How to make Yogurt

My kids have been on a smoothie kick and their favorite is yogurt, banana, cherries with acai juice.

We make them almost every other day and the yogurt bill was adding up so I decided to start making my own.  I remember my mom made it every night for medicinal purposes and she would just keep on adding milk to a jar and put the jar in a warm spot overnight.

After some research, I learned making homemade yogurt is quite simple.  I pulled this recipe from David Leibowitz.  I love having homemade yogurt in the house and have been making some delicious things with it that I will post later (like this delicious Labneh Tart and How to Make Labneh).

Homemade Yogurt (makes 8 cups)
Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon whole milk
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (with live cultures)

Directions:

1. Heat milk to 180 degrees (scalding). Then let milk cool to 115 degrees (warm but not hot).

2. While milk is cooling, clean jars by filling with boiling water and let the jars sit for 5 minutes. Jars will be very hot.  I use QT size mason jars.

3. Once the milk has cooled to 115 degrees stir in 1/2 cup of yogurt. Pour mixtures in jar and cover.

4. Put in a warm place for 10-12 hours (I leave it in my oven but a cooler with towels also works).  The longer you leave the yogurt out the more sour it will get.

5. After 10-12 hours put in the refrigerator to chill more to firm up.