Greek Style Organic Homemade Yogurt

April 28, 2015 | by Jocie (email) |

I know, just when I think I can’t get any more “granola” (or hippy, whatever you want to call it), I start making my own yogurt! haha Actually I’ve been making it about a year and we love it. So if you’re looking for a great greek-style organic homemade yogurt recipe and tips, look no further.

Why I Make My Own Yogurt

I was shocked when I started being more purposeful about reading food labels to find that yogurt (a seemingly healthy food) is often packed with sugar, chemicals, and food dyes. But on top of that, I had been looking for more organic alternatives in order to cut down on the hormones my daughters are ingesting. Seriously, do you know how expensive organic yogurt is? Plus, it still has a lot of added sugar!

Homemade yogurt has been a great choice for our family because it is much cheaper than organic yogurt and healthier than many store-bought options! Essentially, I can make a gallon of organic yogurt for about $8 ($6 for the organic milk plus the cost of the other ingredients).

My sister gave me her homemade yogurt recipe and I started by making it in the crock pot. While I was able to make about twice the amount of yogurt in my crock pot as I can make in my yogurt maker, it is much more labor intensive to monitor the temperature of the yogurt over 6 hours in the crock pot.

My sweet sister gave me a yogurt maker for my birthday last year, and it has made the process so easy. I’m not sure where she bought it, but this is the same yogurt maker, found on Amazon. It’s not too expensive and cuts down on time! Once you prep the yogurt and place it in the jars, you can just leave it for 6+ hours. (I have accidentally left in for 14 hours, and the yogurt was still great – maybe a little thicker and more tart, but still wonderful.)

It has also turned into a sweet Monday morning activity with Lucy (my 4-year-old) who is great at stirring until the milk reaches the right temperature! She’s also pretty good at eating it, haha.

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt Recipe

Here is the basic recipe for homemade vanilla yogurt, but I often leave out the vanilla and maple syrup to make plain yogurt for smoothies. We also often top our yogurt with homemade granola, fresh fruit, or all fruit preserves.

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt

2015-04-28 18:16:10

Serves 7

Make delicious homemade, organic yogurt without all the added hormones, sugars and dyes, for less money than store bought!

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Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

7 hr

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

7 hr

For Yogurt Maker

1. 4 c. Organic Whole Milk
2. 1/4 c. Instant Dry Milk (optional)
3. 4 oz. Organic yogurt
4. 1 Tbsp Real Vanilla Extract
5. 2 Tbsp Real Maple Syrup

For the crock pot

1. 4 c. Organic Whole Milk
2. 1/4 - 1/2 c. Instant Dry Milk (optional)
3. 4 oz. Organic yogurt
4. 2 Tbsp Real Vanilla Extract
5. 4 Tbsp Real Maple Syrup
6. 5 Ball Jars

Instructions

1. Measure the milk into a saucepan and sprinkle dry milk on top. Allow sit for 5 minutes to re-hydrate, then wisk into milk.
2. Heat saucepan on medium heat until milk reaches 185 degrees, using candy thermometer to monitor temperature. Stir frequently so milk does not burn. Milk should go no higher than 200 degrees.
3. While milk heats, prepare an ice water bath in the sink, to cover the saucepan about halfway.
4. Once milk reaches 185 degrees, remove from heat and place in the ice water bath. Continue to stir and monitor temperature until it reaches 110 degrees.
5. Once the temperature is lowered, remove from ice water bath. Wisk in a separate bowl about 1 cup of the warm milk mixture into your starter yogurt. I use Stonyfield Organic Baby Vanilla Yogurt, freezing the six pack and thawing it out as needed.
6. Stir yogurt mixture into the milk in the saucepan. If the temperature has dropped below 110 degrees, heat on stove to raise the temperature.
7. Stir in vanilla and maple syrup until mixed. (Sometimes I need to wisk the vanilla a little)
8. Pour yogurt/milk mixture into large measuring cup to avoid spilling, then pour evenly into containers.

For Yogurt Maker

1. Leave tops off of the jars and place in yogurt maker. Turn on and place clear lid on top. Allow to cook for 7 hours (or more), then replace lids and refrigerate overnight.

For Crock Pot

1. At the start, fill crock pot halfway with warm water and set crock pot to warm or low. Put thermometer in crock pot to monitor warm temp. It should remain between 105-115 degrees the entire time.
2. Once 5 jars are filled, screw on lids tightly and place in crock pot. Allow the yogurt to cook for 6 - 7 hours, then refrigerate overnight.

By Jocie@OPC

One Project Closer https://www.oneprojectcloser.com/

What do you think? What do you like to top your homemade yogurt with?

As Always, thanks for reading!

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