Yogurt!

Another product of visiting our local dairy Maple View Farms this past weekend was fresh fresh milk. There's nothing like buying milk when you can see the cows the milk came from playing in the field next to where you are.

I didn't manage to capture any cows in this photo but here's a picture of the farm.

I've seen a variety of homemade yogurt posts around the web and decided I would give them a try with this milk. I am amazed at how easy yogurt making is! I used a variety of sites as guides but went with this basic premise - heat the milk up (180degrees), cool it down (110 degrees), mix in some plain yogurt to start the culture and then keep the whole thing at 110 degrees for ~6 hours, put in the fridge and enjoy! The way you achieve these results can vary, you can use a cooler, a crockpot, a yogurt maker and I'm sure there are lots of other ways. Here is how I did it

I heated a half gallon of whole milk up on the stove until my cooking thermometer read 180 degrees

Then I pulled the pan off the stove and let it sit and cool until it was 110 degrees. Once it was cooled I stirred in 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt - a starter for the yogurt culture.

I poured the mix into a variety of jars I had and submerged them in the crock pot full of warm water which was on the 'keep warm' setting. I was concerned that this wouldn't keep everything at the right temperature but it was perfect.

The crockpot did a wonderful job! Me on the other hand, I could have done a much better job. I timed it so that I had to set my alarm and get up at 3am to put everything in the fridge. Oh well, it worked! I made yogurt!

Stay tuned for a breakfast post tomorrow