Homemade Yogurt

Increasing costs of items each time you make a trip to the grocery can be somewhat frustrating especially for those of us who prefer healthier choices. One product for sure that is used often when transforming your diet is yogurt. It used used in countless breakfast recipes which is usually the power meal that kick starts the day. If you noticed the cost of yogurt recently you would definitely want to try this as it will help you save as well as encourage you to continue your healthy lifestyle. 

This particular recipe takes some patience and is recommended to be done on  day that you intend to be at home for most of the day. Important tools required for this is a thermometer and a crock pot, if you ever attempted to make homemade fudge, this recipe is somewhat like that in regards to following each step in detail. No substitutions and every step must be done on point with instructions provided. 

For adding the yogurt with live cultures it is recommended using plain Greek yogurt. I personally do not recommend using low fat milk on your first try. Also ensure when purchasing your initial yogurt ensure that the container says "active live cultures"  at the back. 

Ingredients:
1 Gallon Milk (2%, full cream) 
1/4 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt 

Instructions:
Pour milk into crock pot and turn setting to high, the milk should heat up to 170-180 degrees about 3 hours. This heating process helps kill any bacteria in the milk and also thicken the milk for the next stage.

Unplug the crock pot and leaving the crock pot slightly ajar allow the milk to cool , about  110 degrees about 2 hours. This is necessary before adding the yogurt starter (plain Greek yogurt).

Next add 1/4 cup of the plain Greek yogurt to the warm milk and using a whisk stir gently to incorporate the yogurt and remove any clumps.  Be sure not to over whisk the mixture! 

NB: Do not add any additional yogurt apart from the 1/4 cup as the final product will be too thin, the         cultures requires room to expand and if over crowded will give a runny end product.  

For the final step replace cover on crock pot and this has to be kept warm for about 8-12 hours. For this you can use an insulated bag, beach towels or any material that you have available that is very thick. Place crock pot into beach towel and wrap carefully ensuring the entire pot is covered and then place into your insulated bag. This has to be left undisturbed for 8-12 hours.

If you don't have an insulated bag use two beach towels instead of one for covering the pot, the key is to keep the mixture at the right temperature for the cultures.

How can you add flavorings to your homemade yogurt? 

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