Friday, May 23, 2008

Yogurt



Some people think I am crazy, some think its cool, I call it being cheep with some added nutrition.




Yes, I make my own yogurt.




I make a gallon of yogurt each week.




My children love it.




A few years ago I was visiting my brother, Dan, and he had me try his homemade yogurt, vanilla flavor. I was so impressed. His son has an allergy of some sort to food dyes and homemade yogurt became a new staple in their house. Dye free, less sugar, and healthier then the yogurt you can buy in the stores.




Making yogurt is quite simple. I have been making it for about 3 years now. You only need a few supplies:




1 gallon thermos


digital thermometer


1 gallon milk (2% or whole)


1/2 - 1 cup powdered milk


2 -3 dollops yogurt culture (I buy Dannon's plain)


sugar (optional)


flavoring (also optional, I use 2 dye-free kool-aide packets, or vanilla)



You bring 1 milk and powdered milk to 170 degrees. Cool the milk to 115-120 degrees. Pour into the gallon thermos and screw on the lid. Let sit on the counter for 6 hours and you are done!

Probably more then you wanted to know about making yogurt, but I figure I save about $12/week and my family can eat as much yogurt as they want.

1 comment:

Trina said...

Hi Stephenie,
Thanks for telling me how to make this when we stayed with you last summer. Travis loves it plain (go figure) and I love that I can make it with nonfat milk. One trick I found that works for me is when I buy the yogurt I freeze the rest of the container into ice cubes and then just melt them when I need them (I'm even cheaper).

Also, I made frozen yogurt using my ice cream machine and it turned out great. The recipe I used is at this link:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-frozen-yogurt-recipe-to-rival-pinkberrys-recipe.html

I have found that if I use a flour sack towel instead of cheesecloth to strain the yogurt, it turns out just fine and I can reuse it.