Yogurt:
Makes about 8 cups
Heat in a large saucepan: 2 quartsmilk
Use an instant thermometer. Bring milk slowly (med heat) to 180 degrees. You can heat it faster, but if you burn the fat, it will taste awful.
Remove from heat and cool to 112 degrees (takes a while for a gallon to cool, but a quart might cool in an hour or less. If it cools too long, I heat is up to 112 again. Stir in 4 to 6 tablespoons plain yogurt. Pour into hot, sterilized jars. Turn on oven light at this point. You can heat oven up to 200,then turn oven off. Place jars containing yogurt in warm oven. Leave oven light on and leave overnight. Yogurt will be ready in the morning.
Extra tidbits. A yellow liquid separates from yogurt. It is called whey. If you mix it in, it will make your yogurt creamy. I sometimes drain it all out by putting it in a towel and let it drip 24 hours, no refrigeration. Then you have cream cheese and whey. I use the whey in lots of recopies--for preserving. The cream cheese has a different taste than the stores. A sharper taste.
More: You can add sugar to the yogurt when you heat up the milk. I don't know how much. We usually cook fruit on the stove in a little water and add sugar to the cooking water. Then we pour it over the yogurt to sweeten.
