Adventures in Yogurt making

 I've always had making homemade yogurt on the "someday" list, but most of the recipes I had previously seen seemed pretty complicated, and needed to have the oven on all day or an incubator, which I wasn't ready to mess with. When a friend pinned this recipe on her "tried recipes" board and saw the 2 ingredients and the no fuss no muss instructions, I was sold!
 http://www.swellvoyage.com/2012/01/making-yogurt-is-a-breeze/ I pinned it on Saturday and bought the ingredients when we went shopping that day. Monday I wanted to make it, but didn't anticipate how long the milk would take to warm naturally, and had to wait til Tuesday to make it. I'm glad I got to it Tuesday, though, for yesterday we had a freak snowstorm hit! So crazy! It was 75* on Tuesday and in the 30s yesterday.

 











Besides being time consuming, it was SO easy.
As soon as I went in the kitchen in the morning to make coffee and breakfast I set out my jar of milk in the windowsil. Mid morning I moved it out to the front porch where it quickly warmed just warmer than tepid. It was about noon by the time it was ready to mix in the yogurt. I made sure when buying my yogurt that it had live bacteria cultures.













After whisking it smooth I put it in a recycled glass honey jar, and a half gallon ball jar, and set it in the windowsil again.

As the sun moved through the day, so did the yogurt - first from the windowsil to the side porch on the warm paving stones next to the woodpile. I took the original blogger's advice and covered my jars with a black shirt to attract and trap the heat. Then from the side porch they moved to the front porch and stayed all day until the late afternoon sun started to loose it's heat, then it was back in the kitchen which was nice and warm from a bread baking. At the 4 hour mark it was still liquid, so I left it for 5, and it was still not *quite* yogurt, so I left it while we ate dinner and cleaned up and at about 5 1/2-6 hour mark it had finally turned into yogurt. I tasted just a wee bit before I put it in the fridge, and was suprised how mellow and sweet and yummy it was warm.

Warming in the sun

Easy Peasy Homemade yogurt

1/2 gallon milk (I used organic)
1 cup yogurt (I used organic - and make sure there are active live bacteria cultures)

Warm milk to just warmer than tepid. I found placing in a sunny place outside worked the best.

When warm add yogurt and stir until smooth. Put milk/yogurt mixture in glass jar(s) and place in a warm, preferably sunny place for 4-6 hours until it takes on a yogurt consistency. Covering the jars in a black shirt with help the yogurt retain warmth. Place yogurt in fridge to chill then enjoy!

Yogurt with a drizzle of pure maple syrup. Yum!

A new favorite way to eat yogurt - with oatmeal! Mmm

Read more of my love of yogurt here and here and you can always find more pictures here