Make Your Own Greek Yogurt

Some of you may hate the idea of making your own yogurt because you think it's going to be runny, slimy stuff. Eww. I wouldn't like that either. BUT, you can make your own delicious and thick Greek yogurt, with very little cost and a good savings over the Greek style yogurt you purchase at the store.

First, I watched a video from YouTube (of course) a couple times and jotted notes on a piece of paper. (Video is embedded below.)

I did not use 'yogurt starter,' but instead used 5 oz. of yogurt with active live (or is it live active?) cultures as my 'starter.'

I will not show you the photo of the milk in the pan because it looks just like the milk in the pan when I made mozzarella or feta cheese. Search your memory.

SO, for any of you who would love to make your own delicious Greek yogurt, (and I mean delicious!) here's the recipe:

Greek Yogurt Recipe:

5 oz. plain yogurt with live active cultures

1 pint Halfnhalf
3 pints whole milk (pasteurized, but NOT ultra pasteurized)


Colander
Digital thermometer
(yogurt starter will die over 120 degrees and not work under 100 degrees)
cheese cloth
stock pot with lid
slotted spoon
oven at 100 degrees (or you can wrap it in a down-filled blanket and keep out of drafts)
(or if it's 100 degrees outdoors)...you get the idea.

Procedure:

Turn burner on med.
Put the pint of Halfnhalf into stock pot
Add 3 pints of whole milk

Check temp. while stirring.
Bring to185 degrees. (milk will be foamy but not boiling) Turn off, remove from heat
Let cool to 110 degrees. (or use the pinky in milk test: able to hold pinky in milk no longer than 10 seconds. That's from a different YouTube video. I'll stick with the first method, but good to have the information in case of a power outage.)
Do NOT add the yogurt starter until the milk has cooled to 110 degrees.The hot milk will kill it.

AFTER the milk has cooled to 110 degrees:
Add 5 oz. plain yogurt with live cultures. Stir in gently and thoroughly.
Cover pan and place in 100 degree oven for 12-14 hours. OR wrap in sweaters or down-filled blanket away from draft. (My oven, although it can be set to 100 degrees, has a safety feature that turns it off after 12 hours. Then I reset it and let the yogurt stay in the oven another one or two hours.)

After 12-14 hours, have cheesecloth-lined colander over a bowl, ready to receive yogurt.

Remove yogurt pan from oven and pour gently into cheesecloth. There should be a couple inches of space between the bottom of the colander and the bottom of the bowl, allowing for good drainage of the whey. DO NOT COVER, and now place this colander and bowl into 100 degree oven for another 2 hours.

Remove from oven, let cool down (2 hours) enough to put in refrigerator box and whisk to make curd kind of smooth. (Save the whey in a glass jar and refrigerate. You can use it in your next batch of bread...recipe coming in a later post.)

 You can see how thick this got!

Scooped into the refrigerator storage container

I had thought that I might have to set it in a strainer in the refrigerator to get rid of more of the whey, but it wasn't necessary. This stuff is so think I can turn my bowl upside down and it won't fall out! (But take my word for it.)

Remember to use the last 5 oz. of your new yogurt as the starter for your next batch!

My daily yogurt-with-berries lunch:

5 oz. Greek yogurt
2 T. ground flaxseed
1 T. raspberry or blueberry jam (or berries)
1 heaping T. chopped almonds or walnuts

How to Make Greek Yogurt' - from YouTube:
The Greek flag is not an essential supply

Author, Second Chance - A Tale of Two Puppies

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