Homemade Greek Yogurt

I Love Greek yogurt. One of my favorite desserts is some greek yogurt with a tbsp of maple syrup, some vanilla, some cinnamon, some coconut flakes and a few walnuts. It's just so good. Yogurt works great with sweet and savory applications. But lets face it, good organic greek yogurt can be quite pricey. So I wanted to figure out how to make it on my own! Then, one night at work, one of my co-workers brought in some of her homemade yogurt and it was the most delicious yogurt I've ever had! I asked her how she made it and she explained her method in a way that was so simple. I thought, "I can do that". So I went home, and I did it. No special equipment needed. My first attempt at it turned out wonderful. Since then, I haven't had to buy yogurt. Once you try this method, you won't go back to store bought, because this yogurt is too delicious and too easy not to make yourself. All you need to do is save 2 tbsp of plain yogurt that you have previously purchased from the store. This is your starter. After that, you won't have to buy it ever again.

Ingredients:
-1/2 gallon organic whole milk (you can chose your fat content. I like whole)
-2 tbsp plain yogurt (again, fat content of your choice)

Directions:
-In a small bowl, mix reserved yogurt and 2 tbsp of your milk until well combined. Set aside for later
-In a medium saucepan, heat the rest of the milk, uncovered, over medium heat until just under a simmer. You will know it's ready because there will be a skin on the top of the milk, and you will be able to see bubbles just underneath the surface of the skin. If you're the type that needs to know specifics, it's 180 degrees F. I used a thermometer the very first time, just to get a feel for it, but I have not had to use one since.
-Remove from the heat and let cool, uncovered, for about 30-45 minutes (105-110 degrees F.)
-While the milk is cooling, turn the oven on to warm.
-When the milk has cooled enough, pour in the reserved yogurt and milk mixture and stir it up.
-Put the lid on the saucepan (at this time you can transfer the mixture to a glass or ceramic dish with a lid if you like but it's unnecessary) and wrap a dish towel around the pot.
-Put the pot in the oven and turn the oven off, but leave the light on. Do not disturb it for 10 hours. You can leave it in the oven anywhere from 8-12 hours. I've found that 8 hours yields a mild yogurt, and 12 hours is a little too sour for my taste. Ten hours is perfect for me.
-Take it out of the oven and put it in the fridge to cool and thicken for a couple of hours.
-At this point, you have yogurt! Now is when you turn it into "Greek" if you like. If you wan't to make it Greek, you just have to let the whey drain out of it to thicken. Here's my straining set-up:

So what I've got here is just a large mixing bowl with a colander sitting on top. I've lined the colander with coffee filters because I found that if I used cheese cloth, there really wasn't much of a cost savings. So coffee filters it is.
-So spoon in or pour your yogurt into the colander, cover with a tea towel and put it in the fridge to drain. How long you let it drain depends on how thick you like it. I like mine pretty thick so I let it go the better part of eight hours or so. 
-Store in an airtight container for a couple of weeks in the fridge, and don't forget to save your last 2 tbsp for your next batch! Enjoy!


*P.S. That liquid that drains off is pure liquid whey protein! Don't throw it away! I'll tell you what you can do with it in another post:)
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