Who Here Makes Their Own Greek Yogurt?

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strongmindstrongbody
strongmindstrongbody Posts: 315 Member
in Recipes
I've been browsing around for recipes to make greek yogurt from scratch. Looks fairly easy. But I see all these recipes have specific temperatures for boiling and cooling the milk. Is a food thermometer really necessary?

Asking this because I saw in a blog's comment section someone mentioning that a lot of greek yogurt recipes are unnecessarily complicated, that all you need to do is boil milk, let it cool a little, mix in a bit of yogurt as a starter, place the mixture in a sealed container and set aside for a few hours until it's thick.
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  • bodymelt
    bodymelt Posts: 1
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    This isn't exactly from scratch, but if you have plain yogurt and place that in cheese cloth or in paper towels over a fine strainer for an hour (maybe less?), you have a creamy, condensed Greek yogurt result.
  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
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    I make my own greek yogurt in a crockpot, no thermometer needed.

    1. Put 1/2 gallon of milk (I use 1%, don't know if it would work with fat-free) in a crockpot, cover and put on low for 3 hours.
    2. After those 3 hours turn off the crockpot and let the milk cool in there for another 3 hours. Don't do anything else than turning off the crockpot.
    3. After the milk cooled for 3 hours ( it should feel luke warm/warm) mix 1 cup of the warm milk with about 1/2 cup starter yogurt (I use the plain Chobani, used other yogurt before and it did not work so I stick with the chobani).
    4. Mix the yogurt/warm milk mix into the rest of the milk in the crockpot and put the lid back on.
    5. Now the yogurt needs some hours in a warm place. I usually preheat my oven for 1 minute to warm it up and put the crockpot in the warm oven overnight.
    6. The next morning I got yogurt :)
    7. To make greek yogurt it needs to be strained. I put a strainer over a big bowl, put a cheesecloth or dishtowel in the strainer and put the yogurt in. It goes in the fridge for about 3 hours (more or less, depending on how thick you like your yogurt).

    From 1/2 gallon of milk I get about 4 cups of greek yogurt. I reserve about 1/2 cup of my homemade yogurt to use as a starter yogurt for the next batch.
    The whey strained from the yogurt can be used in cooking, baking or smoothies.

    Let me know if you have any more questions :)
  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,344 Member
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    Hmm this I gotta try
  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
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    I make virtually everything myself, and i would not contemplate making my own greek yoghurt.
    There's very little cost saving and what you do save you'll lose in gas/electricity and time (washing up all the dishes etc).

    Supermarket tubbed greek style yoghurt for me. :wink:
  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
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    I make virtually everything myself, and i would not contemplate making my own greek yoghurt.
    There's very little cost saving and what you do save you'll lose in gas/electricity and time (washing up all the dishes etc).

    Supermarket tubbed greek style yoghurt for me. :wink:

    I don't know how the prices are in your grocery store but here I pay at least $5 for a no-name brand tub of greek yogurt.
    They barely go on sale.
    Milk is usually between $2 - $3 per gallon (depending if on sale or not). I only have to buy the starter yogurt once and then I continue to use my own.

    My price comparison: over 5$ store-bought - $1.00-1.50 for homemade.
    That's at least a $3.50 saving per tub and I can easily eat one a week. If I make my own instead of buying at the store I save about $180 over the year if I would buy a tub a week.

    I don't need a lot of electricity: crockpot on low for 3 hours and 1 min preheating my oven... that's minimal.
    And I have to wash some dishes anyway so I don't necessarily need more water to wash the crockpot and strainer.
  • jaavalina
    jaavalina Posts: 1 Member
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    Dee_84 This sounds like a great way to make Greek Yogurt. Questions:

    "5. Now the yogurt needs some hours in a warm place. I usually preheat my oven for 1 minute to warm it up and put the crockpot in the warm oven overnight. "


    What temperature do you preheat the oven? Do you leave the oven on overnight?
  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
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    Dee_84 This sounds like a great way to make Greek Yogurt. Questions:

    "5. Now the yogurt needs some hours in a warm place. I usually preheat my oven for 1 minute to warm it up and put the crockpot in the warm oven overnight. "


    What temperature do you preheat the oven? Do you leave the oven on overnight?

