Making Greek Yogurt

Discussion in 'The Cookbook' started by DaltonGang, Oct 27, 2016.

  1. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I have been making very thick and tasty Greek Yogurt, for about 4 years now. It's easy and inexpensive.
    If anyone is interested, I can type a detailed recipe. Also, some photos.
     
    RaZorBurn123 and dustmite like this.
  2. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    Sure! My wife is interested. Thanks!
     
  3. dustmite

    dustmite Well-Known Member

    I'm interested! We eat a lot of Greek yogurt, and I like making things from scratch.
     
  4. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Good enough for me. I'm home with a sick child today, so I will make a detailed recipe today.
     
  5. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Let's see if I can make this understandable.

    Hard Items Needed:
    Small cooler with an 3 setting adjustable heating pad. Make sure it's not the one that automatically shuts off. Mine says it does shut off, but it doesn't, that's good.
    PA280399.JPG

    Heavy pot, large fine whisk, and a candy thermometer(very necessary). A cheap candy thermometer will do.
    PA280400.JPG

    4 quart size Ziplock containers. any quart container will do. Also a smaller flatter container, for excess yogurt. If you make the large recipe like I do.
    I'll explain the photo later.
    PA280401.JPG
     
    JohnDB likes this.
  6. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Now for the food items needed:
    2-3 cups Powdered milk
    1 gallon whole milk(I prefer this)
    1 pint whipping cream liquid(not the Heavy type)
    1 cup fresh Plain Greek Yogurt(not fat free or sugar free), to start the culture process). Sometimes I use two different manufacturers at once, to ensure a good culture.
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/2 cup Honey
    Ice( a bin full from the freezer)


    Steps:
    Place the heating pad in the cooler. Turn it to High, and place one hand towel on top of the pad, for insulation. Let this warm up while doing the next steps.
    In the pot, add 1 gallon of milk. turn the stovetop to med high.
    Add the whipping cream, Powdered milk, sugar and honey.

    Attach the Candy Thermometer.
    Whisk the mixture slowly, until it reaches 180F. you will not need to mix constantly until the temp reaches around 140F, only every minute of so, to keep the bottom from burning.
    When the temp reaches around 140F, stir slowly and constantly, especially on the bottom. If you feel it accumulating on the bottom of the pot, turn the temp down a little and stir more.
    The magic temp is 180, not over. This will kill off any bad bacteria. any higher than 180, and you run a high risk of scalding the milk, and ruining the taste.
    Take the mixture off the burner(important).

    I stop up my kitchen sink, and I fill the smaller section of my sink with ice from my freezer, I empty the bin. It's good to rotate the ice anyway.
    I put cold water in the sink until the ice starts to float.
    place the pot of liquid in the ice, move the pot around, and whisk the mixture. This will speed the cooling process. if you don't want to use ice, it might take an hour or two to cool down.
    Cool the mixture to 100F, and take the pot out.
    Stir in well, the Starter Greek Yogurt.

    Spoon the mixture into the quart containers, and arrange them in the cooler, then I just stack the remainder on top of the quart containers.
    Leave the lids loose, so the mixture can breath.
    Cover the tops of all the containers with small hand towels, to keep the temp even and better insulated.
    Important!!!!
    Turn the temp to low, on the heating pad, then close the lid.

    This process takes 10 hours. Please do not over cook it. Sometimes 8-9 hrs will do, if your starter culture is really good and fresh.
    At the 5-6 hr mark, move the quart containers around, (front to back, and back to front). This evenly distributes the heat.
    At the 10 hour mark, all the Yogurt should be done, except maybe the excess you stacked on the top of the quart containers, because this got the least amount of heat. If it doesn't look like it set well, Place it into the cooler, by itself, and do another hour.
    Tighten all lids, and place in the refrigerator.

    Now, an explanation of this picture. We like really really thick Greek yogurt here. If you want yours really thick, or thicker than what has turned out, crack the lid on a chilled container of yogurt, and place it canted in a bowl, in the refrigerator, overnight, or all day. This is how traditional Greek yogurt is made, by settling out the whey. It's up to you. You be the judge. Mine usually comes out as thick as the store bought Greek Yogurt, without the separating of the whey.

    PA280401.JPG

    I have modified and tweaked this recipe untold times, over the past 4-5 years, until it resulted in this consistency and taste. You can modify the recipe, by halving it, but I wouldn't go any further. The Yogurt will keep in the fridge for at least 3 weeks. I use some of the yogurt from the last container I have, to culture the next batch. Good luck. Any questions just ask.
     
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  7. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    What, nobody try it yet?
     
  8. JohnDB

    JohnDB Well-Known Member

    I remember the Greek restaurants in Austria. Greek restauranteurs have been pouring out into the rest of Europe. As a result I stopped in one for a pork gyros plate.

    The yogurt-cucumber sauce was as thick as butter.
    Ahhh....And the beer so drinkable that you tasted the grain as you chugged it down like soda.

    Great memories.

    But I've made homemade yogurt before...Just really never cared for it... it never got that thick. Especially after having to work in the Yoplait factory for months. BTW. Yoplait adds lots of nonfat dry milk to help get the sweetness and consistency that they have...And this one factory makes ALL brands of yogurt in the area. From Kroger to Mueller it's all made by the same factory, batch of enzymes, and milk.
    I built the production lines to handle the different cup shapes and sizes.
     
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  9. Bama Samurai

    Bama Samurai with Laser-like Focus

    Wouldn't you be making Texas yogurt?

    Kidding aside... Cool thread.
     
    DaltonGang likes this.
  10. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    Yogurt can be made so many ways.. When I lived in Cambodia I'd just set a good thermos outside with fine results:

    The Thermos Method - A vacuum insulated thermos will keep milk at a steady temperature for hours. Once you have cooled the milk and added in the yogurt culture, just transfer it to one or more thermoses and screw on the lid. When the yogurt is set, transfer it to an alternate container to be refrigerated..





    Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
     
  11. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    That would be called Chili.
     
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  12. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Lately I've been using a few starter
    cultures, in the initial batch. It makes for a more consistent thick batch. After that, just use a heaping dollop of the batch you are about finished eating.
    Greek Gods plain
    Oikios greek
    Kroger brand greek
     

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