Making Yogurt

Have you ever even heard of making yogurt at home? Up until two weeks ago, the idea never even occurred to me. I always thought yogurt came from a store and that was the end of it.

I have a really cool mother-in-law. She's the type who gets really passionate about food storage and emergency preparedness (she can do incredible things with beans), so when she found a class on how to use powdered milk to do all sorts of crazy recipes (cream cheese, cheesecake, mozzarella... yogurt....) she reserved spots for the whole family. I was completely fascinated by the number of things the teacher could do with powdered milk (which I'd always thought was nasty), and the fact that most of the stuff tasted really good.

So the other day I decided to try making yogurt, and it turned out really well. Here's the recipe I used:

1 1/2 c. warm water
2 1/3 c. instant powdered milk
1/4-1/2 c. plain yogurt (the fresher the better--the cultures die after a while, and your yogurt won't set as well if they're dead. Start can be unflavored yogurt from your last batch!)
2 c. warm water

Blend the 1 1/2 c. warm water and the powdered milk. Add the yogurt and blend again. Add the mixture to 2 c. warm water and pour into small jars. (The yogurt tastes really bitter if you don't add sugar, so I added 1 tbsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. vanilla per 1 1/2 c. jar. You can add other flavors later.) Set the jars in a cooler or pan full of warm water (between 100 and 120 degrees) and set in a warm place. The yogurt needs to be in that temperature range for about 6 hours (up to 24) in order to set. I put mine in a cooler, and it was ready in a little over 6 hours.

Later I added a little bit of mashed banana and some apricots, and it was incredible. My husband's favorite is applesauce, and we like cherries too. So good! The flavor possibilities are endless--canned or fresh fruits, freezer jams, syrups, etc. Be creative!

Bon appetit!