i grow (good) bacteria (Homemade Yogurt)

I was wary, but excited about trying my hand at making yogurt IN THE CROCKPOT! I first heard about this from PreventionRD and she used A Year of Slow Cooking, which is what I followed.  It seemed simple enough....

• set the crock pot on low, add 1/2 gallon of milk - I used whole milk since this is my first time and that was the suggestion.
• Let it "cook" for 2&1/2 hours (I love things I don't have to stand over and watch!) then turn it off and let it sit for 3 hours. 
• After 3 hours, take out 2 cups of milk and add 1/2 cup of plain, store-bought yogurt (any brand that has "live yogurt cultures").  Whisk together then add back to slow cooker. 
• Wrap entire pot in heavy towel and let sit 8 hours or overnight. (mine sat for 14, b/c 8 hours was up at 1 AM, and I was not gettin' out of bed for yogurt)

The next morning I was fully expecting a crock pot full of curdled, cottage cheese looking stuff.  But to my surprise -

I had this wonderfully thick, creamy, smooth plain yogurt!!!  It worked! It worked! It really, really worked!  Can you tell I was excited?  I think part of it was just surprise that it turned out.  So now I have a fridge full of fresh yogurt! 

After letting it chill for a few hours, I had to try it out.  I added some NuNaturals Stevia (check out this article regarding Stevia), fresh blueberries and strawberries, and oats. 

It was DEE-LISH!  Of course, it was made with whole milk, so not exactly low fat - but very filling.  Next time I want to make it with low fat milk, but I read you have to add gelatin or something b/c it's so thin.  Or strain it to make Greek yogurt, which is probably what I'll do.  Which will be a lot cheaper than buying it!  I like the fact that you can completely control the ingredients.  My kids were thinking of things they could add to theirs (like M&M's and cookies) but my 7 yr old tried mine and ended up eating half of it!

This was WAY easier than I thought it would be, you just have to be available to turn your slow cooker on and off, add in the starter (initially store bought, but now I can reserve a half cup of what I made for my next starter - this can be done up to 5 times before you need to "refresh" your cultures) and wrap it up in a towel...then you just leave it to do it's thang.  I don't like to think too much about the bacteria growing and the fact that milk is sitting at room temperature.  But I ate it without getting sick...so we're good to go.  Mama's in the yogurt business!  I feel like I should go hug a tree.  My next "project" is either pickled banana peppers or healthy, lowfat, granola!  Maybe both....granola would go great with the yogurt!

Update 10/12/11 - I have made this several times with skim milk and it does fine! It's a little thinner than store-bought, but not too thin.  I usually strain it anyway, b/c I LOVE greek style yogurt!


I'm linking this recipe up at Eat at Home (Ingredient Spotlight - Milk!)