Homemade Yogurt

My roommate happens to have some (more like A Lot...) of milk that she can't finish. So we decided to make some yogurt from it, before the whole thing goes sour.

The recipe is really simple, adopted from BlueJan's blog. Since the milk we used is lactose-free and not-fat; the yogurt turns out to be extremely light and delicious.

I used Greek Yogurt because it is more concentrated than regular yogurt. Thus, it ensures that the yogurt thickens since I did use quite a bit of liquid for this recipe. Plus, Greek Yogurt makes the yogurt a little more sour (which I love) when done. This recipe will give you the best texture of homemade yogurt: thicken but soft and velvety, almost like egg tofu, and absolutely not super creamy and thick like the store-bought yogurt. 

So long story short, here comes the recipe:

Homemade Yogurt

Servings: 12-13 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 can of condensed milk (roughly 300 ml)
• 1 L of milk (or measure out 3-4 of the same condensed milk can of milk)
• 150 ml of half-and half (1/2 can)
• 150 ml of boiling water (1/2 can)
• 2 Tbs of sugar (or to taste)
• 1 small cup of plain or honey Greek Yogurt or any Greek yogurt with Active and Live Cultures

• Clear plastic cups. I used Chinet Cut Crystal plastic cups

Directions:

1. Place in a large bowl condensed milk and yogurt. Stir well until there is no chunk of yogurt left. Add milk, half-and-half and hot water. Stir well until combined but avoid using the whisk to prevent bubbles. 
2. Using a ladle, pour about the same amount of mixture into the cups. Plastic wrap each cup.
3. Turn the oven to WM or warm settings and leave it on for about 2 min
4. Pour some hot water (lightly boiled or until bubbly on the bottom of pot) into a baking sheet to about half way and place the cups in the tray
5. Put the whole tray in the oven. Let the yogurt sit for 30 min and turn the oven to WM settings again for 1 min. This will not melt the cups or plastic wrap.
6. Let the yogurt sit for at least 16 hours if not full day. Occasionally turn the oven to WM settings for 1 min every 2-3 hours if possible; otherwise, just turn it on whenever you remember. Keep the temperature of the oven warm will enhance the growth of your yogurt culture, making the consistency thicker and better :)

That's it. Homemade yogurt is easy to make and you can keep track of what you put in the pot. I hope you will try it out. This can be used as a substitution for milk and oil (use half yogurt, half oil as called in the recipes) in baking cookies, muffins, etc. If you want it more creamy, add more half-and-half or use whole milk. You can also drain the yogurt after to make Greek yogurt; this will result in a much creamier taste in your baking recipes.

Good luck!