DIY: Homemade Yogurt

in DIY

I have discovered Greek yogurt and I love it. As in big-fat-pink-puffy-sparkly-hearts love it. It’s creamy, tangy, and so much thicker and more flavorful than regular yogurt. I am burning through this stuff at a ridiculous pace. It really doesn’t take long to get to the bottom of a container when you bake muffins, Grapefruit Yogurt Cake, more muffins, and the occasional dipper with a carrot or spoon.

So when I hit bottom last weekend, I scraped the last bit of Greek Yogurt out of the container and I made some more.

First of all: yum. I took half of the finished product and placed it in a mason jar in the fridge.

Second, double yum. The other half went into in cheesecloth and a strainer set over a small bowl and put it in the refrigerator over night. Think softened cream cheese, only better, and cold. I’m not expert but I think technically this is called “yogurt cheese” and maybe it’s no longer even Greek but I’m not getting weighed down in the details 🙂

Homemade Yogurt

Making your own yogurt at home is easy - and less expensive!

Ingredients

  • 2 qt whole milk
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • Special equipment:
  • Thermometer
  • Sieve/Cheesecloth (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat milk in a saucepan to 180 degrees. Remove from heat and cool to just below 120 degrees.
  2. Stir in a few tablespoons of the warmed milk into your yogurt starter to thin it out a bit. Your starter should come from a plain yogurt that has live cultures (it will say so on the container).
  3. Add the thinned starter to the warmed milk and stir. Pour into a glass jar or bowl.
  4. Keep warm, somewhere around 90-115 degrees. This seems to be the trickiest part of the whole process and there are many options from which to choose. My oven has two low-temp settings, one for bread proofing and the other a "warm and hold" setting. I got the oven to 115 and turned it to the proofing setting (approx 100) and let the yogurt sit for about 6 hours.
  5. Once the yogurt has set, refrigerate until cold. I strained the cold yogurt just a bit to remove excess whey. I placed half of the yogurt in a mason jar and the other half in cheesecloth and strainer set over a small bowl and put it in the refrigerator over night.

Notes

Yields: ~4 cups

Estimated time: 7 hours

10 comments… add one
  • I’ve recently become obsessed with Greek yogurt too! It’s so expensive though! I’m giving this a try as soon as I can find my thermometer.

  • Looks wonderful. I have had really good luck making yogurt in my crockpot. The process that I followed can be found at Steph’s great crockpot site http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html

    I used whole milk fage and local, lightly pasturized whole milk and it tasted like a dream come true.

  • Fun recipe!!

  • Looks great! I’ve heard you can also add some seasoning to the super thick strained stuff and eat it like cream cheese (bagels? crackers?) but ours hasn’t ever lasted long enough for me to try it. 😉

  • Great idea and oh, the many things I could make with this yogurt at home!

  • Ooohhh this is the year that I’m going to make cheese AND yogurt!!!

  • This looks really yummy. I wonder if you could make the 2nd part by using store bought yogurt. Do you think it would taste as good? I am only asking because I don’t think I could achieve the right temp right now being winter and all. My oven does not have the feature you listed.

  • Treehouse Chef – do you mean can you strain store-bought yogurt? Absolutely!

  • I love greek yoghurt sooooo much!!!
    thanks for the recipe 🙂

  • jonny6

    I have not tried this tip but a friend who researchs birds on a remote island preheats a thermos and puts the ingredients in it. I guess it holds heat well enough to work as she says that it sets overnight and has never had a problem.

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