Homemade Greek Yogurt

Homemade Greek yogurt sounds like it would be super difficult, but it is so easy. Seriously. All you need is two ingredients: Milk and bacteria. I used this yogurt to make froyo with our yogurt maker. It's funny to think that all of this make-my-own-yogurt came to me one night when I was really craving Pinkberry and wanted to make my own tangy froyo.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk (Or 2%, 1%, skin, goat milk-I used whole)

0.5 Cup plain yogurt with active cultures (I used half a cup of my previous batch here)

You will also need a bowl, whisk, 1C measuring spoon, and colander (not pictured)

Directions:

1. Pour half a gallon (8 C) of milk into the crock pot and set to low for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Heating the milk changes the protein structure to be able to make yogurt.

2. Unplug the crock pot and leave it in when the time met and let the milk cool for 3 hours. The milk needs to cool down to 110-120 degrees so it is not too hot (kills the bacteria) or too cold (bacteria won't get busy).

3. After 3 hours, take one cup warm milk and half cup of plain yogurt and mix in a separate mixing bowl and stir well.

4. Dump mixture back into the crock pot and stir.

5. You'll need to maintain the temperature and keep the mixture in the 110-120 temperature range for 10-12 hours. I put a thick and heavy blanket around the pot and let it culture overnight.

Also put the comforter over the bundled crock pot for additional insulation.

In the morning, you should get yogurt! Or what low-fat yogurt looks like. (Ella likes to sneak in all our pictures, somehow)

You'll notice the liquid on top and in the mixture. That is the whey and you will be separating that out when we strain, next.

6. Line a colander in paper towels or cheese cloth. The latter is the proper way, but I don't have any on hand and I read this was a perfectly fine substitute. It has been working perfectly fine for me!

7. Ladle the yogurt in and put it in the refrigerator while the yogurt strains. I strain the yogurt for approximately 2 hours. You can strain as much, or as little, as you like the consistency of your yogurt to me.

The whey by-product of your yogurt making can be used in almost anything that calls for milk. You can find more details at thekitchn.

• Refrigerated yogurt will keep for 7-10 days in an air tight container.
• Add a little bit of sugar if you don't like plain yogurt in all its glory