In article >,
Kajikit > wrote:

> Dad used to make it every week when I was a kid, and I didn't really
> like it then because mama wouldn't let us sweeten it except for a
> special treat! lol Anyway, I love yoghurt and the ones you buy are too
> sweet and have too much junk in them (four different kinds of
> vegetable gum in one product?!) and I just read about how dead easy it
> is to do it yourself... so I'm giving it a go.
>
> One half gallon of milk heated up in a saucepan on the stove until it
> came to the boil. Then I turned the stove off and I'm letting it cool
> down again. When it's cool enough to comfortably touch I'll add a
> bought yoghurt (minus the fruit) and put the whole saucepan into the
> oven for the night with the oven light on for warmth. We'll have to
> see if it works out!
>
> One thing's for sure... between yoghurt and bread and desserts, I
> really need to get myself a good cooking thermometer! I've never used
> one (I always eyeball meat) but it would make life simpler.

Back in my early 30's when I was seriously into bodybuilding, breakfast
every day was cooked cereal oat bran and home made yogurt. :-) Mom and I
made it 1 gallon at a time.

Milk by itself is going to be very thin, if it works at all. Our recipe
was to double the recipe for powdered milk (double the amount of powder
per water that the instructions called for) and ferment that.

Alternately, add powdered milk to whole or skim milk to increase the
"solids".

We got really firm yogurt that way! I started with about 1/2 cup of
"Dannon" brand to get us started, then saved a bit of the resulting
yogurt to start the next batch.

We'd warm the milk in the microwave before adding the culture, then
insert the gallon jar into a small ice chest filled with hot tap water
to keep it warm.

24 hours later, we'd have 1 gallon of yogurt. :-)
--
Peace! Om

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
-- Anon.