Yogurt results

My yogurt turned out beautifully, just as I had expected. When I removed the towel wrapped pot with the yogurt it was still a little warm, proving that the oven was a perfect place for incubation. I got two half gallon pitchers out of it, along with maybe half a cup on the side, as a starter for the next batch. I remember once in the past I ate up my entire yogurt supply completely forgetting I would need a starter for the next batch. Ever since, I made it a point to keep the next starter separate from the other supply, just in case.

Not counting utilities (electricity to run the pot, water to wash the dishes), the gallon batch of yogurt came to about $3.60. This is cheaper than straight milk in most stores hence a pretty good deal. Comparable to store bought yogurt in its firmness but without cheap tricks like adding gelatin to the mixture. OK, may be the milk powder counts as a trick as well but not a cheap one and definitely one I can happily live with. In taste it is very much like store bought, maybe a little sweater (or maybe not because I usually get nonfat yogurt from the store while I made my own batch from 2% milk).

Homemade yogurt

I just completed my evening work with the seeding of a batch of yogurt. I have always liked yogurt, but usually would not justify the expense of yogurt over plain old regular milk. I can get a gallon of milk for three dollars but a quart of yogurt sets me back by two. Which is eight bucks to the gallon- yikes!

Then I came across that recipe that allowed me to make my own yogurt, one gallon at a time in the crock pot, and at a cost marginally more than regular milk.

So here is how it works:

• Materials:
  a crock pot big enough to hold a gallon of milk,
  thermometer (optional),
  a blanket or beach towel, 
  an oven or cooler big enough to hold the hold the crock pot.
• Ingredients:
  a gallon of milk (I personally tried 4% and 2% and both worked fine),
  a cup of milk powder (optional, the yogurt will taste fine without it but it be rather soft and runny),
  the starter, like a cup of store bought Dannon plain yogurt, or simply a cup from a prior batch.
• Put the milk into the crock pot. Mix in the milk powder. I do that by mixing the milk powder in the mixing bowl with part of the milk and then adding the mixture back into the crock pot.
• Turn the crock pot to "Low" and leave it alone for about four hours, less if the milk was warm to begin with.
• Turn off the crock pot, remove the bowl and cool bowl and content down to about 110° F. I do that by putting the pot into the sink, then fill the sink around the pot with cold water. Remove the lid and slosh the water around for faster cooling. 110° F  are reached when the thermometer says so, or when you can stick your pinkie finger into the milk and keep it in there for 10 seconds.
• Add the starter to the milk and stir for even distribution. 
• Put the lid back onto the crock pot, wrap the thing into the blanket or beach towel and move the entire packet into the oven or cooler. Don't turn on the oven, it's for heat retention only.
• After 24 hours the magic of fermentation will have done its thing and turned the milk/starter mixture into a gallon of delicious homemade yogurt. Transfer into their storage containers to reclaim the crock pot, keeping about 3/4 of a cup on the side as a starter for the next batch.

Of course, I have not done the 24 hour wait yet, I just transferred my batch into the oven. But having done this a few times before I am not too worried about the outcome. The worst that has ever happened was that I would end up with a gallon of rather soft and runny, but still delicious tasting yogurt. And that was when I left out the milk powder to see whether it was really necessary.