Homemade Yogurt

I love yogurt, but it does not come cheaply. Especially if you have 6 other people vying for it. I tried to buy it a few times just for the "girls". That did not go over so well with my boys. I just thought yogurt was kind of a girl thing and we should be able to have some.

My mother bought a yogurt machine a while back. I thought about it but just never had quite the strong enough desire to lay money on it. Well, a friend of mind made some about a week ago the old fashioned way. There's just something about making something from scratch, so artisanal, back to the roots, all natural...okay, I'll stop, but I really like that!


So I find a yogurt recipe in a 4-H book I am flipping through just before I am about to throw it away. This really spurs me on. All I have to buy is a gallon of milk, a carton of yogurt and a candy thermometer. I decide this is such a savings as to justify buying a candy thermometer. I will be able to make a gallon of yogurt for the price of a gallon of milk! This is exciting. Yogurt for everyone!

I am set to make the yogurt at about 9pm so that it can set all night and be ready in the morning. I pour the gallon of milk in the pot, turn on the stove and get the candy thermometer. Where is the candy thermometer? I questioned six innocent people and no one has seen it since about 6pm lying on the counter next to the sink. Now, I have at least two curious people, one of whom is getting into something every 30 minutes. I know someday he will be gifted at fixing or making anything like his Uncle Mike, which gives me hope. But right now I am about to strangle him (figuratively, of course!). He's seven and would be using all of Dad's dangerous tools if left unchecked. So back to the thermometer. I asked in every way to make sure I was getting an honest answer and no one has seen or can find the candy thermometer. I looked everywhere at least twice. You also have to keep in mind that we just moved into a 5000 square foot house from basement to third floor. The yard is 1/4 of the entire block. The candy thermometer is 8" long at the largest. And I splurged on that $5.00 candy thermometer!

So, I decide to go forth anyway hoping for the best. You have to heat the milk to 180 degrees. Trying to think back to all those lattes at about 160 degrees, I figured that had to be slightly burn your mouth temperature. Heating to 180 degrees, one gallon of milk, took a lonnggg time! I finally turned the temp from low to med, got the skin on top of the milk, the bubbles around the sides. Now you have to cool to 110 degrees. For supper I had made pizza dough and for the sake of getting the yeast right, I took the temp of the water with my handy dandy new thermometer so I knew that 110 felt like about the hottest water coming out of the faucet. Those were my two biggest hurdles. Wrapped up the jars and let it set for the night.

This is what I got, even after chilling:

Now I know homemade yogurt is not as thick as commercial, but this does not quite cut it. Its a little strange to eat too because the texture reminds me of soured milk, but it does taste like yogurt. I think I will try the yogurt pop recipe that came with the instructions. Surely freezing it should turn it into something good!

I'm not going to share my recipe because, one its very long to write out and two, after looking at recipes on the web I found better recipes with clearer instructions. My first problem was probably with my starter... a good yogurt with active cultures is very important for thick yogurt. Second, most of the other recipes called for milk powder in addition to regular milk to help it to be thicker. Just do a search for 'easy homemade yogurt. I will try this again as soon as that darn candy thermometer shows up! I love yogurt too much to give up easily!