Description
Thick, creamy, and wonderfully smooth, this Greek yogurt is made-from-scratch and costs a fraction of the expensive store bought brands! Add your own jams or fruit or flavorings…yogurt bliss!
Ingredients
- ⅓ cups Greek Yogurt From The Store To Use As Your “starter”(make Sure It Includes ONLY Milk And “live And Active Cultures” On The Ingredients List)
- 1 gallon Milk (any Percentage Of Milkfat Is Fine, I Use Mostly Skim)
Preparation
Other Tools: a large heavy bottomed Dutch oven or stockpot with lid and an instant read thermometer.
To begin, take your 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt (either store bought or from a previous batch) and allow it to set out at room temperature.
Next we’re going to heat the milk to 185 degrees. It MUST reach 185. Use a thermometer to keep it accurate. Do this over medium heat and whisk often, so that it doesn’t scorch.
Remove from the heat and allow the pot of the milk to drop to around 110-120 degrees.
Once you reach this temperature, take your 1/3 cup of yogurt “starter” and whisk it into the warm milk. Whisk away folks! Make sure it’s well combined.
At this point, you’re going to cover the pot of milk with a lid. You now want to allow the yogurt starter to “work”…so you want a warm (not hot) draft free place to set the mixture. I have found that placing the covered pot in the oven, with the oven light on, provides an ideal environment. Another option that I have used successfully is to put the pot on an insulated casserole carrier, place warming pads around it, and then cover it with a blanket. However, the oven light wins for me as far as convenience.
Now all we have to do is….wait.
Yup, stick that baby in the oven or under the blanket and let the yogurt bacteria do their thing. I usually let my milk sit, undisturbed for about 10-12 hours.
I have found it works well to heat your milk in the evening, “put it to bed” in the oven, and by the next morning….your yogurt is nearly ready to go.
As soon as you uncover the yogurt, you’ll notice a light watery substance on the top of it.
This is the whey. I usually pour off the whey that is on the top. After that I take a large strainer and place it atop a large bowl.
Then line the strainer with a muslin towel or several layers of cheesecloth. Pour the yogurt into the cloth, then twist the ends up around it so that the cloth is tight around the blog of sloppy yogurt.
Stick the whole mess in the refrigerator, so it can cool as it strains. I usually let it drain 1-2 hours, depending how thick you like your finished yogurt to be (and once or twice I’ll take it from the fridge and dump out the whey collected in the bottom). And then…all that’s left is scraping it into clean jars and refrigerating it. A gallon of milk should net you close to 4 pint jars of yogurt.
Layer with jam and granola and fruit for a parfait…Top your morning waffles with this yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup…or even use in place of sour cream in savory dishes!
