Making Yogurt in My Crock Pot

I've made my own yogurt before, when I was making my own baby food with the past two babies.  I only made it a few times though, because it took time and I had to babysit it.  I had three cookbooks that I used for making my own baby food.  The method I used was in this cookbook.  I used sterilized tools, jars and such and had to let it sit in a cooler.  I wanted to make yogurt again, but wasn't interested in the process I had used back then.  Recently I saw making yogurt in the crock pot on Pinterest.  Interest piqued!  So I decided to give it a try.  It is sooo much easier!

This was my third time with this method from Stephanie O'Dea at A Year of Slow Cooking.  The first attempt I didn't have a thick enough towel wrapped around my crock pot, so the temperature dropped really quickly and the yogurt didn't thicken up.  The second attempt, I remembered about the thermal carrier that came with my crock pot and wrapped a towel around that.  It worked!  This third time, my timing was just a little off on getting the crock pot wrapped up for the night, but that was because we were eating our dinner at the same time.  It was a little thinner, but still thickened yogurt! 



Wrapped up in the thermal carrier to incubate for the night.

A heavy beach towel wrapped around the thermal carrier for more insulation.

Yogurt in the morning!

My kids don't eat plain yogurt, but like a bit of flavor, so we had tried putting frozen blueberries in it, but that didn't exactly work. So this time I had purchased some fruit preserves. Voila! It's a hit with those of us who decided to try it! Baby couldn't get enough and she couldn't get it fast enough! That means I'll be doing this a lot now, especially since I have a Naan recipe that calls for yogurt.

The process:

Put 1/2 gallon of milk in the crock pot on low for 2 1/2 hours.  Turn the crock pot off and let it set covered for 3 hours.  At that point, put 1/2 cup of yogurt starter in a bowl and add 1 - 2 cups of the yogurt you are making to it and mix well.  This tempers the starter so it doesn't curdle.  Add the starter mixture to the yogurt in the crock pot and gently mix well.  Cover the crock pot with a heavy towel or two or an insulated carrier with an extra towel.  Let it set for 8 hours or for the night!  Don't bake bread the day you make the yogurt or the day before.  Don't want the yogurt to taste like bread!

I'm going to try using a gallon of milk next time.