Making Regular or Greek Yogurt
Greek recipes
Ingredients/Equipment:
1.5 gallons of milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt (this should have live bacterial cultures)
Cheesecloth (required for Greek yogurt only)
1) Warm up the milk to 180 degrees F. At 180 degrees the milk will start
to boil (it is okay if you forget and the milk starts boiling it will
probably come out okay - but it is best not to let it boil).
2) Let the milk cool to 110 degrees F. Anywhere between 100 and 110 degrees is the ideal temperature for culturing yogurt.
3) As the milk cools it forms a skin at the top of the pot. Skim off the skin at the top.
4) Add the yogurt to the milk. For best results, you can put a bit of
the warm milk into the yogurt to warm it up so that it dissolves and
then pour the dissolved yogurt into the pot. This usually helps the
yogurt mix in better when you stir.
5) Pour the milk into jars. Mason jars should do the task but you can
use any jar that seals. Do not use pickle jars or your yogurt will taste
like pickles!
6) Keep the jars at 110 degrees F for about 7-12 hours (8 hours is an
appropriate amount). You can accomplish this by putting the jars in a
cooler that is wrapped in a blanket. This keeps the temperature constant
and the jars are still warm when you take them out.
Your yogurt is now ready. In order to consolidate the yogurt put the
jars back in the fridge for 2 hours. You may want to add fresh fruit,
blended fruits, almonds, or anything else to the yogurt depending on
your taste. To make vanilla yogurt just add ½ teaspoon of vanilla
essence and 6 teaspoons of sugar for every 3 cups.
Note: homemade yogurt is not as thick as store bought yogurt but it is
more delicious. You can thicken yogurt depending on your tastes by using
cheesecloth. Instructions: place yogurt in cheesecloth, gather the four
corners of the cheesecloth together and squeeze it over the sink (the
liquid will strain through the holes of the cheesecloth). Squeeze until
you have reached your desired thickness.
Greek Yogurt Recipe
