Easy Yogurt

4 cups milk (any variety -- 1% is about as low on the fat as I go. skim milk makes kinda slimy yogurt)
1/2 cup instant powdered milk

Combine in large saucepan and heat to almost boiling. DO NOT boil the milk. When it starts to get those little bubbles around the edges, it's ready. Remove it from the heat.

Let the mixture cool to around 80 degrees. (This is so you don't scare off your culture.) Then add whatever culture you want to use. For those of you who may be confused at this point, some examples of culture include some pre-made plain yogurt (yes, it must be plain. Yogurt that has already been flavored will not provide an adequate culture due to the sweetener and other stuff in it. Comes out slimy.) powdered yogurt or kefir cultures you can buy at healthfood stores, or actual kefir grains which is what I use. Just tip them in to the top of the plain yogurt mixture before processing.

I have made a lot of yogurt that I flavored before processing and the texture just isn't as good. For that reason, I highly recommend you wait until you eat the yogurt to flavor it. We use vanilla splenda. (Splenda that sits in a jar with a vanilla bean and periodically gets shaken.)

I strongly encourage a yogurt maker, as they keep temperature in the proper range automatically and require zero effort. I bought mine at bedbathandbeyond for around $30 and it's worth it, I promise. If you're pinching pennies or just starting out making your own yogurt and are not sure you can commit, some instructions for making yogurt can be found at http://chetday.com/howtomakeyogurt.htm As always, if you have questions, leave a comment and I can try to help you trouble shoot.