Making Yogurt - Part 1

Yogurt isn't terribly expensive, but I like the organic kind with no added preservatives, flavorings  sweeteners, thickeners, etc. Not only does this mean that the yogurt I like is more expensive than regular yogurt, it also requires a special trip to a grocery store halfway across the city because none of the stores near me carry it.  So when I read that you can make your own using just milk and a little yogurt as a starter, I got really excited.  Especially when I found  this  article explaining how to do it with a heating pad.  It's a little time consuming, but not at all difficult.  It is a bit of an involved process, so for this post I'll let you just read through the instructions in the link, and then come check out my findings/results.

First Attempt Results:
So the first time around, I followed the instructions (almost) to a T. The result was a soupy, almost completely liquid "yogurt" even after chilling it for 12 hours.  It tasted very mild and smelled like yogurt, but it was the consistency of heavy cream.  Thankfully, I read somewhere else that you can carefully re-heat your yogurt to 110 degrees and let it hang out at that temp for a few more hours to thicken it more, which can also make your yogurt more tangy, which I don't mind a bit.  I decided to give this a try.


Salvage Attempt Results:
So, I poured my yogurt back into the container I used for incubation, and swaddled it back up in the heating pad and covered it with a heavy towel, checking the thermometer every 30-45 minutes to see when it reached 110 degrees and adjusting the heat setting as needed to keep it there.

I started reheating the yogurt at about noon, and it was 3:30 pm before the temp in the center of the yogurt reached 110 degrees.  I let it sit swaddled in the heating pad and a towel at 110 degrees until around 9 pm.  Then, as advised by another website, I moved the yogurt straight to the fridge and let it set overnight before stirring.  The results were pretty disappointing; the yogurt may have thickened ever so slightly, but it's hard to tell.  So, this failed experiment learning experience will be salvaged by using the liquid "yogurt" as a milk substitute for my next couple of batches of biscuits.  I'll try again once I've used up what I've made so far.