Home-Made Yogurt in the Slow Cooker

Many people (Hi Rachel!) have been asking me how I make yogurt at home. Here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

I can you hear you ask: why on Earth would I make my own yogurt? Well, let me tell you that not only does homemade yogurt tastes better than the shop-bought counterpart, it is also cheaper and extremely easy to make. It is actually so easy that it almost feels like cheating!

I've been making my own yogurt for over a year now. Making yogurt requires two ingredients: milk and natural yogurt. One utensil: a slow cooker. And time!

One can either use a small pot of shop-bought natural bio-live yogurt as a starter, or some of a previously-made yogurt. It is a good idea to use shop-bought yogurt every 5 or 6 times, so as to ensure the culture remains strong.

For added unctuosity, you can mix a bit of cream with the milk.

Finally, it is absolutely essential that the milk be at the right temperature: too cold and bacteria would not multiply; too hot and the bacteria would die.

Ingredients

4 pints (2.272 L) of full-fat or semi-skimmed milk

2 1/2 tbs of natural bio-live yogurt

Method

1. Pour the milk in the slow cooker, and cook at low temperature for 2 and a half hours.
2. Turn the slow cooker off. Let the milk cool for 3 hours, until the temperature is between 35 and 45 degrees Celsius. You should be able to dip your finger in the milk for 5 seconds without scalding it.
3. Dilute the yogurt in a bit of warm milk in a bowl, then pour back into the slow cooker.
4. Put the lid back on, and wrap the slow cooker snugly inside a blanket or a thick beach towel.
5. Leave the culture to ferment for 8 hours or overnight. Store the yogurt in the fridge ready to use, or go to the next step for a creamy Greek yogurt.
6. Put  clean tea towel or an old tshirt in a colander, pour the yogurt and let whey seep out until you get the desired consistency. Refrigerate.