Foody Friday - Homemade Yogurt

I'm loving this recipe for homemade yogurt I found on Pinterest. My husband HATES it when I say any phrase that contains the words, "...i found on Pinterest..." but really, it isn't all just a huge time waster. Okay, a lot of it sucks the hours from my day for no practical purpose but this yogurt recipe really is worth it.

It's just plain yogurt and when I did the math it costs me roughly the same amount of money to make as it does to buy. Why do I make it then? Well. I like plain old boring non flavored yogurt and the grocery store down the street doesn't sell that kind. Therefore my only other option is to drive to town, 45ish minutes away to go grocery shopping. If I can help it, I try to only do that once a month. Yeah, I guess I could stock up on yogurt but I really don't have space in my fridge.

Have you ever tried the popular crockpot yogurt recipes? My sister and I both have, and have both been poorly disappointed. When I found the yogurt recipe for the stove I was excited to try it out.

First you heat about 1/2 gallon milk on the stove in a heavy saucepan or dutch oven stirring often to avoid the milk scalding on the bottom. When little bubbles appear, or just about 190 degrees, turn off the heat.

Then you allow the milk to cool until the tip of your finger in the milk is warm but not uncomfortably hot, about 110-115 degrees. I put my milk in a bowl of ice water to help it cool quicker. While this is going on, preheat your oven to it's lowest setting. Mine is 170 degrees. As soon as my oven is heated I turn it off and keep the oven door shut.

Once the milk is cooled scoop out about a cup of the warm milk and whisk in 1/2 cup of yogurt. You have to have a yogurt starter to get all those good bacteria to make the rest of your milk yogurt. Good thing about this process is that you can save a cup of yogurt back from every batch from now on to add into the following batch. I've made 4 batches of yogurt and only bought one container of yogurt to start it with.

Once you've whisked the yogurt with the milk whisk that all back into the warm milk.

Now it's time to incubate the yogurt. Cover your pan with a lid and wrap it with a couple of bath towels and put it in your warm oven and let it sit for 4-6 hours. I've even let it sit for 8 hours and it worked just fine. You want to keep the temperature of the milk at about 100 degrees that entire time.

Once the incubation period is over I take the whole pot and stick it right in the fridge, without even taking off the lid. Once it's completely cooled I'll drain off the watery whey on top of the yogurt. Then I'll store my yogurt in air tight containers.

For as much yogurt as I eat, it's a lot easier to make a batch at home than to try and stock up on tons when I'm in town. And really, most of the time the yogurt is just sitting...there really isn't a lot of actual work that I have to do.

(photo courtesy of thekitchn.com)

Some yogurt, honey and little fresh fruit...yummy!