Yogurt and Mozzarella Cheese

Last night I took a community education class on making yogurt and mozzarella cheese.  I've tried making yogurt before and ended up with a quart of smelly milk but no yogurt. Epic yogurt fail.  So I learned a few things at this class and we'll see if it helps me.  She gave me a tablespoon of yogurt starter.  You need a tablespoon of yogurt to make more yogurt. Bacteria begets bacteria.  Once the milk is heated to a certain temp and then cooled to another temp, you mix in the yogurt and let it ferment for 6 or so hours.  Some people buy a yogurt maker to keep the mixture at an even 110 degrees Fahrenheit.  Or you can heat your oven to 110 degrees. Or you can, like she does, fill a good thermos with hot water for 15 minutes and empty it before putting your yogurt in.  The mixture will stay hot for 6 hours.  I bought a thermos today and tomorrow I will try to make yogurt.  I hope it works.  She showed us how to make mozzarella cheese as well.  I need some supplies to do that but now I know how to do it.  In our class our small group made cheese. It was fun to cook with 3 other women for a change.  We got to take some home.  It was really easy to do and the cheese was very tasty plus free of chemicals and preservatives.  One thing she warned us against was buying ultrapasturized milk.  Ultrapasturized milk is not labeled as such but she has found it is more common at discounted prices such as generic brands or at Aldi's.  The teacher was a good speaker and quite enthusiastic.  She also teaches classes on artisan breads and preserves.  Rather than telling us about her classes and how to enroll, she chose to give us samples of her bread and some of her preserves.  I had a taste of foccacia bread with pickled onions, carrot cake jam, and blubarb (blueberry and rhubarb jam).  She also had samples of her yogurt.  One was flavored with cumin, dried tomatoes and cilantro.  The other yogurt was flavored with rosemary and onion.  I much prefer a free sample of food than having to listen to a commercial about her classes!