Homemade Greek Yogurt in a Crock Pot!!
I tried it for the first time last night and it turned out perfect! I think one of the main tips that helped me is to know the temperature before adding the yogurt to the milk, it can’t be to hot and it can’t be too cooled off! In researching I found that that the milk needs to be incubated between 105 degrees and 120 degrees, this really helped because I would have killed my bacteria if I had mixed the yogurt in at the end of the 3 hours of cooling off with my crock pot sitting unplugged. I checked the temperature with my candy thermometer and it was still above 120, so I waited until it got just below 120, added the yogurt then proceeded with the wrapping of the towel around the crock pot. PERFECT! Paula’s website: http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-secrets/healthy-homemade-greek-yogurt is where I found information about the science of yogurt. She has a lot of information, but makes it in the oven rather than the crock pot, (which I think would be more time consuming) although she may have a crock pot recipe, I was only looking for temperature specifics. This was so exciting to make, can't wait to save my 1/2 c. and make more!
This recipe is adapted from:
Homemade Greek Yogurt in a Crock Pot!!
Servings: 4 cups
Ingredients:
- 8 cups milk
- 1/2 cup store-bought natural plain yogurt (you can use Dannon, Chobani, Fage etc. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter)
Note: (whole, 1%, 2% or skim Pasteurized Milk, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized it won’t work.) You can also use 1 gallon of milk and 1 cup of yogurt, just heat the milk for 3 hours instead of 2 1/2 on step 2. The rest of the steps are the same.
Cooking Tools:
- 4 quart Crock pot
- wire whisk
- Measuring cup
- Paper towels or cheese cloth ( I agree with Shannon and prefer the paper towel method.)
- Ladle
- Containers to put yogurt in
- thick bath towel
- a timer
- a thermometer, a candy one works well!
Directions:
1. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor. (After the 3 hour mark, you can go to bed.)
2. Plug in your crock pot and turn to low. Add a half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
3. Unplug your crock pot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.
4. Check your temperature first and make sure it is between 105 degrees and 120 degrees. When 3 hours have passed, and your temperature is right, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl.
5.Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt.
6. Dump the bowl contents back into the crock pot. Whisk to combine.
7. Put the lid back on your crock pot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.
8. Go to bed or let it sit for 8 hours.
9. In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened to the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.
10. Place Cheese cloth or paper towels into a colander and ladle the yogurt into it, place the colander into a big bowl or in the sink.
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| This is the liquid that is strained from the yogurt |
9. Let it sit for 1 hr until thick and creamy.
11. Chill in a plastic container(s) in the refrigerator. Your fresh yogurt will last 7-10 days. Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch.
12. Flavor to fit your taste, you can also use this in place of sour cream.
Here are some additional tips and information about making Greek Yogurt taken from Paula's website:
Found some ideas on what to do with the Whey that is drained from the yogurt!
Adapted from:
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com
Whey Recipes: What do I do with Whey?
- Make tortillas (uses 1/2 cup of whey per batch)
- Make soaked homemade crackers
- Use as up to half the water in any bread recipe. You’ll need to add more flour, even up to a whole cup for a loaf of bread.
- Soak oatmeal.
- Soak other grains, including breadmaker bread.
- Freeze in ice cube trays and add it to smoothies as protein.
- Lacto-fermentation:
- When I have too much whey on hand, sometimes I’ll start throwing it willy nilly in place of liquids in recipes: pancakes, soup, biscuits, soaked baked oatmeal…I haven’t had any massive failures yet, although clearly, attempt at your own culinary risk!
