So, back to the homemade Greek yogurt. It’s really easy. You’ll need a gallon of milk (not ultra pasteurized) – I used whole milk, but I’m going to try the 2% next time. You’ll also need about 2 tablespoons starter yogurt. I used store bought the first time, and now I just save a little from my own yogurt to use in the next batch. You’ll need a crock pot, and a kitchen thermometer.
OK, heat up the milk. If you heat it in the crock pot it takes several hours, so don’t do what I did the first time and check it every 15 minutes. Once the milk reaches 185 or 190 you let it cool to 110 degrees. Apparently, heating to that temperature kills anything you don’t want competing with the good bacteria. Again, don’t check every 15 minutes. It takes several hours to cool back down.
Once the milk reaches 110, whisk in the starter yogurt. Cover the crock with a heavy towel, and let it sit in the oven, or other place where it can stay warm. After 10 or 12 hours you have yogurt. To turn it into Greek yogurt, you strain it for a pretty long time. I strain mine for about 4 hours. Line a couple of large strainers (if you’re using the whole gallon you’ll need 2) with coffee filters or paper towels. I tried cheesecloth, and it was mess. It was probably the wrong kind of cheesecloth, but anyway, the yogurt stuck to it like crazy and it was hard to work with. The coffee filters, and even the paper towels work great!
Place the lined strainers over large bowls if you want to save the whey. After about 4 hours, refrigerate the yogurt and also the whey, if you decided to keep it. So good! You should get about 64 ounces of Greek yogurt, and 64 ounces of whey. You can use the whey for baking, in smoothies, or even as a “good for you” hair rinse. The list goes on!
