The Making of the Yogurt

This morning I started a batch of yogurt and I was thinking how easy and cost effective it is. You see, I use my crock pot to make mine. That means that I am not chained to the stove, waiting for the milk to get to a certain temperature. I can set it in the crock pot, check on it periodically and get a lot of other things done in the meantime.

Also, we buy our yogurt in the tubs rather than individual cartons. I don't know what the cost of one of these is, but in my area I can occasionally get them on sale for $1.99. Most of the time I pay about $2.50 for one and by the time I dole it out for Kevin's lunch and we have some for breakfast or a snack, it's gone. A gallon of milk is about $2.40 right now and you can get 2 batches of yogurt from a gallon of milk. A batch is 2 quarts of yogurt, so about 2 of the medium sized tubs that I usually buy.

Much cheaper, and we can make it any flavor that we want, or no flavor at all! And, we can even make it into our own yogurt cheese for spreading on bagels or dipping veggies and crackers into.

I first saw this recipe here, on my favorite website, Chickens In The Road !

Mostly, it is just so simple. It requires nothing but a crock pot, some milk, a starter and time.

My milk in the crock pot, sorry about the blurry picture, it was really early :)

Here is how it's done:

Pour 2 quarts of milk into a crock pot (that's 1/2 a gallon).

Heat it in the crock pot on high until the milk is almost boiling. (212 degrees F)

Unplug your crock, and take off the lid. Let it cool until you can comfortably hold your finger in the milk for 10 seconds.

Add 1 cup plain, store bought yogurt (it must have live active cultures). Stir it in well.

(Yogurt hanging out in the oven, all wrapped up)

Put the lid back onto your crock. Wrap it up with a towel (to insulate it) and let it sit for 6 hours. Check on it after that. It can take as long as 12 hours to get thick.

That's it. Put it into a container in your fridge! Add a dollop of jam for fruit on the bottom yogurt, or cut up fruit, granola, honey and nuts. Whatever you like, you can have.

A couple hints though. It might be worth it to spring for a $2.00 kitchen thermometer if you plan on doing this much. Just to make sure that you temperatures are right on because the yogurt won't set if the milk is too hot when the culture is added.

Also, keep 1 cup of this yogurt to make your next batch. No need to buy any more after this :)

Last thing, I have little kids who are curious. If I leave the crock pot on the counter, it will get messed with. I wrap mine in a towel and put it into the oven (not turned on of course) and let it hang out there.