Making Yogurt in a Slow Cooker

Ingredients:
1/2 gal of milk (8 cups)
1/2 c instant non-fat dry milk
1/2 c plain yogurt (whole, low fat, or non--fat)

Put milk and dry milk into slow cooker. Heat on low for 2-1/2 hrs (until temp 180F). Turn off slow cooker and let cool for 3 hrs. Should be at temp of 100-110F. Add culture (i.e. yogurt) and stir. Close slow cooker and cover with towels for 8 hours. Try to maintain temp of 100F. Check periodically and raise temp by turning onto warm or low setting for 10 min. After 8 hours, put in closed containers in fridge until cooled.

If sweetened yogurt is desired, add additional sweeteners, flavorings, or spices.

If desired, add one or several of the following to the entire batch:
1/2 c sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, or artificial sweetener
2 T flavorings (vanilla, almond, lemon, peppermint, etc.)
2 tsp spices

Whenever you are flavoring yogurt, always remember to leave 1 cup plain, so that you will have fresh starter for the next batch.

For jam, preserve, and peanut butter flavors, put 1/2 c flavoring into the warm milk-yogurt mixture before incubating for 8 hours. If fresh, canned, or dried fruit is desired, additions should be made after the 8 hours of incubation because the acid content of some fruits can curdle the milk-yogurt mixture and prevent proper fermentation.

For thicker yogurt, don't add any extra flavorings or sugar and let strain through a coffee filter or cheesecloth. I would recommend doing this after cooling in the fridge to make sure the chemistry of the mixture remains the same through the cooling process.Without straining, yogurt will be a thin fat free yogurt consistency.

MAKES 2 QUART JARS FULL
Expires after approx. 10 days in fridge

SAVINGS???

Yoplait "Sale" Price .50/6 oz container
10 containers (just under 8 cups) $5.00

1/2 gal (64 oz) milk= about $1.10
.10 per 6 oz

1/5 of the price and it's COMPLETELY NATURAL!! NO ADDED PRESERVATIVES OR ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS NECESSARY!! It's a long process but requires very little effort. Can incubate overnight to save even more time! Try it!!!