Homemade Yogurt

4 cups milk
1/2 cup powdered milk (this is to thicken it, next time I may try a little less)
2 T honey
1/2 cup plain yogurt (live culture), room temperature


Mix milk, powdered milk, and honey in a saucepan and bring slowly to boiling just around the edges. Remove from heat. Place pan in cool water bath and monitor until it cools to 115 degrees. Whisk 1 cup milk mixture with the plain yogurt, then dump all of it into a crockpot insert and wrap it in towels (I use a crockpot for the extra insulation, you could leave it in the saucepan with a lid and just wrap it more). Let sit 3-8 hours.

Notes: I used my my 2-quart crockpot but I wouldn't use my 6 quart--in that case I would put a lid on the saucepan and use that. I like using my crockpot because I can heat it up on low to warm the milk back to 115 in case it cools too much when I add the yogurt. Then I turn off the crockpot and wrap in 2 or 3 thick towels. I wrapped just the crock part and set it in my oven for 4 hours. Basically, you just want it to stay warm (about 115 degrees) so the yogurt bacteria can grown. The longer you leave it, the thicker it gets but also the tangier it gets. I thought 4 hours was perfect.

The last time I made it, I didn't add the honey and I let it sit for 6 or 8 hours--and it was very, very tangy. This time it was not tangy at all--I loved what the honey did for it, and it was thick, creamy, and even silky. Yum!