Homemade Yogurt

So I'm back in Chicago and have the whole month of July "off":  I'm doing a senior independent study elective (I'm sure I'll torture you with more of my articles) while studying for Step 2 of the USMLE boards that I take July 24 and 26.  As you can imagine, I'm experiencing a quantity of free time I haven't in quite some time (by "free time", I mean time procrastinating when I could be studying...but at least I'm home!!)  This is turning into kitchen experimentation time.  Yes.

You have to heat the milk to 180 degrees to denature the proteins
It's science...I'm not quite sure why either.

Homemade yogurt...don't get weirded out.  I've seen a lot of blogs doing this, and I've been dying to try it.  It is super easy (just kind of a lot of steps) and surprisingly really good.  Our little household happens to have a pretty costly yogurt habit, and this appears to be a very economical solution (a half gallon of yogurt will make over 48oz of yogurt...try to buy that quantity of Greek yogurt for about $2.50).

After a night in the oven with just the light on (and covered
with a plate, wrapped in towels), this is what you get!!  Yogurt!

From what I've read online, homemade yogurt will keep for at least 7-10 days, and you can use your yogurt to make more yogurt (after a few times, it might get "weak", so just start over with using 2 tsp plain yogurt from the store, which has more bacteria).  

Strain off as much whey as you'd like.  I like mine super thick,
so I strained a bunch :)

Homemade Yogurt

8 cups skim milk
2 tsp plain yogurt (with live, active cultures, read the label)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Sweetener, as desired (or stir in preserves!)
**Cooking thermometer

In a large pot, heat milk over medium high heat until temperature reaches 180 degrees.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to 115-120 degrees, then pour into a very large mixing bowl.  Stir in 2 tsp store bought yogurt into the milk, cover the mixing bowl with a plate, then wrap the bowl in a few kitchen towels to insulate.

Preheat oven to any temperature for one minute, then shut off oven.  Turn on oven light and place wrapped bowl in oven overnight for about 8-12 hours, or until the milk looks like yogurt! (may look a bit runny).

After incubating, strain yogurt in a colander lined with thick paper towels or cheesecloth set over a large bowl to catch the whey.  Strain in the refrigerator (pouring off the whey as needed) until yogurt reaches your desired consistency (I strained a lot and ended up with Greek yogurt!!)

Transfer to a storage container and whisk in vanilla extract and sweetener if you want (I added 4 splenda packets and a few tsp of sugar, which was perfect for me).  Will keep in the refrigerator for a week or so!