We haven't, even though Vangelis keeps saying we should (I think his mom or grandma used to make theirs when he was a kid). It's just that good yogurt is so easy to buy here, it hardly seems worth the effort... Anyway, he always says wrap it in a blanket, and put on the radiator (or the warmest spot in your house). I'd try first with whole milk, as I imagine that would be easier until you get your process down.

I wanna do this!

That sounds about right for the amount of time it was left to sit and the method and ingredients. The 2% would give you more firm yogurt than whole milk, so I don't think that was the problem.

It could be the culture. Try different brands. I always had good luck with the Albertson's house brand here, while a friend of mine had better luck with Dannon. Your local health nut store may have some "made for breeding" starter which might give some good results (more specimens per teaspoon, and the second generation won't just die). Something else that occurs to me - use more of the yogurt you already have in the mix.

I used to make it every day, and nothing is better than fresh yogurt after a long hot day at work. I think I used two cups of milk, sterilized (I don't think I bothered sterilizing the plastic bowl) then about a half cup of my starter whipped in.

Then it was sealed and wrapped in a towel and left in the oven (with the pilot light holding steady at 120F. I'd do this before bed, and then harvest after work, so it was setting for about 16 hours.

Something I also used to do was stir in powdered milk to up the protein and calcium content.

Hmmm....now I want to make some! Good luck!

I actually forget milk in the fridge past its expiration date quite often. So I can say I almost make youghurt, I suppose. It does look suspiciously yoghurty once I get rid of it.

Is it supposed to taste better or something? I don't really see the wisdom of a recipe that requires the final product as an ingredient otherwise. Just buy the final product.

I don't think room temperature is warm enough to set up yogurt. I found mine had to cook for 12 hours in my yogurt maker to get to the very firm consistency I liked it to be. Alas for my yogurt maker... I bought it for $6 at Value Village and I used it for about a year and a half before it died. Now I miss it.

It's cheaper, middleclasstool. I worked it out, and I found I saved a hundred dollars a year by making yogurt instead of buying five little single serving containers a week.

yea what OS said, plus almost every yoghurt you buy in the grocery store is loaded with HFCS abd crap. Making it yourself greatly cuts down on the sugar and bullshit quotient.

middleclasstool: yep, costs a lot less, less crap in there, plus you're cutting down on packaging.

The reason there the final product as an ingredient is because of the bacteria it contains. If you like, you can use your batch of home made yogurt to start your next batch, like sourdough. Or, use yogurt starter. Or freeze yogurt in an ice cube tray and use a cube as you need it.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys, we're excited to try again.

My mom won't let me leave the country without something called a "täta".

To make a täta, you pour yogurt through a plain linen cloth (clean, obviously), dry it and pack that in baking paper inside my suitcase when I'm not looking.

Later in New york, I'll find it, know what it is and go to making traditional northern yoghurt which has a bacteria you can't find in any other kind of yoghurt (it's called långfil - long yoghurt - because as you pour it, it stretches loooooong without breaking).

Step 1: heat 1 liters of milk to right before it gets too hot, something I have no idea what temperature it actually is. I check with my pinkie and if it looks like it's aroun 39 Celcius, I'm happy.

Step 2: Stretch the linen cloth onto a bowl - they can't be steel bowls, this does not work. Tie it with agiant rubber band or something to keep it stretched onto the bowl. Thick orange plastic bowsl from the seventies seem to work best. I have no idea why.

Step 3: Pour the heated milk through the linen cloth/täta - leave for a day in room temp. Cloth can stay on bowl, good place as any to dry - if you remove it cover bowl with another cloth.

Step 4: the next day, pull cloth off, stir your stiff yoghurt, possibly fridge it and enjoy.

Lacking a täta, do the same thing except start with two spoonfuls of a plain yoghurt in the bottom of the bowl, try a plain greek (stiff) yoghurt.

I think your method failed because of not enough kinds of fun bacteria in the starter yoghurt. Whenever I go to a new country, I know to follow the Afghanistani looking dude (traditional garb) around in the supermarket until he picks a yoghurt. That's be the good stuff! Lacking afghani people, look for Russians, they know their yoghurts too. If all else fails try finding a "Plain greek" yoghurt and read all the stuff on the back. You want to find bacteria like Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium lactis and Lactobacillus casei and similar on the label.

Trivia, the expression täta comes from this: Pinguicula vulgaris (which is called "tätört" in swedish butterworth(?) in English) you can rub your bright yellow plastic bowl from the seventies with the leaves of this (around 15 leaves for a liter of milk). Grandma uses a wooden bowl and her långfil is so much better than anyone elses or any that I have ever made (I think there's latent bacteria in that wooden bowl by now) Also, grandma says that there will be no långfil if there's thunder while you're making it, and hey she can make långfil out of leaves and milk so I'm just going to trust her on that.

There's a bacteria called Streptococcus lactis (unappetizing name) in långfil.

Awesome, thank you, dabitch!

We use a yoghurt maker and the method there seems to back up the not hot enough theory - the outer section gets filled with boiling water, the inner with the gunk and the whole lot gets left for at least 12 hours. Comes out nice and firm. Maybe you could improvise a similar thing with a couple of containers, one inside the other?