Easy Homemade Yogurt Method!

Thought I would share this method of making yogurt that we've been using for the last month or two. I have been wanting to make yogurt for YEARS now and was slightly intimidated by it, until I realized it really is so simple! Here's what we do:

In the morning I set a dishcloth in the bottom of a pot and then fill (to a little below the screw lines) 4 pint jars with milk. Then the jars are placed in the pot and I add water to about the same level as the milk. Place it on the stove, turn it on high, add a thermometer and go about making breakfast or cleaning up from dinner last night...oops!
You are looking for the milk to reach 180 degrees.

Also a thin film will form on the top of the milk.

When up to temp remove the jars from the water to cool down to 110 degrees. You can do this by either letting them sit on the counter (it will take several hours) or setting them in the sink or dishpan and slowly adding cool water so the jars do not break!!! (Oops again!) It will only take 30 minutes or so if you are wanting to speed up the process. I let them cool for a few minutes and then set them in a dishpan and added cool water slowly and then cold water and then ice cubes. Add more ice as necessary. Do NOT set the jars directly into ice water! Not good for your jars!!!

Meanwhile, I placed the cover on the pot I used for heating the milk and left it on the burner with the heat turned off. This is going to be my heat source for keeping the yogurt warm.

When the yogurt is down to temp I added 1 tablespoon of plain good quality store yogurt (used Stonyfield) to each pint and gave it a gentle stir until the yogurt was thoroughly mixed in. Next I screwed the caps on and place the pot of water and the jars in my cooler with a towel for extra insulation. I wrap the towel over everything and close the lid. The yogurt needs 4 to 24 hours to culture. I did not time how long they were in the cooler but that night before bed I opened it up and placed the jars in the fridge.

The next morning you have yummy homemade (and easy to my surprise) yogurt that you can add any type of flavoring to! The kids and I have been loving maple syrup and granola on ours!
Love the fact that I have almost no dishes with this method too! Just the measuring spoon I used to measure out the yogurt and stir with. The pot of water I dump and dry and put away since it only had water in it. My dishcloth is now completly sterilized and clean so I hang it up to dry. I have also now started using quart jars instead of pints since the kids eat this for breakfast almost every day!!!