Homemade Yogurt

I have wondered how to make yogurt for months now, and I guess I have been too lazy to research how to do it until recently!  I just youtubed a few tutorial videos and mixed up a few methods.  There a some that use the stove/oven and some that use solely the crockpot.  I chose to mix in order to achieve the fastest method, because my attention span in the kitchen is limited!  Also, the tutorials all seemed to result in a yogurt product that was runny, even almost a liquid.  I don't like the idea of drinking my yogurt all the time, so I kept my ears perked for what is used as a thickener and doubled the amount used.  Also, I doubled the amount of starter yogurt culture and halved the amount of milk.  This resulted in half as much yogurt which was likeably thick enough for me to eat!  Hooray!  I was thrilled it worked on my first try, especially considering that I added vanilla extract to enhance the flavor a bit.  It still did not taste like vanilla flavor, but it wasn't as noticeably tart as I think it could have been because of this.  I will list the recipe ingredient amounts in the amounts I used to get a thicker, creamier yogurt. 

4 cups milk (whole, 2%, skim, whatever)
1 tbsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. Plain yogurt w/ live cultures and no sweeteners
6 Tbsp. powdered milk
-combine milk and vanilla and bring to a rolling boil on the stove
-let cool to body temperature (test it on your wrist)
-pour into a crockpot on WARM setting (ideally this should be 110 degrees)
-Add remaining ingredients and whisk well, let it remain covered for 6-9 hours
-scoop into containers and refrigerate

ENJOY!  Flavor may be enhanced with added jams or apple butter, similar to Fruit on the Bottom yogurt at the store. 

Perhaps next time I make it I will post pictures to help you out.