Yogurt

Today is the day! About 7:30 this morning I got my powdered milk and water blended up in the blender and put into the crock-pot, turned it to low, set the timer for 2 1/2 hours, and let it heat up. I noticed that there was a brown ring around the inside of the crockpot, just above the milk line. I don't know if that's normal or not. Maybe my crockpot cooks hot. Or maybe I didn't have it perfectly clean. At any rate, when the timer went off, I unplugged the crock pot, re-set the timer for 3 more hours, and let it sit again. At that point, I measured two cooks of the very-warm milk into a bowl, and used a fork to stir in 1/2 cup of Mountain High brand yogurt. Then I stirred that back into the crockpot, put the lid on, and wrapped it in three towels. The timer is now set for 6 hours. I hope that the next time I open it I am met with a sweet smell and a gelled hunk of yogurt. I'll let you know.

One of the things I learned from the video is what to do with that liquid that sits on top of the yogurt. I've always tried to stir it back into the yogurt, but she explains that the liquid is the whey, and it should be poured off the top, not stirred back in. She says that stirring your yogurt is kind of like stirring a bowl of jello. It just liquifies it and does nothing to help. The whey, she says, is full of proteins, and is good to use as the liquid in your next batch of bread. Or maybe a pot of soup. Or it could just be dumped down the sink. I never knew.