Yesterday’s entry was about making farmer cheese/mozzarella, but what I really started to make was Greek yogurt!
I scanned many a recipe… I wanted one that used raw milk since that’s what I had, but many were made with storebought milk. Then I found this easy recipe!
Again, I cut it in half, just because that’s how much milk I had. After everyone has tasted it today, there’s really not much left! Definitely doubling this recipe is the way to go!
Step #1. I turned my crockpot to low and let it warm up, then added 4 cups of milk. Put the lid on. The original recipe calls for 6 cups of milk and 2 cups of heavy cream. Many of the other recipes I saw added a cup of powdered milk to this. This increases the protein, and makes the yogurt more firm when finished. I may try this next time!
Set your timer for 2.5 hours and go clean your house! Or do something fun!
Step #2. Come back and turn OFF your crockpot. Ladle out a bit of the warm milk and add 1 Tablespoon of yogurt per cup. That meant I was to use 4 Tablespoons for my 4 Cups of warm milk. This yogurt can be storebought, or left from your previous batch. I used some plain Fage Total yogurt. I had let it get to room temperature. Whisk together. This is to get the yogurt start well mixed into your milk. Pour this mixture back into your crockpot and whisk well.
LEAVING YOUR CROCKPOT OFF, replace your lid, and set your timer for 3 hours. I should have started this an hour earlier, because at 11:00 last night, I was tipping over and just couldn’t stay up another hour! I went ahead and did step #3 an hour earlier, and it turned out ok…
When your 3 hours is up, LEAVING YOUR CROCKPOT OFF, wrap it in a heavy towel, and go to bed! Or do something that will take 8 hours! Yes, 8!
When you wake up in the morning, your milk should be thickened into yogurt!
You can eat it right now if you’d like… or if you want Greek yogurt, you need to strain it, getting more of the liquid out of it. The easy way to do that, is to have it drain through a dishtowel and colander. The bowl underneath will catch the whey.
Cover it with plastic wrap held in place with a rubber band, and let it drip on its own for the next six hours in your refrigerator.
You’re done!
What you have left is plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt. I gave my family a few spoonfuls with fresh strawberries, little tea cookies, and a swirl of agave nectar to test drive it.
They all seemed to think it tasted like yogurt, so I guess I did things right! The small amount I was left with, I added some of my strawberry jam I made last year. It gave me the sweetness and pieces of strawberries we expect in yogurt. Feel free to add sweeteners, fruit, nuts, or vanilla and enjoy.
This was SOOOOOO easy! Next time, I’ll add the cup of dried milk because I like thick yogurt… and I’ll start it about 4:30 in the afternoon, and the timing will be right! One of these days, I’ll make tzatziki sauce with it, which is REALLY GOOD…
Enjoy your homemade Greek yogurt!
MIne didn’t work – real watery and curdy 🙁 Mostly watery
What do you do with the whey? I’m thinking of the expression “curds and whey” (which I thought was cottage chees…now I don’t know!)
Carol, you can use recipes that call for pasteurized milk with fresh milk. We do and they all turn out fine. That being said I know for a fact my milk is fresh and clean if in doubt you can pasteurize the milk on the the stove before beginning. I make my yogurt with just whole milk and save the cream for better things but I still like a very thick yogurt. I hang mine in cheese cloth for a few hours and let the whey drip. I usefully end up with yogurt the thickness of a soft cheese. Have fun with your milk!
Thanks for the tips, Allison! I appreciate all of them!
Me, too! I especially will try this method which allows me to do other
things around the house while it cooks in the slow cooker! Thanks for all the info.
I am finding you tutorials so delightful! I want to try both the mozzarella and the yogurt now, too. Thanks for documenting and sharing
Joy