Homemade Yogurt, simplified.

            I’ve been making yogurt for years. It is not a complicated process requiring specialized equipment! I use a large pot, large bowl, canning jars, a small beer cooler, and a cooking thermometer, all of which I already had.. My recipe came from Sunset magazine.  It is amazing. Homemade yogurt is significantly better than store bought  (and cheaper). It is light and delicate. No need for sugar; it has not had time to sour. Pair it with some homemade cinnamon walnut blueberry granola and you are styling.

So here’s the process, which takes about ten minutes:

            Start the kettle to boil two quarts of water, which will keep your yogurt warm while setting up.

            Heat 4 cups of milk to 180 degrees. I use homogenized whole milk from the grocery store. Some of the brands with cream on top do not work as well; I am not happy with skim milk, either.

            Cool the milk to around 120 degrees—I put it in a sink with some ice water and stir occasionally.

            Add a couple of tablespoons of yogurt from the last batch or from a single serving container of plain yogurt that you like.

            Pour into a quart canning jar.

  

          Put into small cooler with the two quart jars of hot water for 8-10 hours. In the winter, when the cooler is chilly, I pre-heat it beforehand with some of the boiling water.

            Put the jar in the fridge to stop the fermenting process. Leave it for twelve hours.

            Eat.

            Repeat.

The trickiest part is not having the kettle boil right when the yogurt is ready to be poured into the jar.

Occasionally, something goes wrong with the process. When I first started making yogurt, I would throw it out. Now I have learned to let it sit a while longer. Ninety percent of the time, it sets up just fine.

Give it a try. It is worth the effort—and you do not need the   huge hairbun.