How to Make Yogurt

What an anticlimax this is going to be after all this talk — just a lot of shots of white things. But that’s the reality of fermentation: all the really sexy stuff is happening on scale that’s far too small to see. Hmm…maybe I should buy a microscope and become a lactic acid bacteria voyeur. Or are there laws against that? While I ponder, combine your liquid and powdered milks…

…give them a whisk…

…then start heating the mixture. I suggest taking it up to 195 and letting it cool back down to 120, but simply warming the mixture to 120 will also do.

Add your store-bought yogurt or packaged starter (and any flavoring you might want at this point, a little honey or vanilla extract let’s say)…

…whisk again…

…and pour the yogurt mix into a container. I use this very tall one for reasons that should be obvious when you get to the next photo…

…because my yogurt-making rig consists of heating pads. Now, I’ve received quite a lot of feedback on this front. Some people use thermos bottles, some use pots placed on top of heating pads, some use pots wrapped in blankets placed under beds. Whatever method you choose, be it one of those or something else (like an empty oven with a pilot light), do your best to keep the mixture around 110 degrees, but not more that 125.

Between two and eight hours later, you should have something that looks like this:

Pretty darn easy, yes? Yes.