I wanted to try lactose-free yogurt and priced it at Sprout's this week - a whopping $1.35 for a 6 ounce container! Yikes! So instead of buying the yogurt, I bought the book IBS - Free at Last! Second Edition by Patsy Catsos for the Kindle ($9.95) and got a recipe for lactose-free yogurt. I had made yogurt in the past and wasn't sure if there was a trick to making it lactose-free. Ends up you just need to use lactose-free milk! I bought the Lactaid brand 1/2 gallon from Fry's for $4.19 but found out that Target sells their store brand (exact same ingredients) for $3.39. Either way, it will make 64 ounces of lactose-free yogurt which would have cost me $14.83 if I bought the 6 ounce containers from Sprouts. I guess the book has already paid for itself!
1 qt lactose-free milk (the fewer ingredients the better - mine had only milk, vitamin d3, and lactase)
2 T plain yogurt
Heat the milk in the microwave on high for 7 minutes. Do not boil. Let the milk cool to 115 degrees; it will take approximately 1 hour. When it reaches 115 degrees, mix the 2 tablespoons of yogurt with 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl. Pour into large bowl of warm milk. Incubate at 115 degrees for 4 - 8 hours.
I found a great idea online to incubate the yogurt with a heating pad. I placed my covered bowl of milk and yogurt in the bottom of the styrofoam cooler. I put the heating pad over the lid of the container and turned it on low. I replaced the cooler lid and let the mixture incubate for 8 hours. Perfect lactose-free yogurt!
