Yogurt

Ingredients:
Milk
Container of good quality PLAIN yogurt as a starter.

Heat milk on the stove. Heat to near boiling temperatures for standard yogurt. If you want a thicker yogurt, start a boil. Boiling evaporates some of the water, so it becomes thicker. Boiling probably also starts to caramelize the sugars for a richer taste. My recent batch I boiled and it was yummy.

Allow milk to cool to about 105 degrees. I suggest covering the pot and placing it in front of a fan to speed things up.

Stir in plain yogurt to start the culture. You could also buy starter cultures online, but store yogurt is easy.

Insulate the yogurt so it stays warm and let it sit over night (8-12 hrs). Here are some options:
Oven method A (my method). Turn on the oven for 5 minutes to let it warm up a bit, then turn it off. Most ovens won't hold a temp below 200F, and anything over 110F will kill your culture. You can load up the oven with your stoneware and cast iron to help it hold onto the heat.
Oven method B (my friend Brandon likes this one). Put your heating pad in the oven and turn it on.
Cooler method. Put the yogurt in a cooler and add a hot water bottle as a heat source.
You can wrap your pot in towels with any of these methods to add insulation.
If its summer, leave the yogurt outside (in the shade).

Ta-da. You now have yogurt. Pour it into appropriately sized containers and chill. Feel free to add fruit, honey, or whatever floats your boat.

Or make GREEK YOGURT. Line a colander with cheesecloth. Leave enough excess to fold over the top. Put the colander in a bowl to catch the whey. Leave it in the fridge for 8-24 hours to drain. Once its done, put it into sealed containers. I am on a Greek Yogurt kick. I like to put some granola in a bowl, layer with Greek Yogurt, then top with berries. If you drain for a long time, it will be very firm and some would call it "yogurt cheese". I haven't tried this.

What do you do with the whey? Well, I haven't started the test kitchen on this yet. I searched online and found suggestions to use it to cook grains and pasta, make bread, and mix back into the yogurt for extra protein (What's the point of that!?). I saved the whey, and maybe I'll toss it into the bread machine instead of water. I'm guessing it will make something that resembles sourdough.

Some matters of food safety. Use a new unopened container of yogurt as your starter. There is a small risk of contamination with nasties such as listeria if you don't. The experts recommend always starting with a fresh store bought container of yogurt (not from some leftover from your last batch). If you do use your own as a starter, store it in a separate container that remains unopened until you're ready to start a new batch and do not do this very long. Start with a fresh batch after a couple of tries. It's not worth the risk.

If you are wondering if its economical to make your own, here's what I noticed on my last batch. Expenses: 1/2 gallon milk. I used the local organic stuff, it was $2.50. 1 carton yogurt. I used high quality greek yogurt at $1.19 a carton. Cheese cloth. I had this sitting in the pantry for 5 years, so I can't quote a cost. This made 1/2 gallon of standard plain yogurt. I strained it for Greek yogurt and ended up with 1 quart of yogurt and 1 quart of whey. Comes out to $3.69 for 32 ounces plus an equal amount of whey. Store yogurt is $4.99 for 16 ounces. So I came out ahead on dollars. Of course there was some effort involved, let's call it 20 minutes working time, but it is tastier than the store bought stuff and its real food, no preservatives, stabilizers, or fillers.