    I put in 350°F and preheat for a minute and shut it off again.
    The oven should only feel warm, not hot. My crockpot and oven hold the temperature well and I don't need to keep it on overnight.
    I know some people keep the lights on in their ovens to keep it warm, but I don't have to do that.
  • BaileyP3
    BaileyP3 Posts: 151 Member
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    I've been experimenting with greek yogurt too using the same process as Dee_84 but instead of 1% milk I use Silk organic soy milk. The first time I made it I used Chobani plain greek yogurt for the starter but after the first batch all I do is set aside a cup of the new yogurt once it has been strained and now I add that as a starter. Also once I've strained the whole batch and set the starter aside, I add stevia powder to sweeten (I played around with amounts...it's all about personal taste) and I also add extract. Lately we've been enjoying maple extract (and at serving time topping the yogurt with walnuts) and I've also tried almond and banana extracts. All of them are quite nice.

    So easy to do and for $3.00 worth of soy milk I get 6 servings AND leftover whey (the strained liquid) that I use when baking.
  • strongmindstrongbody
    strongmindstrongbody Posts: 315 Member
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    Dee_84, thanks so much for the recipe! I've got a crockpot somewhere around here (hope I didn't sell it years ago, lol).
  • strongmindstrongbody
    strongmindstrongbody Posts: 315 Member
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    I make virtually everything myself, and i would not contemplate making my own greek yoghurt.
    There's very little cost saving and what you do save you'll lose in gas/electricity and time (washing up all the dishes etc).

    Supermarket tubbed greek style yoghurt for me. :wink:

    That's a good point. I still think it'd be worthwhile. If 4 cups homemade is $3 for the milk and the same amount pre-made costs $5 at the store, that $2 in savings looks good to me. Even if a little of it has to go toward electricity and water. I eat an insane amount of greek yogurt. :tongue:
  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
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    I make virtually everything myself, and i would not contemplate making my own greek yoghurt.
    There's very little cost saving and what you do save you'll lose in gas/electricity and time (washing up all the dishes etc).

    Supermarket tubbed greek style yoghurt for me. :wink:

    That's a good point. I still think it'd be worthwhile. If 4 cups homemade is $3 for the milk and the same amount pre-made costs $5 at the store, that $2 in savings looks good to me. Even if a little of it has to go toward electricity and water. I eat an insane amount of greek yogurt. :tongue:

    It's actually $3 for a gallon of milk and I get 2 batches out of that, so one tub of homemade yogurt is only around $1.50 :)
  • marnidillon
    marnidillon Posts: 5 Member
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    This is a great thread and i have to try this this weekend. a question for those of you who say you can use the whey....how? what do i do with it?
  • BaileyP3
    BaileyP3 Posts: 151 Member
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    I save it for days that I'm having a protein shake and substitute the whey for water. Also whenever I need milk in a baking recipe I substitute as well.
  • SweetLilyR
    SweetLilyR Posts: 283 Member
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    I have my first batch sitting in my crockpot in my fridge - made it yesterday!!

    Now I'm really nervous to try it. I don't know why. I'm nervous that I did something wrong and I'll die a violent dairy death or something because I let milk get warm on purpose...

    all of that is rather ironic because I can and dehydrate EVERYTHING else!

    I'm really looking forward to a bowl of it tonight mixed with some homemade strawberry jam made with strawberries right from my garden...but if I don't show up on MFP after that, weep for my tragic lactose-induced death, okay? :flowerforyou:
  • Viva_Karina
    Viva_Karina Posts: 398 Member
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    http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/making-homemade-yogurt


    This is how I make mine.
  • jen_zz
    jen_zz Posts: 1,011 Member
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    http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/making-homemade-yogurt


    This is how I make mine.

    Nice one!
  • Alliwan
    Alliwan Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I make my own greek yogurt in a crockpot, no thermometer needed.

    1. Put 1/2 gallon of milk (I use 1%, don't know if it would work with fat-free) in a crockpot, cover and put on low for 3 hours.
    2. After those 3 hours turn off the crockpot and let the milk cool in there for another 3 hours. Don't do anything else than turning off the crockpot.
    3. After the milk cooled for 3 hours ( it should feel luke warm/warm) mix 1 cup of the warm milk with about 1/2 cup starter yogurt (I use the plain Chobani, used other yogurt before and it did not work so I stick with the chobani).
    4. Mix the yogurt/warm milk mix into the rest of the milk in the crockpot and put the lid back on.
    5. Now the yogurt needs some hours in a warm place. I usually preheat my oven for 1 minute to warm it up and put the crockpot in the warm oven overnight.
    6. The next morning I got yogurt :)
    7. To make greek yogurt it needs to be strained. I put a strainer over a big bowl, put a cheesecloth or dishtowel in the strainer and put the yogurt in. It goes in the fridge for about 3 hours (more or less, depending on how thick you like your yogurt).

