Recipe: Homemade Yogurt

Stacy at Delighting in the Days gave me her extra copy of Healthy Homemaking: One Step at a Time and I was so excited when I saw a recipe on how to make homemade yogurt. I'll be honest in that I haven't been giving Nathaniel the full-fat yogurt because it's just too expensive. So imagine my happiness when I found I could make 6+ cups of yogurt with just the price of half a gallon of milk and 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. Score!

Lemon-flavored yogurt with fresh strawberries

I did opt to follow a different recipe because I am known to burn milk (and butter). I always ask Hubby to heat milk up or melt butter for me but he was out for a six-mile run when I started this. It definitely would have saved me a lot of time by heating the milk on the stovetop instead of using a crockpot but that insured that I would not be wasting half a gallon of milk when I wasn't already sure if this would work in the first place.

Oh but it did work! I was so happy when I woke up yesterday and found the milk had actually turned into thick, creamy yogurt! I have also made vanilla- and lemon-flavored yogurt by adding pure extracts and a touch of honey for sweetness. Many of the comments said using skim or 1-2% milk will work too, as well as adding unflavored gelatin or a couple tablespoons of powdered milk (when adding the yogurt starter) to make it thicker. Or you can put the yogurt in a coffee filter or cheese cloth to drain the excess whey to make it thicker and sometimes tangier like Greek yogurt. Yum!

Adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

Makes 6-7 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of whole milk (not ultrapasturized)
• 1/2 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt (make sure it has live and active cultures!)

You will also need a 4-quart crockpot and thick bath towels.

Directions:

Add entire 1/2 gallon of milk in the crockpot. Cover, set on low, and cook for 2 1/2 hours. (I accidentally let mine cook for 3 hours but it still worked.)

Turn off the crockpot and leave for three hours with the cover on. After three hours, take two cups of slightly warm milk and mix in the yogurt. Add the yogurt mixture to the rest of the warm milk in the crockpot and put the lid back on.

Completely wrap the crockpot with bath towels (I used two) for insulation and let it sit for 8 hours, preferably more. Store in air tight plastic or glass containers in the refrigerator. (Don't forget to save 1/2 cup for your starter on your next homemade yogurt!)

Linking up to:

Paisley Passion: Thrilling Thursday

House of Hepworths: Hooking up with HoH

Click it Up a Notch: I Learned

Make and Takes: Spotlight

33 Shades of Green: Tasty Tuesdays

For The Love of Blogs: Tasty Tuesdays