How to Make Greek Yogurt

I fell in love with Chobani last fall. My wallet however, did not. At $1.50 a cup, I had to limit my intake to 4 per week, unless I happened to be getting something from Wegmans, where it was $1.00, I could get 5. If I had it my way, I'd be eating yogurt everyday. In addition to me, I was also sending yogurts in Michael's lunch box for a snack during the day. I did the math- we had been spending $55/month on yogurt. That's almost $650 a year! That's a lot of money to spend on yogurt! I needed an alternative. I did some research and found that yogurt is relatively easy to make. To make Greek Yogurt you simply strain some of the whey out of the yogurt. You need two ingredients- a few teaspoons of live cultured plain (like Fage or Chobani) and milk. It does take a good amount of time but it seemed worth it and it is!! I did the math for the homemade greek yogurt- here are the numbers:  $.21/cup, $1.89/week, $98/year.  That means we save $552 by making our own yogurt. It is so good and creamy. Wonder what I can do with that extra money!! I'll probably never go back to Chobani. 

Here's the process

Equipment:

2 qt batter bowl

Accurate food thermometer

Whisk 

Bouillon Strainer

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon milk

a few tsp live culture yogurt

Here's how you make it. 

It's best to start early in the morning or late in the evening as it takes about 13 hours to make.

Step 1

Fill a 2 quart batter bowl with milk and microwave (or use a double boiler) til milk reaches 180 degrees. My microwave takes 17 minutes. Stir milk a few times during heating to prevent skin from forming. If one does form just skim it off.

Step 2

Allow milk to cool to 110-120 degrees. It should take about 30-40 minutes, just let it sit on the counter. If you're in a hurry you can stir it a few times.

Note: if your yogurt is above 120 degrees it will kill the bacteria

Step 3

Whisk in a little yogurt, some sites say 1-2 teaspoons, some say 1/2 cup. I've done both and everything in between and it's always worked for me.

Step 4

Incubate your yogurt for 8-12 hours. There are many, many ways to incubate yogurt. The most common is the oven. If your oven does not set to 100-110 degrees you can turn it on for 3ish minutes to 145 degrees, then turn it off. Cover then wrap your batter bowl with a towel. Place in oven. Do not open your oven to check as the heat will escape and make it too cold.  I tried my oven and it didn't really work so I moved on and tried using a heating blanket. Much to my surprise, it worked! Yogurt should stay between 108-112 degrees.

It will look like regular, plain yogurt when its done. The only liquid you should see should be the whey on top, everything else should be slightly solidified. 

Going from Regular to Greek Yogurt

Strain yogurt to reduce volume by about half with a very fine mesh strainer over a separate bowl. Start with a few scoops then you can dump the rest.

You should have about 4 cups of whey left over. You can discard it or save it for other recipes.

Dump yogurt in bowl and whisk until smooth. Add desired amount of milk back to the yogurt to get the preferred texture.

I put about 5 oz. into a 1/2 pint mason jar and then put them in the fridge.

To flavor:

We mix in something different almost every day!

Stevia, vanilla bean paste, low/no sugar jam, instant coffee, honey, crushed pineapple, fresh fruit, sugar free cookies...

Hope you (and your wallet) enjoy!