Homemade Yogurt

Hayden eats a yogurt pretty much daily, so when Dad presented me with a coupon for a free gallon of milk...I knew it was time to try my hand at making yogurt.

I started out with a "starter" of Oikos Greek yogurt.  Once you get your own homemade yogurt going you can just keep using a cup of that as your "starter".

Starter + Milk + Time = Yogurt

You'll need a stock pot, 4 quart jars, a cooler, 1 cup of starter, 1 gallon of milk & 1/2 cup of sugar.

Pour the gallon of milk into the pot.  Head to 185 degrees (F) stirring occasionally to keep it from scorching.

Once the milk reaches 185 degrees,  remove it from the stove into a sink of cold water.  Let the pot sit until the milk reaches 120 degrees.

Whisk "starter" into the cooled milk.  Then whisk sugar in until dissolved.

Pour the soon-to-be-yogurt into the jars.  FYI - this is somewhat of a 4 handed job so enlist help from someone if you need to.  Or, dip a smaller pitcher into the pot and use that to pour into the jars.  We used a large measuring cup (6 cup size) and it worked great.

Now you'll move your jars into a cooler.  Once packed in, fill the cooler up with 120 degree (F) water.  Put the lid on the cooler and sit it somewhere draft free (I put mine in the floor in the kitchen) so the temp is regulated.  Set your timer for 3 hours and walk away.

**BEEP**BEEP***BEEP***

Okay, 3 hours are up!  Take the jars out and move them to the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.

YOU HAVE YOGURT!

Here's Christy taste testing my first batch.

She admitted after tasting it (and not falling over dead on the spot) that she was VERY scared to taste it, but it was actually really good!

I've never really liked yogurt, but I like this.  Shocking, I know!