yogurt revisited

I have been making home made yogurt for several months now in my crock pot. I've had to add pudding to it though to thicken and sweeten it up (store bought adds lots of thickeners). It's been good, but not as thick as I'd like, especially after I tried some Greek yogurt this week. Yum-my! Plus, there's more protein in that somehow so I thought I'd give it a try.

It turned out amazing. Still not quite as thick as Greek yogurt but when I read that label there was thickener in it as well.

I made yogurt like I usually do (half gallon/8c skim milk in crock pot all day, etc. - see my other post link above). When it was done growing the bacteria last night at 1030 I placed all of it in a coffee liner lined colander (I used like 6 or 7 liners). I then set it over a pot to drain all night in the fridge. There are the liners left over.

Here's what's left in the pot this morning: whey, the liquid portion of milk. That's like half of what I started with. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. Perhaps I will use it in place of water to make home made bread like I read here.

Like I said, it made half the yogurt I usually get, but it's much thicker and yummier. See how it's set up so nice? It was like sour cream when I dumped it out of the colander but then I whisked it and it loosened up a little. I think if I used 2% or even whole milk it would be a lot thicker as well. Might have to try that when Samuel is old enough.

Whey. I read that I should put it in a glass container so I might have to transfer. Not sure what's up with that...

I added 1 teaspoon vanilla and a quarter cup sugar and it tasted amazing. Terry said, "That's what yogurt should taste like - tastes like store bought." But no thickeners or additives. Just milk and starter yogurt! My belly thanked me after a donut breakfast - needed some sustenance this morning. It was delicious peeps. You should try it.