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Yoghurt greek style, how to make it?

post #1 of 16
8/22/11 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 

Does anyone around here have experience with making greek style yoghurt? I mean the thick and onctuous one.

 

I make a lot of yoghurt in summer, using simple fullfat milk (3,5%). I love it, it never comes out sour so we don't need any sugar in it. Simply delicious with fruit, like here with a french Cavaillon, a sweet small type of melon.

The yoghurt in the picture however is made with a left-over greek style yoghurt I bought. It contained... 10% fat. Every now and then I have to buy some. What a difference with ordinary yoghurt and such a delight! I presume they add cream to the milk? But how fat, how much and when?

 

My method of yoghurt making is so simple and easy. I warm 2 liters of pasteurized milk to body temperature. You don't even need a thermometer. Just put a finger in. When it feels neither hot nor cold, it's OK. Take a cup of yoghurt you bought or made before, add the same amount of warmed milk, mix and add to the warm milk. Mix. Pour in a plastic container, put the lid on and let it sit in a warm sunny space. I make it in the afternoon and let it outside the fridge the whole night. Normally, in a few hours you have the yoghurt ready! How easy is that?

 

So, how to make the greek style yoghurt?

 

yoghurtCavaillon.jpg

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post #2 of 16
8/23/11 at 11:10am
Let your yogurt set up until it's as thick as it's going to get. Put a strainer or collander lined with several layers of cheesecloth over a bowl in the fridge, and fill with your homemade yogurt. Let it drain at least overnight, or as long as several days. You want it tight, but not so stiff as to be cheese.

And that's it.

Yasou,
BDL
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post #3 of 16
8/24/11 at 2:42am
Thread Starter 

I know that technique of getting the moist out of yoghurt very well BDL. It is used many times for making desserts etc. It's also done with fresh cheese. The dutch call it "hang-op", nothing more in english than hang-up.

 

However, it has nothing to do with making greek yoghurt which has a very high fatcontent from the start.

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post #4 of 16
8/24/11 at 3:46am

Pretty sure that's how it's made. It's the only way I know how.

 

I've added NF dry milk to my fluid milk to make a thicker curd before. I suppose you could do the same with cream.

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post #5 of 16
8/24/11 at 7:09am
Here in Southern California where we have a lot of yogurt lovers, "Greek yogurt" is made with regular, full-fat milk (not cream), and is stiffer than ordinary yogurt made with the same regular milk because it contains less water and not because it contains significantly more fat. Apparently, Belgian "Greek yogurt" is a different story.

You already knew how to stiffen yogurt by draining it, knew you wanted a higher fat content, and no doubt knew the way to the latter was by using richer milk. So... what is it you do want to know?

BDL
Edited by boar_d_laze - 8/24/11 at 7:42am
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post #6 of 16
8/24/11 at 9:41am
Thread Starter 

The full-fat milk I buy has a fat percentage of around 3,5%. Real Greek yoghurt has a fat percentage of 10% as I stated in my opening post. The question is how to reach 10% fat in yoghurt.

I very much agree that draining moist stiffens yoghurt and thus raises the fat percentage, but the final fat percentage will never reach 10%. 

So my question includes wether cream is added. I suspect they do, and if so, when do they add cream in the production process and how much.

 

I know there's low-fat greek yoghurt, which sounds already like a contradiction to me. I would guess they make that type of yoghurt simply by using low-fat milk and draining moist. I'm not talking about low-fat stuff.

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post #7 of 16
8/24/11 at 10:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisBelgium View Post

I very much agree that draining moist stiffens yoghurt and thus raises the fat percentage, but the final fat percentage will never reach 10%. 

So my question includes wether cream is added. I suspect they do, and if so, when do they add cream in the production process and how much.

 

I know there's low-fat greek yoghurt, which sounds already like a contradiction to me. I would guess they make that type of yoghurt simply by using low-fat milk and draining moist. I'm not talking about low-fat stuff.


Draining can indeed make a yogurt with 10% fat. You only need to drain off about half the moisture. Even cheeses like fresh mozz are around 20% fat.

 

Cream would be added to the milk before it's heated and innoculated.

 

Low-fat yogurts typically get their texture from thickeners and stabilizers.

