Okay. So quick back round on this....I was a helper parent on my sons field trip and we were having an indoor picnic ( due to yucky cold wind and rain ) and as I was eating my yogurt when another parent mentioned that her friend makes her own yogurt in her crock pot. What!!!???.... Did your tires just come to a halt like mine did ? ( And yes, I have even heard mentioned that you can make it in a jar on the fridge....??? Didn't research that one ) So intrigued and curious, and after thawing out from the outdoor walk on the field trip I decided to dig into this and see what I needed to do to make this stuff. I came across this invaluable website that has a ton of crock pot recipes with everything from yogurt to play doh to Greek spare ribs. And so here it is and this is my experience.....You will need:
8 cups or half gallon of whole milk. DO NOT use ultra pasteurized. Homogenized and regular pasteurized are fine. Also, it is recommended that you start with whole milk until you get the hang of making yogurt.
1/2 cup store-bought, natural, live/active culture plain yogurt. This is your starter for the culture in your batch. Once you have made your own you may use that as your starter.
Flavoring. So fruit or honey is fine. Honestly this got eaten so quickly that I only had the chance to try my newly purchased , naturally flavored , hazelnut agave nectar in it. That was yummy!
Thick bath towel
So here we go!
First off, to tackle this you need to be home to monitor your yogurt. So set a day aside when you are able to be around. Next, grab your 4 quart crock pot and plug it in and turn to low with your 8 cups of milk poured in and let sit for 2 1/2 hours with the lid on.
After your 2 1/2 hours is up, unplug and leave the cover on and leave it for 3 hours. After that has passed , take out 2 cups of your warm milk and whisk in you 1/2 cup of store bought yogurt. Place it back into your crock pot and stir in. Lid still on and still unplugged get your bath towel, or in my case beach towel, and wrap it up for the night or about 8 hours.
Place in your fridge in containers and it should last for 7-10 days....that is if your family doesn't gobble it first! Save 1/2 cup for your starter for the next batch.The Outcome:
Although the consistency is not as thick as store bought it definitely looked like yogurt. It also was not nearly as tangy or sour tasting as the brands you can get in the store so I definitely liked that! A solution that I have read is that if you want to use a lower fat content milk you can either use a packet of unflavored gelatin and stir it in when you are mixing in the culture, or you may add skim milk powder to it . As pictured, I had flavored and sweetened it with the agave nectar and the kids went crazy for it! I didn't even get a chance to try something else as polished that batch off too quickly. Maybe the next one. I have to say it was fun and I am already trying batch number 2. If you want a YOP type yogurt drink you can try adding fruit juice to it as well. All the best!!
