What You Need

Ingredients 1/2 gallon milk - whole or 2% are best, but skim can also be used 1/2 cup commercial yogurt - be sure that the yogurt contains active cultures Equipment a sauce pan or dutch oven with a lid - large enough to hold 1/2 gallon of milk with a few inches of head room spatula thermometer - a candy thermometer that clips on the side of the pan is best, but an instant read thermometer is also fine small bowl whisk an incubator - this can be anything from the dutch oven used to heat the milk to a commercial yogurt machine (more on this in Step 4 below)

Instructions
1. Heat the Milk - In your saucepan or dutch oven, heat the milk to right below boiling, 200F. Stir the milk gently as it heats to make sure the bottom doesn't scorch and the milk doesn't boil over. According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, this heating step is necessary to change the protein structure in the milk so it sets as a solid instead of separating. 2. Cool the Milk - Let the milk cool until it is just hot to the touch, 112F - 115F. This goes faster if you set the pan over an ice water bath and gently stir the milk. 3. Inoculate the Milk - Pour about a cup of the warm milk into a small bowl and whisk it with the yogurt. Once it's smooth, whisk this back into the pan of milk. 4. Incubate the Yogurt - Now comes the long wait period where the milk actually transforms into yogurt. The trick is keeping the milk around 110F until it has set, usually 4-6 hours. Commercial incubating equipment is handy for maintaining a consistent temperature, but not necessary. We've been incubating our yogurt in the oven with excellent results. First, warm the oven to about 115 (an oven thermometer helps to know when the oven is heated). Put the lid on the dutch oven or saucepan with your inoculated milk and wrap the whole pot in a few layers of towels. These will insulate the pot and keep it warm. Set this bundle in the warmed (but turned off!) oven and set the timer. It's important not to jostle the milk too much as it's incubating so that it sets properly - the temptation to peek is so hard to resist! The longer the yogurt sits, the thicker and more tangy it will become. Check it around the 4-hour mark and give it a taste. The texture should be creamy, like a barely-set custard, and the flavor will be tart yet milky. If you like it, pull it out. If you'd like it tangier, leave it for another hour or two. We sometimes even make yogurt overnight, putting it in the oven around midnight and taking it out when we get up in the morning. 5. Cool the Yogurt - We have found that if we cool the yogurt in the same container we incubated it in, we end up with a smoother end result. Once it's completely chilled, we transfer it to air tight containers for easier storage. Sometimes there will be a film of watery whey on top of the yogurt. You can strain this off or just stir it back into the yogurt. Yogurt lasts about two weeks in the refrigerator.

Additional Notes: Cost Breakdown - We eat about a quart of yogurt a week in our house, which was costing us roughly $2.60 a week. A half gallon of milk makes a little less than two quarts of yogurt, which has been just enough to last us two weeks. We buy a local brand of milk that costs $3.70 per half gallon ($1.85 per quart), so we end up saving about 75-cents per week on yogurt. Nice. If your milk drops below 110 while it's incubating, that's fine. It will take a little longer to set and might end up a little looser, but the bacteria in the yogurt culture will keep the milk from spoiling. By the way, even after 8 hours in the oven (overnight), our yogurt was still 100 when we took it out of the oven! Once you've made one batch of homemade yogurt, you no longer need to buy commercial yogurt to culture the next batch. Just make sure to save 1/2 cup of your homemade yogurt and use that instead.

Ingredients

1 quart (946 mL) milk (any kind but if you use "ultra-high pasteurized" or "UHP" or "UHT" then you can skip step one, as the milk has already been heated to this temperature before the pack was sealed) 1/4 to 1/2 cup non-fat dry milk (optional) 1 tablespoons white sugar to feed the bacteria pinch salt (optional) 2 tablespoons existing yogurt with live cultures (or you can use freeze-dried bacteria instead)

Edit Steps
1. 1 Heat the milk to 185F (85C). Using two large pots that fit inside one another, create a double boiler. This will prevent your milk from burning, and you should only have to stir it occasionally. If you cannot do this, and must heat the milk directly, be sure to monitor it constantly, stirring all of the while. If you do not have a thermometer, 185F (85C) is the temperature at which milk starts to froth. It is highly recommended that you obtain a thermometer in the range of 100 - 212F, especially if you plan to make yogurt on an ongoing basis.

2. Cool the milk to 110F (43C). The best way to do this is with a cold water bath. This will quickly and evenly lower the temperature, and requires only occasional stirring. If cooling at room temperature, or in the refrigerator, you must stir it more frequently. Don't proceed until the milk is below 120F (49C), and don't allow it to go below 90F (32C); 110F (43C) is optimal.

3. Warm the starter. Let the starter yogurt sit at room temperature while you're waiting for the milk to cool. This will prevent it from being too cold when you add it in. 4. Add nonfat dry milk, if desired. Adding about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk at this time will increase the nutritional content of the yogurt. The yogurt will also thicken more easily. This is especially helpful if you're using nonfat milk. 5. Add the starter. Add 2 tablespoons of the existing yogurt, or add the freeze-dried bacteria. Stir it in or better yet, use a blender to evenly distribute the billions of bacteria throughout the milk.

6. Put the mixture in containers. Pour the milk into a clean container or containers. Cover each one tightly with a lid or plastic wrap. 7. Allow the yogurt bacteria to incubate. Keep the yogurt warm and still to encourage bacterial growth, while keeping the temperature as close to 100F (38C) as possible. An oven with a pilot light left on is one option; see the next section for other ideas.

After seven hours, you'll have a custard-like texture, a cheesy odor, and possibly some greenish liquid on top. This is exactly what you want. The longer you let it sit beyond seven hours, the thicker and tangier it will become. 8. Refrigerate the yogurt. Place the yogurt in your fridge for several hours before serving. It will keep for 1 to 2 weeks. If you're going to use some of it as starter, use it within 5 to 7 days, so that the bacteria still have growing power. Whey, a thin yellow liquid, will form on the top. You can pour it off or stir it in before eating your yogurt.

Many commercial yogurts include a thickening agent, such as pectin, starch, gum, or gelatin. Don't be surprised or concerned if your homemade yogurt has a somewhat thinner consistency without these thickeners. 9. Add optional flavorings. Experiment until you develop a flavor that your taste buds fancy. Canned pie filling, jams, maple syrup, and ice-cream fudges are good flavorings. For a healthier option, use fresh fruit, with or without a small amount of sugar or honey.

10. Use yogurt from this batch as the starter for the next batch.

Incubating the Yogurt

There are many methods available for incubating yogurt. Use a thermometer to make sure the temperature stays consistent. Choose the method that is most convenient and consistent for you:

Use a yogurt maker. Use a food dehydrator. Use the pilot light in your oven, or preheat the oven to the desired temperature, turn it off, and then leave the oven light on to maintain the temperature. Turn your oven on periodically, as needed to maintain the temperature. This method is tricky; make sure that it doesn't get too hot. Use a rice cooker's warm setting. Use the bread proof setting if your oven has one. Place the container of yogurt in warm water in a sink, large bowl, or small picnic cooler. Use a stove burner on low to keep a water bath warm. Use a warming tray. Use a crock pot or slow cooker on its lowest setting or turned off. Use a large thermos. Use aquarium heater in bucket of water. (NO auto shutoffs) Use a sunny window or a car in the sun. Note that light exposure may degrade the nutrition in the milk. It is best to maintained the temperature below 120F (49C), don't allow it to go below 90F (32C); blood temp to 110F (43C) is optimal.[1] Use warm blanket(s) to wrap your container(s).