Making your own yogurt is amazingly easy, and it is very good. Taking it another step and making Greek yogurt or yummy cheese is just as easy.
Now the starter. You can buy yogurt cultures from most places that sell cheese making supplies. One on line source is Lehmans.com I have never used purchased cultures. I make yogurt with my favorite store bought yogurt, or with yogurt I've made myself. It is vital that this be all-natural yogurt with live cultures and NO thickeners like gelatin. You can use store bought Greek yogurt if you like.
Pour the milk into a medium sized saucepan. Over medium high heat, bring it to 100 degrees F. If you don't have a cooking thermometer, this is about as warm as you make a baby's bottle. Temperature is important - if it is not warm enough, it won't work; if it is too hot, it will kill the cultures.
Once it is the right temperature, stir in the yogurt, combining thoroughly.
Now you have to keep the mixture warm for at least 8 hours. In hot summer weather, just put it somewhere where it won't be disturbed. Temperatures in the 80's will be good, in the 90's perfect. In cooler weather, try the top of your refrigerator or hot water heater, or inside an oven with a pilot light. I have heard that some people have success by wrapping the container in some kitchen towels and putting it on top of a heating pad on the lowest setting, with a few layers of towel between the pad and the bowl.
Put the warm milk and yogurt in a very clean container with a lid. Wrap it is a kitchen towel to keep as much warmth in as you can. Put it in your chosen spot. Leave it without disturbing at all (don't peek!) for at least 8 hours. After 8 hours, check and see how thick it is.
Now to make Greek yogurt or yo-cheese: they do make special strainers for doing this. I have two, and they work really well. Mine look just like the little baskets used as strainers in coffee makers. If you don't have any, use cheesecloth. You can try lining a colander with a few layers of it. Put your yogurt in this, put the colander in a bowl to catch the liquid, cover the yogurt, and let it drain until it is as thick as you want, 1/2 hour or more. You can also line a bowl with the cheesecloth, put the yogurt in, draw up the edges of the cheesecloth, tie it up like a money bag, and hang it over the bowl.
For Greek yogurt, check the thickness after 1/2 hour.
For yo-cheese, you will have to let it drain for several hours until the yogurt is very thick, like cream cheese. It will taste very similar to cream cheese, and can be used very effectively in place of cream cheese. Or try mixing in a little garlic and/or onion powder and some herbs. Oh so good! In the Middle East, when they have yo-cheese that is getting a bit old and dry, they roll it into small balls, like a large olive, then put it in some olive oil that has been flavored with garlic and herbs.
All yogurt and yo-cheese has to be refrigerated after it is done.
As a thrifty benefit, take all the whey you have drained off of your yogurt and use it to make bread. It makes a delicious, slightly sour loaf. Try toasting it and spreading it with yo-cheese!
Source: A life time of making yogurt.
By Free2B from North Royalton, OH
Check out these recipes.
This is so rich and creamy I can only eat about a half a cup at a time. It is very, very good though.
I have always been intimidated to make yogurt. Not ANYMORE. For thick and creamy yogurt!
Take 1 qt wide mouth mason jar. Put in 3/4 milk in your jar and shove it into the microwave and heat until just under boiling (however, IF it boils a little bit then it's ok!). Sit it on your cabinet or stovetop and let it cool to lukewarm.
This page contains the following solutions.
I made a batch of yogurt and took a container to my sort-of shut in neighbor, she CAN get out but rarely does. She called in a couple of days and asked if she could pay me for some more yogurt.
This is probably obvious and common knowledge to everybody but I just discovered this. You can make your own flavored yogurts by buying the largest cheapest container of plain yogurt and adding fruit preserve to it.
Warm milk till it is comfortable temperature (45-50 degrees C or 100 degrees F). Dissolve 1 teaspoon leftover yogurt as starter in 500 ml.
When I get near the bottom of my container of plain regular or Greek yogurt, I add milk, stir, place covered in hot water, and let the milk develop for a few hours into a new container of yogurt. Chill.
Regular or Greek yogurt can be made inexpensively using your crockpot at home. This page features a recipe with step by step instructions showing you how to make yogurt in a crockpot.
Yogurt is easy to make at home with a few basic materials. This page has instructions for making homemade stovetop yogurt.
This is a page about using a Euro Cuisine greek yogurt maker. Greek yogurt can be quite expensive at the grocery store.
This is a page about making yogurt without milk. For lactose intolerant people, finding a dairy-free yogurt alternative can be helpful. While it possible to make dairy free yogurt, the process is a little different.
Greek style yogurt has recently become very popular. Greek yogurt is traditionally made from sheep's milk, but cow's milk can be used. Because it is strained, it is a thicker, creamier yogurt than you may be used to. Making your own can possibly save you money, but will surely guarantee the quality of the ingredients used. This page contains Greek yogurt recipes.
