In the Kitchen With April: Homemade Yogurt

I love yogurt...and apparently, so did Genghis Khan. In the 13th century, it was part of the diet of his troops. The Turks have been making and eating it since as early as the 8th century. We Americans were slow to catch up. Yogurt did not immigrate to the United States until 1929 and it still did not become very popular until the 60's when people started eating healthier and getting into the fitness craze. We can all agree that yogurt is good for us, but it is delicious as well. Since I have posted so many recipes using garlic or garlic yogurt, I thought it was time I told you all how I make my homemade yogurt. It is actually a lot easier than you may think.

How to Make Homemade Yogurt

I have made yogurt at home using two different methods. Either using a warmed crockpot for the 8-12 hour wait in the oven or with just the stockpot you make it in or another container. You can use either one to make yours but I had a thicker yogurt when I made mine using the crock pot.

Homemade Yogurt

Ingredients

1 Gallon Whole Milk
1 1/2 Cups Full Fat Yogurt (once you make your own, just use that instead of buying it)

Cooking Directions

Start out by pouring 1 gallon whole milk into a large stockpot. Put your thermometer down in the pot but not touching the bottom of the pan. Mine has a clip and is one of those cheap ones for candy making.
Go ahead and turn your crock pot on to low heat if you want to use it. You will also need to turn the light on in your oven.
Continue by heating the milk to between 185 and 190 degrees. Remove from heat and cool to about 115 degrees.
Put your 1 1/2 cups yogurt in a large bowl and mix with about a cup of the hot milk.
Pour back into the stockpot of milk and stir well. Pour into your crock pot or if you are not using the crock pot, put a tight fitting lid on the stockpot. You could also use any kind of container that you have that is suitable, as long as you can cover it.
Wrap the container in a towel and place in the oven, leaving the light on. This is where the heat will come from to grow all that good bacteria and make your yogurt.
Leave in the oven for 8 to 12 hours. Doing this at night is great because you wake up and your yogurt is ready.
Place in storage containers and store in the fridge. As you can tell from my posts, we eat a lot of yogurt so mine is never wasted, but if this is too much for you you can use 1/2 gallon of milk and about 3/4 cup of yogurt. Or better yet give some as a gift to a friend!!!