Yogurt making

I don't know where these wild ideas come from! I think I was reading a blog about urban homesteading or something like that and I saw them making their own yogurt and I eat yogurt everyday. So clearly I should try to make my own yogurt. I tried in the oven first because that is cheapest, but I had to leave my oven at 110 degrees all night. It made me a little nervous and then my yogurt was very runny and i did not add any sugar so it was super tart. It was still good with granola and honey. If milk freaks you out you should not do this because you do have to boil the milk. And it's not too pretty.

Then I bought this nifty thing. It incubates my yogurt and has a timer that shuts off after you have set it for the right time based on the milk fat content. Usually 8 hours, but last time I did 10 and it was really tart. The yogurt maker came with these cute little glass jars. You can put the expiration date on the top of them. Homemade yogurt is only good for 19 days.

I take 42oz of milk which fills all my containers. I bring the milk to 120 degrees in a double boiler and add about 3/4 a cup of powdered milk. Then I bring the milk to a boil for 1 to 2 minutes. That is 180 degrees if you use a thermometer. The milk needs to climb the sides. Then I let it cool to 120 and you can add sugar or honey, but only a little like 5 tablespoons or so. But I usually wait until I am going to eat it to sweeten it. Once the milk has cooled to 110 degrees I add my starter; which can be plain sugar free yogurt or freez dried yogurt culture. If the milk it too hot the bacteria in the yogurt will die and yogurt cannot form. Then you have to incubate the yogurt. However you would like to keep the yogurt between 108 and 112 degrees. Yogurt temperature should not drop below 100 degrees.

Once the incubation process is over I let it rest for at least 3 hours before I eat it. And hot yogurt is not very good.

It's pretty easy! No preservatives, added sugar or artificial flavorings. I actually use my jam to flavor the yogurt. It is really good and totally homemade.

Yogurt puls homemade granola.