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Homemade yogurt - If I can do it, so can everyone
February 29, 2008

I can pour milk into cereal without spilling. Sometimes I can manage to make oatmeal without it boiling over. And, I can even put together a fruit salad. Yes, clearly I am a very accomplished chef.

But now I am proudly adding homemade yogurt to my virtually non-existent cooking repertoires. The best part is: if it is within my capability, a real kitchen maven can do it blindfolded and with both hands tied to the back.

Ingredients:

• organic milk (best whole milk. “drink whole milk, just less of it.” - Michael Pollan? Sounds about right)
• yogurt culture (it really means yogurt. To start with store bought yogurt is fine. I used my friend’s homemade yogurt to make the first batch)

Tools:

• a pot (small or big depending on how much you want to make)
• a wooden spatula
• a cooking thermometer (or you finger, when you have done it 100 times like my friend)

See, I told you it is that simple.

Steps:

1. Pour 1/2 gallon of organic milk into the pot (or more if you’d like)
2. Fill your sink or a large container with cold tap water (about 1 & 1/2 inches)
3. Heat milk to boil while stirring (it takes like 3 minutes and milk boils over FAST)
4. Turn down the heat to low and continue to stir for 2-3 minutes
5. Remove the pot from the stove and cool it in the sink or the container that has cold water, until the milk is about 120 F (takes a few minutes)
6. Pour the milk into a container where you want to store the yogurt
7. Add 1 teaspoonful of yogurt culture (to 1/2 gallon milk. No need to be super accurate, you can adjust up or down)
8. Lightly stir
9. Wrap a bath towel around the container (to keep it warm for a while, so I was told)
10. Leave it where it is not easily disturbed for at least 6 hours (let it meditate. Kidding. Apparently frequent moving/giggling/shaking messes up the process)
11. Leave in the refrigerator overnight
12. Enjoy

Though 12 steps are listed, the real work takes only about 10 minutes. Now that I have done it a few times, I wonder why yogurt making always seemed like a complicated undertaking to me. In fact the process is quite forgiving. When I accidentally put it a little too much yogurt culture, the yogurt is still quite edible, just a bit more tart. Another friend has informed me that if the same culture is passed from one batch of yogurt to the next for too many generations, the yogurt turns a little too firm at same point. Need genetic diversification?

Now I am totally embolden by the simplicity of making yogurt, I may try my hand in homemade cheese crackers (thanks Crunchy Chicken, for the recipe pointer). Most likely to be a disaster (not low esteem, just low expectation). Will report back.

CindyW

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