    From 1/2 gallon of milk I get about 4 cups of greek yogurt. I reserve about 1/2 cup of my homemade yogurt to use as a starter yogurt for the next batch.
    The whey strained from the yogurt can be used in cooking, baking or smoothies.

    Let me know if you have any more questions :)

    ^this!

    except i dont bake mine in the oven, i wrap mine in 3 or 4 big fluffy bath towels and let it sit till morning, then i skim off the whey that's left and voila! yogurt. its very yummy and i use it as yogurt and sour cream all the time. I also use a new starter every time because it tastes better, but you can get 3 or 4 times out of a batch before you need a new starter.
  • Corjogo
    Corjogo Posts: 201 Member
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    I have been making yogurt for many years usually making a gallon of milk or more every week and find it very easy. I do use a thermometer (have a digital one that works great). heat milk (I use 2 %) to 183 degrees (does not have to boil and shouldn't to make good yogurt). turn off stove and add 1 cup dry non-fat milk. Cool to 111-113 degrees add a yogurt starter (either purchased dry or yogurt from a previous batch), put it all in a plastic container then into a Styrofoam container, wrap it in a couple of towels and let it "cure" over night. place in refrigerator to end curing process. Then I strain the yogurt to "Greek" it. Once strained I use fruit puree, unsweetened jelly, a bit of honey to sweeten and divide it into single-serving size (about 9). Sometimes I freeze in pop-cycle container for a frozen treat (using the measured portion). It's easy to compute the calories - one time and done. If you reuse the yogurt as a starter, you should "re-fresh" every third time. Maybe this all seems complicated, but once you try it you will see it really is easy. Incidentally I have never had a batch fail, so there is absolutely no waste. My whole family is addicted. I use plain Greek yogurt in all kinds of savory dishes and the dessert form is the best bedtime snack. The only kind of yogurt I by is Golden Spoon frozen yogurt, as a special treat. http://www.culturesforhealth.com/starter-cultures.html is a good source of dry cultures.
  • Corjogo
    Corjogo Posts: 201 Member
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    This is a great thread and i have to try this this weekend. a question for those of you who say you can use the whey....how? what do i do with it?

    Baking bread, smoothies, water plants, soups, cooking liquids (items requesting buttermilk) - freezes easily for future ???
  • KayteeBear
    KayteeBear Posts: 1,040 Member
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    I make virtually everything myself, and i would not contemplate making my own greek yoghurt.
    There's very little cost saving and what you do save you'll lose in gas/electricity and time (washing up all the dishes etc).

    Supermarket tubbed greek style yoghurt for me. :wink:

    I save a ton of money! I buy Balkan Style yogurt which is about $4, 4L of 3.25% is $6 so $10 for the supplies. Making yogurt is super, duper easy and makes barely any mess so I don't worry about any of that at all. For $10 I get about 7 jars of yogurt. I eat yogurt every single day for my snack at work. I'd be spending a minimum of $50 for yogurt for ONE month. When I make yogurt it lasts me longer than a month. :D Yup, like those savings. :D Oh, and I can reuse my homemade yogurt to make yogurt so my price can be $6 a month vs $50 a month for yogurt.

    Anyway, I've been making yogurt for about 5 years. I've NEVER used a themometer. I heat milk on the stove until it's got a skin on top, I've heard that if you hold it at that temperature for a bit it'll make for thicker yogurt but not sure how true that is but I've always had thick yogurt....., then cool it until I can hold my finger in the milk for about 7 seconds without it burning me (I read somewhere that doing that is pretty close to the temperature you need it to be before adding yogurt). Then fill my jars and put in my oven which was preheated. I just quickly heat it on whatever temperature I last used it on. Or if my oven is being used and the house is warm, I use my giant canning pot, line it with a towel and put jars inside and let it sit like that in a corner somewhere out of the way. Or I've heard of people putting the jars in a cooler with a heating pad. There's many ways to incubate yogurt without using the oven.

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