Have you ever had anything that was just …good. Not GREAT! But good. It’s like meh? Nothing to write home about but I’ll eat it. Well, that was homemade yogurt for along time, the flavour profiles just weren’t there. I did not feel the motivation to make it because it was only meh…

UNTIL….now. So what changed…the recipe, of course, and my method. There are a million ways to make homemade yogurt. But this to me, makes the thickest most luxurious tasting yogurt ever! I now eat some every morning.

In Katie Caldesi’s book The Gentle art of Preserving, (an amazing cook book for all things preserved) She had a “thick & creamy yogurt” that differed from the simple natural yogurt – with skim milk and live starter I was used to. Mine was much like a stirred yogurt but defiantly not thick or creamy.

She states “staining yogurt is traditionally done afterwards to thicken Greek style yogurt but we added a bit of cream here to thicken it before hand to skip that step.” I followed her recipe opting for incubation in a dehydrator to maintain consistent heat. Trust me – this recipe is worth it… I have one who hates yogurt normally, that trying to get probiotics in him is like pulling teeth. He eats it every day! The cream makes a huge difference in texture & taste.

• 2 quarts milk
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 skim milk powder
• 3 tbs live yogurt.

Sterilize all equipment.

Warm milk and cream to 86 F. In saucepan stir in powder milk u til fully dissolved

Heat until 195 F. And maintain this temp for 5 min.

remove milk from heat and cool to 110 F – best way is to place pot in ice bath in sink. (Careful not to get any ice in milk)

Once cooled add live yogurt

Place in clean sterilized jars (I use 4 oz masons) and incubate at 100 F for up to 8 hours. I use my dehydrator, but a heat pad with temp control, or insulated cooler with warm water works as well.