Yogurt Making Adventures

Ahh, the never ending making yogurt task. I feel like I'm constantly looking for new recipes, to find "the perfect" recipe. Of course, I'll never find that one, but it's fun to keep looking .I've had a standard crockpot one for quite some time now. Super easy, hands off, but I felt like when I put it into a different container is got more runny, which, all you yogurt making gurus out there know it's because of the pectin situation.

Anyway......

I was on the hunt, and my good pal, Ingrid, makes yogurt as well. I happened to be at her house one day, and tried some of her yogurt, and I knew I needed to try her recipe. The yogurt was thick, tangy, and yummy. I could stick my spoon in, and it didn't run all over the place.  The good news is that when I made it, it turned out the same way :) She has kind of tweaked and modified a couple of different recipes to get this one... so without further ado, I will entitle it..

Ingrid's Yogurt  :)

You will need: large pot, metal bowl, canning funnel, candy thermometer, crock pot, 3 mason jars and lids, and towels  ( I didn't use a canning funnel, I'm a rebel that way) I also only made enough yogurt to full 2 mason jars because that's how much milk I had.

As a note: sterilize the quarts sized mason jars.
Heat 12 cups of whole milk in a large pan over medium heat. Be careful not to boil it! Stir almost constantly. Keep a candy thermometer in the milk and remove from heat when temp reaches 180. While the milk is heating, put 3-5 tbsp starter (I used Meijer lowfat plain yogurt) in a 4 cup measuring container. I also put some water in my crock pot and set it on warm so that the water heats up.

Pour milk into the metal mixing bowl and stir occasionally. When the temp drops to 105-115, pour several cups of milk into the starter and stir it around. You want there to still be yogurt lumps, so don't try to whisk it or anything! Pour the milk/starter into the metal bowl and stir it all up for a minute.
Unplug the crock pot. Pour the milk into the mason jars and put the lids on. Set the jars in the crock pot water bath and fill to the brim with hot water. I usually set a plate on top the jars before wrapping two towels around the crock pot (so the towels don't end up in the water). I usually let everything sit from 6 or 7 pm until 8 or 9 the next morning. Try to leave it in a place it won't get bumped and jostled!


That's Ingrid's recipe to the T... here were my modifications, which were basically making it smaller.
I used 8 cups of milk (1\2 gallon), and used 3 TB of yogurt. (which was Meijer yogurt as well) The temp dropping part took maybe an hour? I found that to be the most time consuming because I kept running and checking the temp, certain it was going to jump below 105 rapidly and suddenly. :)   Your crockpot lid will not fit on with the jars, so if you put a plate on top, and then wrap towels over and around it, it works well. I positioned my crockpot in a spot on my counter, so that once I wrapped it in towels, I didn't have to move it.  If you don't have a crockpot, I would imagine, a big ol' stockpot with hot water and a lid, wrapped in towels would work as well.

As another note: I used our milk that we get from the dairy farm, but the stuff I ate at Ingrid's that day was made from plain ol' D milk from the store.  I think the difference is that the yogurt "sets" in the jars. It keeps it  a little bit more congealed. That's my theory at least. :)

Happy yogurt making, my crazy friends. :)

p.s. I'm glad I have crazy yogurt making friends in my life. I feel not so crazy. :)