Homemade Yogurt

 I've been making my own yogurt for a few years now and it's wonderful.  I like to make the Greek-style and I use the extra whey in my homemade dressings and mayonnaise as a preservative.  You can use any kind of milk to make the yogurt.  I only use whole milk but you can use 2%, 1% or skim, depending on how you like it. 

For the live culture I start my first batch by using Dannon Natural Plain.  Then after my yogurt is finished, before it's strained for Greek-style yogurt, I fill a container with 1/2 C of the yogurt and put it in the freezer.  I use this as my live culture the next batch I make.  After 3 or 4 batches it doesn't seem to set up as well so I start my next batch with the Dannon again.  Sometimes I buy the quart size of the Dannon and separate it into 1/2 C portions and put them in the freezer for future batches.  Greek-style yogurt doesn't seem to work as well as a starter. 

Some of the add-ins we use are berries, homemade berry syrup, jam, nuts, granola, sucanut and vanilla.  You can also use the Greek-style as a replacement for sour cream.

Recipe:

1 gallon whole milk
½ C heavy whipping cream (optional)
½ C plain natural yogurt with live culture 
thermometer
heating pad
cheesecloth

Put milk and cream, if using, in large stock pot and heat on med-high, stirring frequently, until it reaches a temperature of 180°F.   Adjust heat to keep temperature between 180°F-185°F for 15 minutes. Immediately put pot in sink filled with cold water, stir continuously, and cool to 110°F.   Add plain natural yogurt at exactly 110°F and stir thoroughly. Put lid on pot and place pot on heating pad, keeping the yogurt between 90°F-110°F undisturbed until it is firm and whey is separating from yogurt, approximately 2-8 hours.  You can wrap a towel or blanket around the pot to help keep heat in if needed.   For Greek-style yogurt, put cheesecloth lined colander in 9x13 pan to catch whey and carefully poor yogurt into the colander and let strain for several hours in fridge, depending on how thick you want it.   Put yogurt in a container and stir vigorously to blend the curds and make it smooth.  Save the whey for other uses if desired.  For regular yogurt, don't strain it at all, or just spoon off some of the whey, then stir in the remaining whey.