I’m in love!  I’m in heaven every morning when I eat my homemade yogurt and granola:)  It actually took me an entire mile of running this morning to tell my girls how excited I was with this recipe!  So the granola may not always be homemade by me, but my husband makes a great granola at Great Harvest each week.  I can’t complain.  I’m probably spoiled:)  A favorite friend of mine shared this recipe with me and I’m so glad she did!   I have come to realize that making your own yogurt isn’t something only the die hard domestic goddess does, but anybody can.  If you want a yogurt that you control the ingredients in it, this is the recipe for you!  All it takes is 1 gallon of milk (Any variety, but I did use whole.  It made for a spectacular yogurt!), and 1 c. of a plain yogurt to use as your starter.  I used 1 c. of Fage yogurt.  Only 2 ingredients on it’s label.  Skim milk and active yogurt cultures.  Not a single other thing!  Perfect for making my own yogurt.  A candy thermometer, and a warm cozy spot for your yogurt to “culture”.  Mine was in my oven.  Some cheese cloth comes in handy, but a clean dish towel did the trick for me.  It will take some time, but your patience will be rewarded.  Wonderfully rewarded! I hope you have a lovely yogurt parfait sometime soon:)

Homemade Yogurt (makes 4 quarts, which will keep for at least a month in the fridge)
(here’s a link to a great yogurt tutorial.)

Ingredients

1 gallon of milk (I used whole milk, but 1%, or 2% or even skim will work.)
1 cup yogurt starter (This is just 1 c. of a plain yogurt with live active cultures.  I used Fage and it worked magically.) 
Sugar, honey or sweetener of choice.  1/4-1/2 c. per quart of yogurt made.

1. You will need 4 quart sized Mason jars or other clean jars with a lid.

2. Pour one gallon of milk into a large, heavy bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven. Heat the milk to 185′ F.  (You could actually throw in a vanilla bean if you wanted.  That’s what I’m doing next time.)

3. Place the pot in a sink filled with ice and cold water and let the milk cool to 110′ F.

4. Stir one cup of plain unflavored yogurt into the cooled milk, using a whisk. Stir well to ensure that the starter is thoroughly incorporated into the milk.

5. Pour the milk into the 4 quart sized Mason jars, and 1 pint sized Mason jar. (The pint sized bottle becomes your starter for the next batch of yogurt.) Put the lids and bands on.

6. At this point I preheated my oven for 2 or 3 minutes and then turned it off.  I placed the bottles of yogurt into the oven and shut the door for the night.  My yogurt was in the warm interior of the oven for approx. 12 hours.  I just let it sit over night.

At this point you can use your yogurt as is.  Sweeten it with honey or sugar, or don’t.  This yogurt is the texture of regular Yoplait or other American yogurt.

**To make it into Greek yogurt you’ll need the cheesecloth or dishtowel.  I poured 2 quarts of yogurt into a large dishtowel, tied a knock around a wooden spoon and hung it over a bowl in the fridge for about 6 hours.  At that point I had almost 4 c. of whey, and 4 c. of the most wonderful, thick Greek yogurt.   I stirred about 1/2 c. of honey into each quart of yogurt and it was just right:)  Enjoy with your favorite granola, or however you like it!