Making Yogurt

Over the past several years I have attempted to make my own yogurt, but each attempt always resulted in nothing more than room tempature milk. Finally after about 6 attempts I actually ended up with real yogurt and learned what I was doing wrong.

If your wondering why anyone would want to make their own yogurt it is because I grew up with my father making yogurt. My father grew up in small village in Greece where they made their own yogurt. It was not a regular item in our house or a special occasion when Dad would make the yogurt.

Now that I am married and on my own so to speak I am left to my own devices to make the wonderful thick yogurt my father made. After all, how difficult could it be?

Here is the basic recipe I started with:

1 quart half and half
1 quart whole milk
1 small plain yogurt (Fage brand which is Greek)

How I actually made the yogurt is as follows:

1. Mix the milk and half and half in a pot of your choice ( used an enamel dutch oven (6 quart)) and heat the milk and half and half to just below boiling point (205).
   
   Let this cool to room temperature.
2. Take a little of the liquid and mix it with the yogurt in a small bowl and mix this till it is smooth.
3. Mix the yogurt mix back into the your milk and half and half mix and combine till it is smooth.
   
   Special note here. Several books that I read on the subject said not to disrupt the skin that forms on the top. I am not sure why but I decided to follow this just to play it safe.
4. Next my father said you place a cloth over the top of your pot and then the lid over the cloth.
5. Wrap the entire pot in a blanket and place it in a warm place. I placed my next to my heater vent.
6. In the morning you should have yogurt

In reality I had nothing more than the original mix when I woke up. I place this on my stove and left it there to dispose of later assuming I had failed once again.

Later that morning I turned on my stove to braise some cabbage and left the pot of yogurt on the stove the whole time. In the late afternoon as I was cleaning the kitchen I realized I needed to throw out the yogurt mix and as I lifted the cover off the pot I found some nicely thickened yogurt.

I couldn't believe it I had finally made real yogurt and also understood what I had been doing wrong. First I don't think I ever kept it in warm enough spot. Second I don't think I left it long enough. According to my Greek aunts who make yogurt they say they just leave it out and eventually it sets.

The last part of my yogurt lesson was strain it so I could get the thick Greek yogurt I was looking for. I place the yogurt in chees cloth and strained of for a few hours and had some beautiful thick yogurt.

The one thing that suprised me was how much liquid was left over after the yogurt compared to how much yogurt I ended up with. Seemed a bit of waste and I was not sure what to do with the left over liquid.

One last item which I thought was funny my wife was completely grossed out by the process and refused to try it. I on the other hand was all to happy to dig in and it was wonderful.

Here are some photos from the experience.