Home Made Yogurt / Ev Yapimi Yogurt

Making your yogurt at home is easier than it sounds! I remember my mom making yogurt when I was a kid but I never thought I could do it here in the states. Thanks to Ozgun for her encouraging directions and efforts :).
I was lucky and my first attempt was a great success! But it might take a few tries before you know how many hours you need, how hot your milk should feel, etc. I say be patient and don't discourage yourselves! Here's how I did it by using my mom's directions as a template:

Ingredients 
1/2 gallon milk (~2lt.s) (I have used fat-free organic Trader Joe's milk
 for my first attempt, %2 fat Kroger's Milk for my second attempt! Both work just fine!)

10 table spoons of yogurt (~12 OZ = 350 gr.s) ( I've used low-fat organic Trader Joe's yogurt for my first attempt and Dannon nonfat yogurt for the second one. Both work just fine!)

 (I tried fat-free options just to see if they work. And they do :) I think it is good to choose either your milk or your yogurt low-fat, and then use the regular or fat-free options for the other one. Or you can go with regular for both milk and yogurt.. I think having milk fat in at least one item is a good thing when we are talking about yogurt! Personally, I liked it better when everything was organic. Just because it feels more organic :) But, taste wise, it works just the same with Kroger milk..)

Directions
Pour your milk into a pot that is thick at the bottom. (Thanks to Charlie for the advise! I chose the wrong type of pot for my first attempt and ended up burned milk at the bottom of my pot! Even though the yogurt was still delicious, you don't want your milk burn! )

Boil your milk and leave it on the stove to cool down a little. If you have a kitchen thermometer, you can use it to see the right temperature. (The perfect temp. for fermentation is between 45C-25C (113 F - 77F) degrees.)

If you don't have a thermometer, the best way to understand the right temperature is using your pinky! You should be able to stir the milk with your pinky. The milk should be hot enough to make you feel uncomfortable but not too hot that you can't keep your finger in.

While you are waiting for your milk to get to the right temperature, take your yogurt out of the fridge so that it won't be too cold. After you see that your milk is at the right temperature, take about 1 cup out of it to mix with your yogurt that has been sitting aside. The reason we are doing this is because we don't want our yogurt and milk have a huge difference in temperature! ..which is an important detail!. 

At this step you mix your 10 table spoons of yogurt with your cup of milk  with the rest of your milk that is in the right temperature. You can either
a).. mix them all in your pot and put the mixture into another pot for fermentation.  
or (for your storage purposes )
b) .. pour your milk into container(s) of your choice and if you are using more than one container share out your yogurt-milk mixture accordingly. (I used my old yogurt containers for this trial. Each container takes around 800ml.s of milk and I mixed it with 5 table spoons of yogurt. But first I used 1/2 cup of milk to make sure my yogurt's temperature is not too low.)


As soon as you mix your yogurt with your milk, you put the containers somewhere warm and wrap them with blankets to keep it warm for the next 4-5 hours. I put them right next to my central heating unit and use 2 blankets to keep them warm! Then put a pillow on top to seal the deal and keep the sides of my blanket together. :) Here's how I did it:

After you wrap your containers tightly, leave them in that warm place of yours for 4 to 5 hours. The place I leave them is usually around 80-100F degrees. So I keep them wrapped for 4 hours. ( The yogurt will get tangy if you keep them wrapped for too long!)
In 4-5 hours unwrap your yogurt but don't move it immediately. Let it cool for 20 min.s or so. After that 20 min.s put it on the kitchen counter or somewhere cooler than the place you left them for fermenting. As your yogurt containers feel like they are at the room temperature, put them in the fridge. Keep it in the fridge for at least 3-5 hours before serving.

Afiyet Olsun :)