Homemade Yogurt

I've been holding off sharing this exciting kitchen accomplishment while I shared all those tasty cookie recipes. But now that that's over, I'm going to gush forth with how I made yogurt and how this is the most exciting kitchen accomplishment since...canning salsa that tastes like it's from the store! (That was a very exciting thing around here)

Up until a few months ago, I didn't think it was really possible to make yogurt at home. At least without some fancy ingredients and tools. Turns out all you need is some liquid and powdered milk, yogurt, a heating pad, a candy thermometer, and some towels. I debated for awhile whether it was really worth buying a heating pad: what if I failed or didn't like homemade yogurt? Then I could use the heating pad as a...heating pad! Go figure. So I bought one. And thus the yogurt making began.

I followed these directions posted on Simple Bites posted by Lynn of Cookie Baker Lynn (go to her blog for lots of yummy treats!). Super simple.

1 quart of milk (whichever fat content you prefer)
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 tbsp plain yogurt with active cultures, at room temperature

1. Combine milk and milk powder in a saucepan. Heat to 180 degrees F stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to 115 degrees F.
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine yogurt with a small amount of cooled milk (I usually do about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk).  (This is called tempering. Fancy, I know.)
3. Pour yogurt mixture into the pot of milk, whisking to thoroughly combine.
4. Pour into a clean glass quart jar. Add lid. Place onto a heating pad set to "Low". Wrap in towels and let sit for 8 hours.

Notes:
If you need more than a quart of yogurt, then multiply the ingredients to get your desired number of quarts. I'm making two at this very moment.
 
I heat my milk slowly to avoid scorching, but I still always manage to get some milk stuck to the bottom of the pan. This is no biggie. My yogurt still comes out fine.

Make absolutely sure to let your milk cool to 115 F before adding any to the yogurt. And don's skip the tempering step. If your milk is too hot or you don't temper the yogurt, you'll likely kill the active cultures and your yogurt won't thicken.

Read the label of the yogurt you're buying for the starter to guarantee that it does have active cultures.

Pay attention to the heating pad you're buying. I didn't realize it when I bought mine, but mine as an automatic shut off after 1 hour. So either buy one without that function, or this will have to be a day off activity so you can keep turning the pad back on. Don't fret if the pad turns off and you don't realize it. Just turn it back on. As long as the yogurt doesn't go cold, you should be okay. Perhaps you should set a timer to remind you.

This yogurt is a lot tangier than I'm used to. I made a batch with 1% milk and another with Fat Free milk, and I think the 1% was less tangier, but I'm not 100% sure. I might try using whole milk to see if that makes a difference. You might want to start with a small batch to ensure you like the taste of homemade yogurt.

If you're shying away from making this because you don't like plain yogurt, well then silly you. You don't have to eat it plain! I just about always add some jam to my yogurt. And if you add it to the bowl, then you can add a different jam each time. This is a good trick if you buy yogurt too. Buying the bigger thing of plain yogurt is cheaper, and flavored yogurt at the store has A LOT of sugar. Add jam to plain yogurt helps you cut down on that sugar.

Now, go make some yogurt!