Greek Yogurt

[KnottedYet]

I don't use a yogurt maker.

3,000 years ago folks didn't have electric yogurt makers, and they made yogurt just fine....

Heat a pan full of milk to simmer. Turn the heat off. When you can leave a finger in the milk for 10 seconds without pain, add your starter. (about 1/2 cup or so of plain yogurt) Stir it in. Wrap the lidded pan of milk and starter in a big warm towel and leave overnight. (if you have a gas stove with a pilot light, leave it in the oven to be kept warm by the pilot light)

If it's still runny in the morning, either it needs to sit longer or it needs to be kept a bit warmer. Either one will solve the problem. (or you can cheat by adding a lot of starter)

When you are happy with the consistency, put it in the fridge.

To make cheese, dump the yogurt into a "bag" made of cheesecloth, set it on a slanted board, and put a pan of water on top as a weight. Leave it for a day where it can drain without making a mess.

Salt the resulting soft cheese as you like. Add sage, pepper, or other herbs as desired.

[zoom-zoom]

I've made a gallon of yogurt at a time using 4 1qt. containers, a cooler, and a heating pad. Prepare the yogurt as Knotted said (I heat the milk in the microwave, then add starter once it has cooled enough to not kill the cultures), then put the containers in a cooler with a heating pad on top set to low. Works like a charm. I only use about a TB of "starter" in each quart from a previous batch.

We usually drain each finished quart overnight with the paper towel and collander method. Man, I love that stuff!

[Catrin]

I don't use a yogurt maker.

3,000 years ago folks didn't have electric yogurt makers, and they made yogurt just fine....

I really have to try this - does it matter if you use skim milk? I use a LOT of non-fat dairy to get much of my protein and this would be perfect if I can use good organic skim milk...

[Blueberry]

I really have to try this - does it matter if you use skim milk? I use a LOT of non-fat dairy to get much of my protein and this would be perfect if I can use good organic skim milk...

You can use skim milk, but my experience is that it will result in a not very thick yogurt. Lots of recipes have you add extra powdered skim milk to the milk, and that does seem to help.

[Flybye]

I am intrigued and want to try Knots technique.

Anyone tried Greek Gods yogurt? Makes Yoplait taste like, wellll,........

The only thing that I can see unique about their yogurt is that they use powdered honey - didn't even know powdered honey existed Wonder if I could make that in my new food dehydrator that I got for $1.00 at a yard sale

[Catrin]

I am intrigued and want to try Knots technique.

Anyone tried Greek Gods yogurt? Makes Yoplait taste like, wellll,........

The only thing that I can see unique about their yogurt is that they use powdered honey - didn't even know powdered honey existed Wonder if I could make that in my new food dehydrator that I got for $1.00 at a yard sale

I have wanted to try their yogurt, but it does not appear to come in a low-fat version...

[nscrbug]

I have wanted to try their yogurt, but it does not appear to come in a low-fat version...

Oh it does indeed come in low-fat...found some at my local Whole Foods store. It's good, but I honestly can't tell much difference between it and other greek yogurt brands.

[Reesha]

I thought I would "whey" in here and mention that Cabot's 2% greek yogurt is one of the best I've tried. It's not as thick as some, but it's got some serious tang to it and I like to make honey and kashi GoLean parfaits. It's a little less dessert-like than Fage's Total 2% (which I also enjoy), has equally high protein and costs less where I am.

For the fat free ones, I have really taken to Brown Cow's 0% fat plain. It miraculously doesn't taste like paste, and is very thick. Lovely stuff!

[Reesha]

I am intrigued and want to try Knots technique.

Anyone tried Greek Gods yogurt? Makes Yoplait taste like, wellll,........

The only thing that I can see unique about their yogurt is that they use powdered honey - didn't even know powdered honey existed Wonder if I could make that in my new food dehydrator that I got for $1.00 at a yard sale

Greek Gods is good, but I recently bought some fat free GG that was on sale and it had the consistency of regular yogurt I was a sad panda. Still very tasty, and their individual full fat cups are divine. The honey kind especially!!!

[Susan]

I made my own Yoghurt a couple of times. Sometimes it turned out great, sometimes it had a strange "grained" consistency and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong? Can someone point me in the right direction?

In Greece you can buy Yoghurt with various fat contents. The typical yoghurt that you would eat with honey and almonds has 10% fat content. It also usually is made in the container it comes in and doesn't get stirred like most yoghurts nowadays do - so it is much more compact than our yoghurt.

The whey can be drained from yoghurts to achieve a thicker consistency (for example for a typical Tzaziki) which makes it a bit richer than the average yoghurt (don't throw it away, you can mix it up with fruit juice and drink it). Still, I find it very strange that nowadays we can buy "low fat" or "fat free" "greek" yoghurt, because for me, the biggest part of what I would consider a typical "greek" yoghurt is the high fat content and the typical compact consistency.
What they sell as "greek" yoghurt in our supermarkets is strictly speaking just less content for more money

[Reesha]

When I make yogurt, I use Fage as the starter and it sometimes comes out lumpy, but a whiz through the food processor takes care of that. It also winds up being whipped and fluffy when it gets strained.