Powdered Milk Yogurt

For some time now I have been making my own yogurt, by using 2% milk, a bit of powdered milk and some Dannon yogurt as my starter. However, I have wanted to try making it from all powdered milk and the starter. Recently made this recipe along side my normal yogurt, and no one could tell the difference. Yeah! There are many uses for yogurt beyond the obvious. Here are some of the ways we use it: mixed with granola, as a sour cream substitute, to make smoothies, to make fruity yogurt popsicles, to make salad dressings, to make yogurt cheese, etc. Times do not reflect the incubation period.

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 1 quart

Ingredients

• 3 3⁄4 cups  warm tap water
• 1  cup powdered milk (non-instant)
• 2 -4  tablespoons  dannon plain yogurt

Directions

1. Combine the warm water with the powdered milk and place in a medium saucepan. (I sometimes blend some of the water with the powdered milk in my electric blender to make it smooth or use an emulsion blender.)
2. (You could add 1/3 C sugar and 1 T vanilla extract at this point for vanilla yogurt. Try other flavorings too.).
3. Heat the milk mixture to 180 degrees or until small bubbles form on the side of the pan and the milk begins to rise up (about 5 minutes.).
4. Pour the scalded milk into a pitcher and allow to cool to 100 degrees (about 50 minutes). About half-way through the cooling time, remove your yogurt from the refrigerator and allow to set out or it will shock the starter. When the milk mixture has cooled to 100 degrees, stir in the yogurt starter (Dannon yogurt).
5. Pour the yogurt into a clean quart canning jar and cover with the lid. Wrap the jar in a towel or blanket and place in a styrofoam cooler or haybox. Be sure it is wrapped tight without any room for air to circulate around the jars. Pack it snug. Let the yogurt incubate in the box for 9 hours.
6. Remove the jars from the hay box and place in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
7. Note: You can add a couple T of your favorite fruit jam in the bottom of the glass jars before pouring the unset yogurt mixture into the jars.
8. Save a bit of the yogurt from this batch to use as the starter for your next batch - so you don’t have to buy the Dannon Yogurt again. Well, at least not for a while. Eventually you might want to start with a fresh starter as the taste will get stronger with each batch (about every third or fourth time).
9. You can buy a large container of Dannon Yogurt and freeze the unused portion in icecube trays to use for later yogurt batches.
10. Chill.