 

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post #8 of 16
8/24/11 at 10:12am

Anyway, I've been thinking and reading about this a little. I don't think it would make much sense for the original producers to add cream to the product. Butterfat usually gets skimmed off and sold as cream or butter because it gets better $ and/or is more useful.

 

Of course, we have 'cream line' yogurt and milks, but afaik, they are a just a modern affectation based on pre-homoginization dairy products.

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post #9 of 16
8/24/11 at 10:13am

FWIW, maybe Greek Recipe for homemade Yogurt will help, glancing at the link, it is, basically, whole milk yogurt which is then strained.

 

Now, I don't see any problem with adding cream to up the fat content, though remember, straining the whey off will also increase the fat percentage, for example, start with 100 grams of 3.5% yogurt and strain off, say um, 20 grams of whey, the 3.5 grams of fat is still there but the percentage is now 4.375%, drain off an additional 20 grams of whey and the percentage increases to nearly 6%. If you drain off a total of 65 grams of whey, you'll end up with 10% fat in your yogurt.

 

If you want to add cream, say 30% butterfat, to whole milk , 3.5% butterfat, to start with a 10% butterfat mixture for your yogurt, I'd use 2 parts milk and 1 part cream.

 

I don't make yogurt but I do make crème fraîche regularly. I use heavy cream, known here as "Manufacturer's Cream", with a butterfat of 38%

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post #10 of 16
8/24/11 at 11:10am
Thread Starter 

Thanks guys!

Pete, I just read the continuation of your link where they advise to drain, with some interesting information saying;

Tips:

  1. Straining will reduce the volume of yougurt by half, perhaps more, so plan accordingly. One quart of low-fat yogurt (4 cups) will yield 2 cups or slightly less of strained yogurt.
  2. Using fat-free yogurt will reduce the quantity a little more, and it will not be quite as thick as using full-fat or low-fat yogurt, but it is a reasonable option for low fat diets.

 

They don't mention adding cream either. But, according to your calculations I would estimate the fat content to reach around 8%??  That's more than acceptable for me.

 

P.S. Pete, how do you make your own crème fraîche?

I have made sour cream a few times by simply stirring some lemon juice into cream and leaving it in the fridge overnight. Works perfect!

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post #11 of 16
8/24/11 at 11:17am

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisBelgium View Post
..P.S. Pete, how do you make your own crème fraîche?

I have made sour cream a few times by simply stirring some lemon juice into cream and leaving it in the fridge overnight. Works perfect!

I add about 30 mL of live culture buttermilk, to, oh, a half liter of heavy cream (38% butterfat), cover with cheesecloth and let sit at room temperature for 24-48 hours, coagulates very nicely, the longer it sits out, the sharper the flavor.

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post #12 of 16
9/6/11 at 2:16pm

I dont know. i make my own cheese not yogurt. My mate makes his own yogurt. I use that to make cheese. sorry x

kieron

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post #13 of 16
9/7/11 at 11:57am

I make Greek Style yogurt weekly and it actually has nothing to do with the fat content Chris. While you do use the best whole milk you can find it is all in the actual culture you use that gives it the tang and you create the creaminess by adding some powdered milk. Here is my recipe:

 

Milk
-------
Quality of the milk is obviously important. Get the best quality you can. For myself I have been using Oberweiss whole milk.
 
 
Temp
---------
This is critical to the success. Heat the milk to 180 degrees and then let it cool down to 118. Once it reaches 118 add the culture. Once you add the culture you have to keep the milk around 80-100 degrees. I have been using the Yogotherm incubator and it works very well. Can only produce 1/2 gallon at a time but you can easily purchase several of them. Another decent method is a heating blanket in a cooler. I have been experimenting with keeping the milk at 180 for 30 minutes which modifies the proteins then I cool it down and have had good results from this.
 
 
Culture
----------
This is what really makes the yogurt. You have to get the right culture. I have been using ABY-2C available from the Dairy Connection(https://dairyconnection.com/commerce/catalog.jsp?catId=11) You only need a small amount (1/8 teaspoon for 1 gallon of milk). This culture will get you the tang,

 
 
Thick and Creamy texture
--------------
You need to add some powdered milk. For a gallon of milk add 1/2 cup of powdered milk. Add this to the milk and mix well prior to heating up the milk. You can strain it
 
 
Incubation
--------------
With the yogotherm incubator I let it go for 8 hours and it comes out just perfect.
 
