Homemade Yogurt -- Easy Crock Pot Recipe

I believe that many more people would make their own yogurt if they knew how easy it is to make using a crock pot or slow cooker. The health benefits of yogurt are well known, yet store bought yogurt is often loaded with additives and sugar or, worse, high fructose corn syrup. Fancy organic yogurt is often no better nutritionally as it, too, can be laden with sugar and made with thickeners and stabilizers. All that, and it's expensive, too.

Homemade yogurt, on the other hand, is a nutritional powerhouse because you can control the amount and type of sugar you use. Once you've tasted wholesome, homemade yogurt, you may even discover that it doesn't need any added sugar at all. I like to add fresh fruit, granola or a spoonful of preserves. Plain yogurt is delicious topped with nuts and a drizzle of honey. I also use homemade yogurt in smoothies, dips and salad dressing.

Homemade yogurt is a lot cheaper than store bought. This recipe for slow cooker yogurt doesn't require fancy equipment, either-- not even a thermometer. If you have a baby, it does not take a lot of time or effort to add pureed fruit to plain, homemade yogurt and portion it yourself instead of buying YoBaby. You can even make extra thick Greek yogurt, just like Fage Total. Think of all the money you'll save!

Yogurt made in a slow cooker is the ultimate in one pot dishes, and requires no more than ten minutes of active time.

How to make homemade yogurt in a crock pot.

Combine one quart of milk and one quarter cup non-fat dry milk in the crock of your slow cooker, stirring well. Cover and cook on high for an hour and a half, or low for two and a half hours. If you have a thermometer, you may use it to speed up the process: the milk must reach a temperature of 180F to kill off any non-beneficial bacteria.

I like to use a probe thermometer. Dangle it in the milk, making sure that it does not touch the sides or bottom of your crock pot. If you are like me, you may want to write down how long it takes for the next time.

Adding the starter at too high of a temperature will kill the cultures, so remove the inner crock from your slow cooker and let it sit, undisturbed, for one hour. Alternatively, if you are using an automatic timer or you have better things to do in an hour, you can leave the crock in the slow cooker and wait three hours.

Since dead cultures means your yogurt will not yogue, test the temperature of the milk before proceeding. If you have a thermometer, you want the milk to cool down to 110F. If you do not have a thermometer, test the milk with a clean finger-- it should feel like a nice, warm bath, and just little too hot for a baby. If you have let the milk get too cold, it is not a problem. Just warm it up a little before adding the starter.

If you have an electric oven, turn it on, as low as it will go.

Temper your starter by ladling some of the warm milk into the already made yogurt and mixing until smooth, then pour the starter/milk mixture into the crock with the rest of the milk and combine well. Replace the cover.

Turn off your oven and turn on your oven light, if you have one. If you have a gas oven, make sure the pilot light is lit. Place the crock from your slow cooker in the oven, shut the door and let it sit, undisturbed, for at least five and up to twelve hours. No peeking! The longer the yogurt spends culturing, the tangier it will get.

Refrigerate before transferring to smaller containers. The clear yellow or green liquid that separates out from the yogurt is the whey. Use it to add extra protein to smoothies, or feed it to your dog or cat.

A few words about ingredients and equipment used in this recipe for homemade yogurt.

This recipe calls for three ingredients: one quart of milk, one quarter cup of nonfat dry milk and one quarter cup of prepared yogurt to use as a starter. One quart of milk will yield one quart of homemade yogurt. The recipe is easily doubled, or even quadrupled if you would like to make a full gallon of yogurt and your slow cooker is large enough to handle it.

About yogurt cultures or starter.

You can buy fancy yogurt starters at health food stores or over the internet. I've never bothered to use one and you probably don't need to, either. Instead, use plain, store bought yogurt as a starter. You will only need to buy it once, so use whatever type you like-- organic or non, whole milk or non-fat, or something in between-- as long as it has live active cultures. Check the expiration dates for the freshest yogurt possible; it's likely to have the liveliest cultures.

Every time you make a batch of homemade yogurt in your slow cooker, set some aside to use as a starter for your next batch. For extended storage, you can freeze your starter without killing the live active cultures.

Use non-fat dry milk to thicken homemade yogurt without gelatin, gums or stabilizers.

I've seen recipes for homemade yogurt that call for gelatin and I've tried it myself, but I just didn't care for the texture. Using non-fat dried milk powder makes the yogurt smoother, creamier and richer. It also ups the nutritional value by increasing the protein content without adding unnecessary fat grams.

The quarter cup of non-fat dry milk powder is just a suggested starting point. If you love Greek yogurt --like I do-- you may want to use half a cup or more. If you like it runnier, use less.

Got milk?

Use whatever sort of milk you like as long as it is not ultra pasteurized. Ultra pasteurized milk will not work. Unfortunately, most organic milk sold in grocery stores is ultra pasteurized. It will say whether or not is is right on the label, but if you are in doubt, look at the expiration date; if it's a month and a half away, the milk has been ultra pasteurized and cannot be used to make yogurt.

I have read that yogurt made with whole milk sets easier than non-fat, but I have not found this to be true. In my experience, how firm the finished product will be depends on what brand of yogurt is used as a starter and how much non-fat dry milk is added to the mix. I generally use non-fat or 1% local milk that is free of rBGH.

You don't need to clutter up your kitchen or waste money on special equipment.

You may make yogurt in whatever size slow cooker you happen to have on hand, although if it is a huge crockpot and you are only using a quart of milk, you may want to check it earlier than directed to make sure the milk does not boil. As with any recipe made in a slow cooker, do not fill the crock more than three quarters of the way full.

If you have an instant read or probe thermometer, you may use it to speed up the process. If you don't own one, or you can't be bothered to dig it out from the back of your gadget drawer, don't worry. Your yogurt will turn out fine either way.

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Source: Personal Experience