in an ice bath. You can cool the milk in about 10-15 minutes.)
When the milk has reached 110 degrees, whisk about a cup of it into the ready-made yogurt. Then add that back into the milk, stirring until combined. Put the lid back on the crockpot and place it in a draft-free spot in your house. Wrap towels around the crockpot sides and top and let sit for 8-12 hours, undisturbed. The longer it sits, the more tart the yogurt will taste.
After the allotted time, your milk will have magically turned into yogurt. Pour into a container to store in the fridge. It needs to cool for another 4 hours in the fridge before eating.
If you prefer the texture of Greek yogurt, strain your yogurt through cheesecloth for a few hours. You could do this while it's cooling in the fridge.
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