Home Made Yogurt

I found a homemade yogurt recipe here, and made a few changes. In Dana Carpenter's cookbook she says that homemade yogurt is 4 net carbs per 1 cup. (Due to the fact that the bacteria breaks down and uses the lactose and changes it into lactic acid). And to have control over what goes into my yogurt is priceless!

Crock Pot Yogurt.

• Turn your crock pot to low and pour in 1 half gallon of milk. (can use half and half too, it comes out REALLY creamy)
• Heat on low for 2 hours and 45 minutes.
• Once 2 hours and 45 minutes have elapsed turn your crock pot off and unplug it. Let the half and half cool in the crock with the lid on for 3 hours. ( I have found that after 3 hours my milk is too cool, so I have decided to cut back to 2 1/2 or so... I will keep you posted)
• After 3 hours remove 1-2 cups of the warmed milk and place in a bowl. To that add 1/2 cup of yogurt with live active cultures and mix very well. (I used Dannon Greek Yogurt- Plain, and in a pinch I used a carb controlled one from Dannon (Strawberry) and it worked just fine)
• Pour the yogurt-half and half mixture back into the milk and whisk thoroughly.
• Place the cover back on the crock and wrap the entire crock pot in a thick bath towel or two.
• Let it culture overnight, 8-12 hours.
• In the morning stir yogurt (if desired) and store in glass quart jars or a container of your choice.
• For optimum texture, refrigerate for at least 8 hours before using.

Add-ins:

• 2 tablespoons splenda + 1 tsp vanilla extract (or any kind of extract, lemon is yummy)
• 2 tablespoons splenda + fresh berries of choice
• probably you could use stevia too, but I am not a huge fan of the taste
• I tried xylitol, but it did not dissolve well enough

Other ideas:

• If it's too runny, use a coffee filter in a colander and strain it for a bit. Then put it in the blender if it's too thick, and presto-- it's creamy!
• If you strain it, it can be thick enough to use in the place of sour cream
• I really like it with the half and half, it's closer to be the thickness that I am used to eating.... but even if you use milk it too is good, if a bit runny (but the runny-ness can be fixed by straining it).