This recipe has five short steps:
1. Stir ¾ cup non-fat dry milk into 2 quarts 1 percent milk.
2. Heat it to 180°F.
3. Let it cool to 120°F.
4. Stir ¼ cup plain low-fat yogurt into the milk as a starter.
5. Keep the milk warm for at least 3 hours.
It’s probably easiest to heat the milk in a double boiler or in a glass bowl in a microwave. If you prefer, you can heat the milk in a heavy pan over medium heat, but you will need to stir it to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Any brand of plain yogurt should work for the starter as long as it has “live, active cultures” in the list of ingredients. Use a container of yogurt that hasn’t been previously opened, and check its expiration date. Also, make sure that anything that touches the cooled milk or starter is clean so as not to introduce foreign bacteria or enzymes that might interfere with the yogurt-making process. To keep the milk warm (step five), put it in a container with a lid and place it in a picnic cooler. Add hot tap water (110–120°) to the cooler to surround the milk and help keep it warm. To become yogurt, the milk must stay above 100° for about 3 hours. The longer it’s kept warm, the tangier and firmer the yogurt will be.
When the yogurt is done, you may see whey, a yellowish liquid, separating out. Th at’s normal for yogurt that doesn’t have added Save ¼ cup of the newly made yogurt to use as a starter for the next batch. For best results, use the starter within a couple of weeks. If you don’t like the texture of your fi rst batch of yogurt, try it again using a different brand of yogurt as a starter.
Makes about 12 servings.