Homemade Yogurt: Day 1

When I told my Dear Husband that I was thinking about trying to make homemade yogurt, his response was, "I'm not surprised."  Haha!

Why?  Why not.  I'm following directions from A Year of Slow Cooking.  You don't need a yogurt-maker, just a crockpot and a towel.  I'm using whole milk because that's what we feed the boys, which should thicken up nicely according to the directions.  I do, however, want a firmer, more spoonable-by-a-3yo product than what I *think* I'll get with this process, so I'm adding some gelatin per the low-fat milk directions.  We'll see what happens.

I was hoping to start this early in the morning and have a finished product by tonight, but my younger son grew an inch last week and can now reach the wine rack.  Crash, bang, surprise!  No yogurt-making this morning.  So I'm starting in the afternoon, but that's okay because the magic will happen overnight.  Fresh-made yogurt in the morning!

I am so stinking excited!


Homemade plain yogurt
Makes 1/2 gallon

8 cups whole milk
1/2 cup yogurt with active cultures (can be store-bought or from a previous batch)
1 envelope gelatin

Pour milk into crockpot and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.  Turn the crockpot off and let it stand for 3 hours, covered.

Start of process

Take a couple cups of the warm milk out and whisk in the yogurt starter and gelatin (whisk the gelatin into the yogurt starter, then whisk a cup or two of warm milk into that mixture to avoid lumps).  Stir this mixture back into the crockpot and cover.  Wrap a thick towel around the crockpot to help retain heat.  Leave overnight or at least 8 hours. 

Whisking gelatin into yogurt, and
then milk into gelatin-yogurt mixture

Pouring gelatin-yogurt-milk mixture back
into crockpot

I'll keep you posted!

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