Weekend Workshop: Making Yogurt

Do you love yogurt, but hate all the plastic packaging piling up in your home? Do you want delicious yogurt made from good milk without all the weird additives but hate paying upwards of five dollars for a quart? Well, it's time to start making it yourself. Yogurt making is so easy. In about 20 minutes you can prepare your yogurt, and be eating it for breakfast the next day.

To start off you will need:

• Medium to large cooler
• Kitchen thermometer
• Quart sized glass jar for your yogurt
• Assorted glass jars
• 1 quart of milk (non-fat, 2% or whole -- I recently used a blend of Snowville Creamery fat free and 2%)
• 1/4 cup plain unflavored unsweeted yogurt with live cultures. (Think Seven Stars, Stoneyfield Farms, or pick up some yogurt made from Snowville Creamery at the Village Bakery. As you begin to make yogurt, you can reserve a bit from your batches to make the next.)

To make the Yogurt:

1. Heat the milk. The milk needs to be heated to about 170-180F (76-82C). This kills any other bacteria that might be in the milk that would compete against the bacteria that converts milk to yogurt. It also changes the milk protein in a way that allows it to culture and firm up. Stir often while milk is heating to prevent scorching. Remove from heat when temperature is achieved.
2. Cool the milk to 105-110F (40-43C).
3. Stir 1/4 cup yogurt into your milk.
4. Pour your mix into a clean glass quart jar.
5. Place your yogurt in your cooler. Fill assorted jars with hot tap water and place in the cooler with your yogurt. This will create a nice warm environment for your yogurt to culture. The heat should be maintained and stable throughout the process, so try to avoid opening the cooler at all until the end of the process. The fermentation takes anywhere from 4-8 hours (about 6 is ideal).
6. Voila! Homemade Yogurt!!

Recipe Yields 1 quart of plain yogurt.