Homemade yogurt in a crockpot

    Having a four day weekend gives you some time to do things that you never do most times.  Making yogurt is one of those things.  It really is easy and is fun to do in a crock pot in this recipe I found:

• 1/2 gallon milk (Whole milk will make the yogurt thicker, but any milk will work.)
• 1/2 cup plain unflavored yogurt (Any kind with live active cultures will work. Be sure to save a half cup of this batch of homemade yogurt to use as a starter next time!)
  

Pour the half gallon of milk into your crock pot and turn it on low. Cook it for 2 hours and 45 minutes (set the timer to remember to turn it off!)

After 2 hours and 45 minutes, turn the crock pot off and let it sit down 3 hours.

Spoon a small amount of the milk into a small bowl and add the half cup of yogurt to it. Mix together thoroughly.

Dump this mixture back into the milk in the crock pot and mix it around well.

Put the lid back on your crock pot and wrap the crock pot with a large beach towel or blanket (make sure the crock pot is unplugged and turned off!). Yes, I know, it sounds a little ridiculous to wrap a crock pot with a beach towel, but I did some research online and it seems that the experts recommend this step as it helps keep the heat in the crock pot and allows it to cool more slowly.

Let the beach-towel-wrapped crock pot sit for 8-12 hours (or overnight). After 8-12 hours, it should be thickened.

Spoon yogurt into jars or plastic containers and refrigerate a few hours before eating.

This will keep for one to two weeks in the refrigerator. Be sure to save a half cup to use as a starter for your next batch of homemade yogurt.

You can make Greek yogurt out of our homemade yogurt by straining it through a cheese cloth for 4 hours or using a clean old T-shirt like I do.