Making Your Own... Yogurt!

I had heard of making your own yogurt, but I figured it was one of those lengthy, time-consuming, arduous tasks that only stay at home moms or Amish people took on. Well, I am neither, although I do respect both titles, very much so. Well, actually I am going to be a part-time stay at home mom now, since I am going to just be working 3 days a week now....
Anyway, back to the yogurt.
Yogurt is expensive. If you get the good kind. No, I am not talking about Yoplait, which is more like Jell-o than yogurt, since it has gelatin in it. It's just not right... I get the organic kind, I prefer Greek, but I like it either way. I get Caylen the organic whole milk yogurt, and boy it is expensive! I mean, it's not through the roof, but especially compared to what I can make it for, it is way too much!
So, I bet you are dying to know how I made it right?  Haha, just kidding, it's no secret!All you need, or what I used, is at least a quart of milk, 1/2 cup dry milk, a quart canning jar, a large saucepan, wooden spoon, yogurt starter, a heating pad and some kitchen towels and stock pot. Here goes:

I got my recipe from my handy dandy Tightwad Gazette. It recommends buying a container of store bought, active culture yogurt from the store. I used Dannon. This will be your starter yogurt, or starter culture. You will need the bacteria from this yogurt to get yours going. The tightwad gazette is always finding the most cost effective way of doing things, so it recommended taking the yogurt by 2 tablespoons each and freezing them in ice cube trays. So, you end up with about 16 2 tablespoon starters (?) I can't remember how many compartments there are in those ice cube trays. Anyway, in order to start the yogurt, you need to take one ice cube worth of starter, 2 tablespoons in other words, and let it melt. In the meantime, take your milk, whole milk, 2%, organic, whatever, and measure out a quart. The easiest way to do this is to pour it into a quart canning jar, which is what I used to store my yogurt in. Put the quart of milk in a large saucepan, and mix in the 1/2 cup of dry milk. Heat the quart of milk up to 180, I used my candy thermometer to track it, and then cool it down to 115. At this point, take a 1/2-1 cup of the warm milk, whisk it very vigorously into the starter. Then, take the starter/warm milk mixture and mix it into the large batch of warm milk. Whisk very vigorously. There has been no evidence that vigorous whisking can kill the cultures. However, it is pertinent to make sure the cultures are well distributed so all the milk will turn into yogurt instead of curdled milk. After it is well-whisked, pour it into your quart jar, fasten the lid, put it on a heating pad on low, wrap it in a kitchen towel, and put a stock pot over the jar so it is dark and warm. This is so the cultures will have opportunity to grow. Let it incubate for 8-12 hours. I did mine for 8, then put it in the fridge, but it just depends on how 'tart' you like your yogurt.
I call 'tart' 'sour.'
Anyway, after 8 hours it was firm and delicious! It lasts for about 5 days, give or take, mine lasted at least 6, but I am not sure how much longer after that it would last since we ate it all! I liked to serve it with a little raw honey-- soooo  good! Or, for Caylen, I mash up a little banana in it! Yummy!

My next yogurt venture? How to flavor it?! I'll let you know how it turns out!