The other night, while perusing the latest issue of Magazine I read a make your own yogurt recipe and decided right then and there that I had to try it!
With my crock pot, towels and duck tape in hand, I set out to make a yogurt that MacGyver himself would be proud of.
The recipe is fairly simple, but requires a lot of time. Something that I overlooked, and regretted when I had to get up at 3 a.m. to finish.
Confession: I have a bad habit of reading the beginning and the end of a recipe, while skipping the middle. Needless to say, I miscalculated this endeavor by about three hours, which lead to the ungodly early wakeup call.
Moving on.
Crock Pot Yogurt
You will need the following:
crock pot
1/2 gallon (8 cups) whole milk (you can use lower fat milk, but yogurt will not be as thick)
1/2 cup active culture yogurt (store-bought yogurt or dry yogurt starter culture)
1-2 old bath towels
duck tape
Fruit, which will be added when yogurt is ready to eat
13.5 hours
Crock pot, milk and yogurt culture, check!
Bath towels and duck tape, check!
13.5 hours and a husband you doesnt mind that you set your alarm for 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning, check!
Sorry for the blurry picture. Did I mention it was 3 a.m.?
1. First things first, turn the crock pot to low heat. Add the 1/2 gallon of milk, cover and cook on low for two and a half hours. During this time you could do something productive like cleaning or exercising, or as I choose to do you could sit at a coffee shop reading blogs writing.
2. After two and a half hours turn off and unplug the crock pot. Leave the cover on and let sit for three hours. DO NOT REMOVE THE COVER!
3. Three hours later, remove two cups of warm milk and pour into a bowl. Add the 1/2 cup of starter yogurt and mix. Pour the mixture back into the crock pot, stirring to combine.
4. Put the cover back on, but DO NOT TURN THE HEAT BACK ON, wrap tightly with bath towels (use duck tape to secure towels) and let sit for eight hours.
5. After eight hours, unwrap your culture filled gift and voila, you will have yogurt! The mixture will have thickened, but not as much as store-bought yogurt (see my notes below for a thicker yogurt).
6. Ladle into prepared containers and store in the refrigerator for seven to 10 days.
Final product = tart and delicious!
Notes:
Be sure to save 1/2 cup for starting future batches.
I used 8 oz. canning jars, but you can use whatever containers you prefer. Just be sure that they are clean and sterilized.
If using lower fat milk, feel free to add one packet of plain gelatin to thicken (or thickener of choice). Also, make sure your milk isnt ultra-pasteurized.
For a thicker yogurt, strain through cheese cloth or a coffee filter. I choose coffee filter.
The coffee filter took several hours to strain, but the end result is a thick, creamy Greek-style yogurt.
This may be the delusion of my early morning wakeup call talking, but I am in love with how this turned out! Who knew a crock pot and some duck tape would result in awesomeness!
I highly suggest that you give homemade yogurt a go!
