A Newly Discovered Favorite...

I've had the urge lately to try my hand at homemade yogurt making. It sounded so easy, economical, and homemade is always better, right!? Well, yogurt is no exception...homemade yogurt is the bomb!! My family goes through what seems like gallons of yogurt each week. While Eric isn't a huge yogurt fan, I love, love, love Stonyfield Farms yogurt in every variety, and Ava is hooked on Stonyfield Farms YoBaby or YoKids. The stuff is amazing...and Yoplait offers absolutely no comparison...even my once favorite thick-n-creamy custard style Yoplait doesn't even come close to the smooth, pure-tasting, creamy, organic bliss that Stonyfield offers. When I took a look at the ingredients list on the back of my Stonyfield yogurt container, all that was listed was organic low fat milk, pectin, and vitamin D. That's it. How simple...I like simple. So, I thought--hey, let me just do a little research and see how complicated of a process this might be, and to my giddy astonishment...it's so stinkin' easy. Even easier than making my own babyfood! :) I am hooked. The best part here is the money I'll save by making my own yogurt....check this out:

Stonyfield Farms Yogurt--Usually $0.99 per container which is 6 ounces--so I'll just say $1/container. I buy at least 6 containers (36 ounces) of these every week. My favorite math teacher Mr. Shaffer taught me that this would equal $6/ week (about $25/month)

Stonyfield Farms YoBaby--About $3.79/ 6-pack (4 ounce containers). At least one 6-pack (24 ounces) of these a week...usually more though. So, about $15-$20/ week.

Add them up and we consume about 240 ounces of yogurt/ month and I'm spending about $40-$45/ month on organic yogurt!!

Making my own:
Organic Whole Milk: $2.79/ quart (that's 32 ounces)
Organic Powdered Milk: $6.49 (the lifetime of this bag of powdered milk will vary depending on whether or not I use it each time for my yogurt--it's kind of an optional item, so this bag should last me a really long time.)
One container of Stonyfield Farm yogurt--$0.99 (this was a one time purchase to use as a starter for my homemade yogurt, but now I have my own yogurt to use as a starter for my next batch)
Organic wildflower honey--$3.99.

So, the math tells us that 240 ounces divided by 32 ....oh, never mind, I'll just cut to the chase....making my own yogurt will cost me roughly $20-$25/ month!  An all around win... 50% savings...all-organic...economical...delicious...and all the flavor combos I can create. I saw a goji berry mix at Whole Foods today that would be so yummy pureed & thrown in this homemade yogurt.

Now, onto the meat & potatoes of this post....

Homemade Yogurt How-To

1 Quart (4 Cups) Fresh, Organic Whole Milk
2/3 Cup Powdered Milk
1/2 Cup Fresh Organic Yogurt with active cultures (most yogurts have active cultures)

A couple notes:
*You can use 2%, 1%, or skim milk if you wanted to. I used whole milk because I want thick & creamy yogurt and until I am an 'professional' yogurt maker, I figured full fat milk would yield best results--which it has! I'll try a low-fat milk next time and see how it goes.
*The powdered milk isn't necessarily needed--you can make yogurt without it--but if you're using a lower-fat milk the yogurt tends to be runnier and the powered milk helps thicken it up a bit.
*The organic yogurt is just a one time purchase--you need the yogurt to use as a starter to get the bacteria in the milk which develops the yogurt. After you make a batch then you'll have your own yogurt to use as a starter for subsequent batches.

3 Simple Ingredients.

First, heat the milk and powdered milk in a 2 qt saucepan, until it reaches 180*, stirring frequently to avoid scorching--you definitely want to avoid scorching and boiling. This picture clearly is not showing what I described above, but rather Step 2, which is to place the saucepan in a sink of cold water to bring the temperature down to about 110*. You don't have to put it in cold water, you could just let the milk sit at room temperature and wait for the temperature to fall to 110*...but that method is for patient folks. :)

Once the milk is cooled to 110*, pour the milk into a glass quart jar--I have plenty of them around from canning. You want to make sure the jar is sterilized to assure the bacteria in the jar won't interfere with the bacteria that will be producing the enzymes that turn the milk into yogurt--thankfully my dishwasher took care of that step for me. Then wrap some towels around your quart jar--this will provide insulation and help keep your milk at 110* for the next 6-8 hours. Place your wrapped up quart jar in the oven with the light turned on. The oven doesn't need to be turned on, just have the oven light on and that will provide enough warmth to help keep the milk at 110* for the incubation period. Really, 6 hours in my oven and my yogurt was perfect--if you like really tart plain yogurt then let it incubate longer. I stayed close to the 6 hour mark because I don't like my yogurt too tart.

And here she is...in all her delicious, smooth, creamy glory...Homemade Yogurt!!! Sooo good! Just stick this puppy in the back of the fridge so it's nice & cold in the morning. Wake up...scoop out...sprinkle berries...gobble up. Easy as that.

Now, these two paired together = one seriously yummy concoction! I also have TONS of strawberry freezer jam left in my freezer from last summer that I plan on stirring into my yogurt. It will add a sweetness better than any plain sugar can offer. Now THAT will be good--I can hardly wait til morning. :)

I highly recommend giving homemade yogurt making a try! It's so easy, seriously, there are a million different ways to make yogurt and there's so much experimenting you can do to get exactly what you're looking for. Do some browsing of the web, like I did, and I'm sure you'll get sucked into the ease of making yogurt. It's as easy as warming milk and letting it sit for 6 hours, really. Plus, you cut down on environmental waste by using your own glass jars. Love it.