Making Yogurt

Today's project was yogurt making. It was only the second time that I had made yogurt but the first time I tried it the yogurt turned out so tasty that I now don't want any store bought yogurt. Store bought yogurt seems so tasteless when compared to what I now know that I can make.
The first time that I made yogurt. I made it entirely in the crockpot. It set great and we loved it but the crockpot did sit in the refrigerator for a week or so and took up a lot of space, so this time I decided to do it partially in the crockpot but pour it into jars to set. I like this method so much better and will probably do it this way every time.
To make yogurt my way you'll need:
A candy thermometer
crockpot
milk
dried milk
sugar
and a starter(store bought yogurt or a cup saved from you last yogurt making)

You put as much milk in the crockpot as you want yogurt but since the amount of sugar and dried milk goes by quart, you should probably put your milk in by quarts. Today I made 2 quarts because last time I made 3 quarts and we had a hard time eating it all. Measure out your milk and put in the crockpot.Add 1/2 cup of dry milk per quart and 1/3 cup of sugar per quart.  Put the crockpot on high. Go do your other chores, coming back from time to time to check the temperature of the milk with the candy thermometer. You are needing it to read 180 degrees farenheit.

When it reaches 180 degrees shut the crockpot off and go do some more chores. Now you will be checking it from time to time to see when it comes down to 100 degrees. When the temperature is down to 100 degrees pour it into your jars.  

 Now you want to add your starter. Add a couple heaping spoonfuls of store bought yogurt or your saved yogurt and stir it in. I put the lids on and set the jars in my oven (my stove is a gas stove so the pilot light keeps it warm) and wrap them with a towel.

 I then went to work. My daughter took the yogurt out of the oven when she went to cook supper and put it in the refrigerator. It was probably in the oven about 6 hours. The final product is just wonderful smelling and mine turned out thicker than the stuff I used to start it with. Phil got into it before I could get a picture of it in the jars. He put it over some home canned peaches (which was a very good idea and what I will be having for breakfast tomorrow).

I hope this inspires you all to make your own yogurt. It is incredibly easy and the flavor is amazing. It also will cost you a lot less than the containers that you can buy.