Homemade Yogurt

This is my very simple recipe for homemade yogurt.

I love yogurt, I use it when cooking pancakes, making smoothies and for baby food (beginning at 6 months).

Ingredients

1 gallon of whole milk

2 cans of evaporated milk

4 Tablespoons of Stoneyfield plain whole milk cream on top yogurt (or 4 yogurt ice-cubes)

Big stainless steel pot

colander

cheesecloth (or clean white baby receiving blanket)

Steps

1. mix yogurt in carton and take out 4 tablespoons, set aside
2. spoon rest of yogurt into your ice-tray. Freeze and then store in a ziplock bag for future use.
3. in a clean stainless steel pot bring whole milk + evaporated milk just to the boiling point. Stir every now and again, and turn pot of as soon as you begin to see bubbles forming around the edge.
4. Let milk sit until just warm. If skin has formed on top take off and discard. If you drip a little milk ono your wrist it should feel just warm.
5. Add a little milk to cup of yogurt and stir.
6. Pour yogurt into pot of milk and gently stir.
7. Cover pot of milk with secure lid and place in oven overnight -OR- Poum milk into clean tupperware with lids or glass jars with lids and place in oven overnight.
8. Next morning take out yogurt, check the consistency, if you like it, your done, put yogurt in fridge where it will thicken slightly. -OR- Place a cheesecloth over a colander, place colander over a pot, place pot over a cookie sheet – sounds extensive but depending on the size of your pots and colander some items could be left out – Pour yogurt into cheesecloth lined colander and let sit and drain until yogur has reached desired consistency. Put in fridge and enjoy!

Notes

• I’m a busy mom like you, so heres the truth about how it goes down in my house.
• Sometimes I get busy and the milk boils over, no biggy, just let it cool down to warm or room temperature.
• Sometimes I forget about the boiled milk for a while and when I check it it’s room temperature, no problem, add your room your yogurt and forget about it.
• Sometimes I use evaporated milk, sometimes I don’t. I’ve even heard of people adding dry milk powder to the milk once its cooled before you add the yogurt..
• Experimenting with different types of milk (whole, evaporated, dry, low-fat, etc.) will yield slightly different results, play aroun and see what you like.
• Letting the milk just simmer (which is ll that is neccessary) versus letting it boil over, and everything in between seems to yield slightly different results.
• I didn’t buy cheesecloth, I wash and use one of those white baby receiving blankets I got from the hospital. If your like me with more receiving blankets than you know what to do with, try one – a white one, cotton, and I’m sure it will work just fine.
• You can let the yogurt strain as long or as little as you want, or not at all. If you let it strain alot, you can add spices to it to made ‘yogurt cheese’ or lebne.

Uses

• Eat with jam or jelly
• Mix with honey and wheat germ
• Mix with maple syrup and wheat germ
• Eat with chopped fruit
• Eat with canned peaches, pineapples or mixed fruit
• Use as substitute for milk or buttermilk in cornbread or pancakes
• Use as substitute for sour cream in mashed potatoes
• Perfect for baby food, mix with cereals, fruits, or plain

Remember this is supposed to help make your life easier, so dont worry if you forget about the yogurt until the next afternoon in the oven, it’ll be alright, a little tart, but alright. Use some everyday and eat up, you’ll be surprised how fast it will go, and how much money you’ll save if you and your familiy like yogurt.

ENJOY !!!