I used this tutorial, which I thought was great with photos and very clear instructions.
It turns out that I wasn't able to use my dehydrator to make the yogurt in because of the type and shape of dehydrator that I have. So my next option was to use a heating pad...the point is to keep the yogurt at 110 degrees for about 8 hours. So the day I was going to make it I went and bought a heating pad (the cheapest one they had) I thought ok perfect, I will make the yogurt before I go to bed and then eight hours later, the time I wake up anyway, I can just take it off the heat...not exactly. For some reason (more then likely a case of mommy brain) I wasn't thinking clearly and started making the yogurt about 7:30 pm...my hubby helped because it is quite a process and I didn't want to mess anything up. So about 8:30 we opened up the box for the heating pad only to realize I had bought one that has an automatic shut off after 1 hour! not good. Therefore we had to activate plan C; to leave our toaster oven on the "warm" setting for eight hours and leave the yogurt sitting on top of the toaster oven. It was a long shot, but worth a try. When that was all done, it suddenly dawned on me that 7 hours later would be around 4 a.m.! not nice!
So I set my timer for 4 a.m., got up turned the toaster oven off, stirred the yogurt, (which didn't seem very thick) put it in the fridge, and crawled back in bed. Later that day I went to check it out and it had not gotten any thicker:( It was pretty runny, but they say that is normal for homemade yogurt....so I gave some to my nutbar and he ate it, but it was like soup! It was so hard for him to eat it without spilling it everywhere, even more so then when he eats store bought yogurt:) I finally decided that it was pretty much only good for smoothies and went to the store to buy some real yogurt.
I am glad I tried it, but probably wont be trying it again anytime soon.
Don't give up! You can make it in a crockpot! Or a cooler! I've done both!
ReplyDeletehttp://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html or http://www.ehow.com/how_2044963_make-homemade-yogurt.html - And I understand about the dehydrator. I'm holding out for an Excalibur dehydrator that I can make yogurt in! :)
I never even thought about the crockpot...I will have to check that out...thanks! Do you make yogurt regularly?
ReplyDeleteNot any more. I really need to get back into, but for a while we were eating the store-bought stuff because I could get it so cheap (like practically free after coupons!). But it's just so NASTY for you! So now I'm buying bigger tubs of high quality plain yogurt. Once life settles down some, I will start making it again. And then drain off some of the whey to thicken it up and use the whey for lacto-fermentation. What do you put in the kids' yogurt? I need more ideas to get Bug eating the plain!
ReplyDeleteI usually just add applesauce, but sometimes I will through in raisins, granola, berries. I have also made raw brownies a few times and crumbled those on top...yummmy.
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