Crockpot yogurt

Before getting to the recipe, I have to say this: I am excited to report that I placed my first Azure Standard order yesterday. It was super easy and I even had the option to pay C.O.D. instead of using my debit/credit card. I needed to order wheat berries and instead of buying them from the lady I bought my grain mill from (an hour away), I decided to try Azure. The price was good, especially shipping and handling and I was able to get organic. I did order a few other things too. I will do another post when I actually get my order in and let you know how it went.

Okay onto my yogurt making. I have been needing to make yogurt for awhile because I have so much extra raw milk. We have a nearby family that sells us raw milk for $3 a gallon and I am so blessed and thankful for it. My problem is that we sometimes don't use all I buy and while I do use it even when it sours, I really wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting a drop. This crockpot recipe uses 2 qts at a time, which I love and it was super easy to do. My other recipes required a lot of precision and didn't make much at one time. This yogurt didn't turn out as thick as I would like but I can strain it. Next time I might let it stand just a little longer to see if that helps at all, but it is still good and makes wonderful smoothies!

Here is the recipe I used. I tried to find out where it came from and all I figured out is that this recipe is all over the internet, so I don't know who to give credit to.

--8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--pasteurized and homogenized is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized.

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter)

--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

--thick bath towel

The Directions.

This takes a while. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor.

 Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.

Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.


Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.

In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt. You can flavor with fruit as desired. 

Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch.

Blessings,
Rashel