 
Of course you can strain it and it will become even thicker but then it really become a substitute for cream cheese in my opinion. I see no need to add heavy cream to it.

 

 

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post #14 of 16
9/8/11 at 9:26am
Thread Starter 

Hey Nicko, I did some research on the internet and found this page in dutch. I translated some of it for people that might be interested. Here they say that fatcontent is the biggest difference when comparing Greek yoghurt to normal one. Interesting is also the Bulgarian variation.

To conclude, I would guess that Greek style yoghurt can be made in several ways to make it more onctuous compared to normal yoghurt;

A. by thickening the milk by and/or adding cream, adding powdered milk, reducing the milk.

B. by thickening the yoghurt itself, by eleminating the excess of moist.

 

http://les.canisius.nl/web/Grassroots_Canisius/biotechnologie/t/yoghurt1.html

(partial translation)

Yoghurt needs the presents of 2 different bacteria. They were discovered by an employee at the Pasteur instituut in Paris. They are Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophillus. You need a culture in which both bacteria are present to make yoghurt. Nowadays yoghurt is made using "freez-dried" yoghurt powder that guarantees a constant quality.

 

Normal yoghurt is made from milk from which the fatcontent is brought to the required level, variating from 0,5% to 4,4%. Sometimes the milk is thickened first, then cleared from bacteria by pasteurising. Then the yoghurt bacteria culture is added. After 10 hours at 30°Celsius the yoghurt is done, with an acidity between 4,0 and 4,5%.

 

Greek yoghurt; is made from sheep and cowmilk. The biggest difference between ordinary yoghurt and Greek yoghurt is that Greek is enriched with cream. Greek yoghurt contains 3 times more fat. Greek yoghurt is produced identical to ordinary yoghurt. The excess of moist is sieved out of the yoghurt wich makes it fit for use in sauces and other hot preparations.

 

Bulgarian yoghurt; is an original national product. In Bulgaria it's called Airan which means simply yoghurt. The difference between Bulgarian and ordinary yoghurt is that it is much thicker and has a soft creamier taste, due to the fact that this yoghurt has a much higher fat content (5% fat).

It is made from milk that has had an evaporation process where it's reduced to 2/3th. After the bacteria are added, the yoghurt is put in bottles and kept at a temperature of 45°Celsius for 2,5 hours. 

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post #15 of 16
9/8/11 at 9:51am

I was thinking of adding some diacetyl bacteria culture to my next yogurt batch. It's supposed to add a buttery flavor.

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post #16 of 16
9/17/11 at 6:41am
Thread Starter 

A small update. This is the best result so far, also thanks to a new improvised method I used to make yoghurt, using my oven. Here's how;

So easy to make yoghurt now! I just heated UHT processed milk to 40°Celsius. I used 1 liter of full fat milk (3,5%) this time. Put it in a large plastic container that can be closed tightly. Take a small cup of store bought yoghurt (or homemade) and mix with some of the warmed milk to dilute. Pour in the container with the warm milk and mix. Close the container and that's basically it! The trick is to put this preparation in an oven preheated at 40°C. My oven starts mentioning temperature at 50°, but I can turn it a little lower. Put the closed container in the middle of the oven on something that isolates from maybe too hot metal. I put mine on a piece of cork. Let it in there for 2,5 hours. Now turn the heat off. The remaining warmth is enough to keep the fermentation going for a very long time. I let it in the oven for 2 more hours, then it went in the fridge. Done, how simple is that? You can make as much as you like!

 

Update about the new "Greek" yoghurt batch from the picture below; I made it using 1 liter of milk(3,5% fat) mixed with 200 ml of cream (30% fat). Same procedure as above. Then filled a coffeefilter like in the picture to let the moisture leak out in the recipient on the right in the picture. That filter is a microfilter that I almost never use for coffeemaking, but for filtering all kinds of stuff. Works perfectly and it's so much easier to clean than cheesecloth.

After 5 hours leaking out, the result on the left in the picture; thick but most importantly a very creamy tasting yoghurt, just as I wanted it. Next time I will let it leak out less longer, the taste had a very faint chalky component that could have been prevented.

griekseYoghurt.jpg

 

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