In case you don't know how to make yogurt

I think yogurt making has really caught on in the mommy blogosphere.  I know it has with many of my mommy friends.  If you have somehow been out of the yogurt making loop you're in luck.  Since we were out of yogurt tonight I figured I would turn tonight's yogurt making routine into a yogurt making tutorial!  Yay for you!

It's not that exciting, really.  But it does save a ton of money!!

I make my yogurt using whole organic pasturized (yes I know you raw milk people are gasping) milk.  I haven't made the leap to raw milk yet mainly because of the expense.  It's readily available at our health food store down the road where we buy our free roaming pastured organic eggs, but yikes it is sooooo expensive.  If you ever have the privilege of babysitting my 2 year old sometime and witness how much milk this kid can guzzle you'll understand.  I'm not even sure having a cow would keep up with this kid's milk demands.

We pay about $5 for a gallon of organic milk which will make 4 quarts (with some milk leftover) of organic yogurt.  1 quart of organic yogurt at the store usually costs about $4.  So I could pay $32 a month for yogurt, or $10.  Yes, we eat a lot of yogurt.  Jon brings it to work every day, the kids eat it for breakfast, we use it in smoothies and I have it all the time too.  By making the yogurt I also know what goes in it.  I heard something not so great about skim milk powder which happens to be in a lot of store bought yogurt. There are also strange random things like tapioca sometimes in it, which I don't necessarily have a problem with, but just don't really understand.  In my opinion, yogurt should be made of milk and bacteria.  So anyways, that's what mine is made of.  We add stuff like honey and fruit later.

Okay, okay, back to the yogurt making.  I think the first time I did this it took me about 2 hours, but once you get the hang of the procedure you should be able to go from start to finish in about 1 and half the time you'll just be waiting for your milk to heat up and you can do other things.


Equipment you'll need.
4 quart jars with lids.  I use wide mouth jars and tattlers lids (BPA FREE!) 
2 stock pots or 1 stock pot and 1 dutch oven
whisk
candy thermometer
measuring cups
cooler
empty kitchen sink
4 quarts of milk minus 1 cup
1 unopened container of plain yogurt (if it's your first time making yogurt buy some good organic stuff at the store with as many cultures as you can find!)
You need the ready made yogurt for the active bacterial cultures.  You could buy cultures, but the ones I found in the store don't have as many strains of good bacteria and cost a ton of money!

Method

1.  Sterilize your jars.  You can do this in a stock pot with boiling water, or you can just run them through the dishwasher.  I usually just run them through the dishwasher.  If you'll be doing it manually make sure the jars are clean, then put them in a stock pot with water and boil them for 5-10 minutes.  You can do this while youre milk is heating.

One of my jars was being sterilized when I took this picture.  So you just get to see the three clean ones and the yogurt starter.

2.  Pour your 4 quarts minus one cup of milk into the other stock pot/dutch oven (preferably very heavy bottomed) and set your thermometer on the side of it halfway down into the milk.  Don't assume that 1 gallon of milk is exactly 4 quarts because you'll have hot milk left over when this process is done. (Or maybe my jars are just weird?)  Measure out 15 cups of milk.   I set my pot of milk to medium high (my pot has a nice thick bottom to prevent scorching and burning).  You need to heat your milk to between 185 and 190 degrees farenheit.  Stir it every so often to prevent sticking to the bottom and a skin from forming.  I find that if I half cover the pot it heats up faster.

3.  When your milk is close to 185 fill your sink halfway with cold water.  Add ice if you like.  Sometimes I add ice, sometimes I don't.  Get your clean jars ready and set them by the sink and take your unopened jar/container of starter yogurt out. 

4. When your milk is heated to between 185 and 190 take it off the stove and place the pot into your sinkful of cold water.  Keep the thermometer on the pot.  You want to chill it down to 120 degrees. 

Of course for some reason I took my thermometer out when I took the shot.  Gah!  I put it right back in after I took the picture though!

5.  When the milk is close to 120 degrees measure 1/4 cup of starter yogurt into each quart jar. 

6.  When your milk is at 120 fill each quart jar up with milk.  Leave a little bit of room at the top for your lid.

7.  Mix the milk and yogurt in each jar gently and carefully then put lids on all the jars. 

8.  Place your jars into the other stock pot and fill it up with 120 degree water.  My water heater happens to be set to 120 degrees, so I just use the hottest possible tap water.  If you're not sure, check with your candy thermometer.

9.  Put the stock pot into a cooler and let it sit for 8-12 hours in a warm draft free place.  After 8-12 hours place your jars in the fridge to set. 

Our draft free place is in the corner of the dining room.  In my mind heat rises so I put the cooler on a chair to make sure the yogurt stays warm and cozy.  I know, I'm weird.

You can serve the yogurt when it's completely cold.  Probably 5 hours or so I'd guess.  We usually don't need to open up the jar until the next day.

Note:  if you have a real cooler (we only have the cloth zip up one you saw in the picture) you can place your jars directly into the cooler and fill that with the 120 degree water instead of doing the stock pot thing. 

This is what it looks like when it's done.  This is actually the starter yogurt I used tonight, but you get the picture.  It's yogurt, in a jar, made by me!

 The obligatory picture in the bowl to show consistency. 

This stuff is great with a bit of honey and granola.  Yum.  I'll share the granola recipe next time I make it!

I learned this method mostly from this website.  http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/10/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/

But I learned a few tricks from somewhere else (sorry I totally forgot the page!). 

The tricks were basically that you can just measure 1/4 cup into each jar instead of mixing it into the large pot.  This way you'll end up with more consistent yogurt.  One of the first times I made yogurt (before I knew that trick) I don't think I mixed the starter in the pot very well and I ended up with one jar of yogurt that was very firm and another jar that was very runny from the same batch.  I think all the starter ended up in one jar. 

There you have it, my yogurt making expertise.  Thanks to my friend Carrie for inspiring me to try it!

Thank you God for yogurt.  It helps our guts, tastes good, and strengthens our bones so that we can work for your glory!
UIOGD.