Yogurt

About a month ago I had signed up for a fermentation potluck. Unfortunately for me the only thing I've ever fermented is sauerkraut and beer. I didn't have any homemade beer on hand, and didn't feel like sauerkraut on it's own would be a very good showing. So I thought about something I could do quickly and easily. Yogurt fit the bill perfectly. Best part was I could use my crockpot and not having to monitor anything.

Milk heating up 

Luckily for me my crockpot will cook to a certain temp so I was able to pour the milk in, set the crockpot to 180deg and walk away. When it was done I turned off the crockpot and let it sit, coming back every once in awhile to check the temp. When it got to 110deg I took some milk out and mixed in my tablespoon of yogurt, then returned that mix to the milk. I gently stirred it (in an up and down motion) then wrapped the crockpot in a towel and stuck it in my oven.

Ready to rest in the oven

Since I had an electric oven I turned on the oven light and let it sit overnight. The next morning I poured it into a lined colander over a bowl and let it drain. Unfortunately I didn't have time before my potluck to let it drain as much as I'd like. But that's ok, I don't have to have yogurt as thick as greek yogurt. The problem for me came when the yogurt sat out at the potluck. The longer yogurt sits out, the more tart it gets. I'm not a huge fan of tart yogurt without something sweet in it to balance the flavors.

Overall though it was amazing how easy it was to make. I have subsequently made another batch and it was creamy and  delicious and have another one going right now.

Draining